With the longer days of February, activity in High Park is gearing up for spring. Specifically, Urban Forestry is removing large invasive trees. This initiative is part of the City’s Urban Forestry’s Natural Area Management program for the restoration of…
Blog – What’s New (page 2)NEWS AND UPDATES
Taking the Lead New Public Education Campaign Launches in High Park
Paws for Parks is a volunteer group composed of nature supporters, dog owners and concerned community members. The group’s mission is to promote responsible pet-walking practices in public parks. Paws for Parks has begun reaching out to park users in…
High Park Nature UPDATE News from the Natural Environment Committee, January 2023
These items were discussed at the January 2023 meeting of the High Park Natural Environment Committee: A prescribed burn tour in November with TRCA, city staff and members of the committee assessed the condition of different of burn sites in…
High Park Christmas Bird Count December 18, 2022
by Bob Yukich The annual High Park Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, a mild but windy day with almost no snow-cover. Our route recorded a total of 49 species and 2,988 individuals. Our best bird was…
Spraying for LDD/Spongy Moth Caterpillars Spring 2022 with Late Summer Update
High Park was sprayed for LDD Moth caterpillars (also known as Spongy Moth, previously called Gypsy Moth) in spring 2022. The first application took place on Saturday, May 28, the second one on Tuesday, May 31 and the final one…
Call for a Ban on Fishing at High Park’s Grenadier Pond Time to put nature first
For at least a decade the High Park Natural Environment Committee (NEC) has been urging the City of Toronto to put an end to fishing at Grenadier Pond. The committee’s concerns are well documented in a series of letters to…
Where there’s smoke, there’s renewal Article in Toronto Star, May 14, 2022
The High Park Stewards and the prescribed burn that took place on April 29, 2022 are both featured in an article by Emily Waugh in the Toronto Star. Read the article as it first appeared online or the Pressreader version…
Prescribed Burn Returns on April 29, 2022
Urban Forestry will undertake a prescribed burn in 4 locations in High Park on Friday, April 29. Be aware that the park will be closed to vehicles on burn day. See notice below for details and map. Indigenous people, the…
Grenadier Pond Wetland Complex declared a Provincially Significant Wetland
We are pleased to announce that the Grenadier Pond Wetland Complex has been given “Provincially Significant Wetland” status by the Ontario government. The evaluation summary, conducted by Toronto Region Conservation for the Ministry of Northern Development, Natural Resources, and Forestry, …
Now available – the latest issue of our UPDATE newsletter
Please see the April 2022 issue of our UPDATE newsletter for a summary of news and activities involving the High Park Natural Environment Committee, High Park Stewards and our City partners. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks recently…
High Park Stewards Newsletters pdf versions of newsletters sent to Stewards
February 2022 Due to COVID restrictions Urban Forestry is sending out invites to on-site sessions to those who were active in 2019 or have signed up to receive them since them. The general High Park Stewards email list is for…
High Park Christmas Bird Count 2021 Results
by Bob Yukich The annual High Park Christmas Bird Count was held on Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021 (a mostly sunny day with light snow-cover). Our route recorded a total of 46 species and 3,961 individuals. No unexpected species were found…
Stewards 2021 Review Stewards Sessions from July to December 2021
The High Park Stewards in-field stewardship events resumed in July 2021 after being put on hold due to COVID-19 resurgences during the first part of the year. The first event for 2021 was held on July 25th. Similarly to last…
Natural Environment Survey Results
The High Park Natural Environment Committee recently conducted a survey of members and supporters. The results are now available here. It’s heartening to see how much support there is for better protection of High Park’s natural environment, and in particular…
High Park Movement Study and Survey Your Opportunity to Speak Up for High Park
The City is launching the High Park Movement Strategy: “a study to improve the travel network for High Park and better serve park users and the community.” The first step is an online survey. More information can be found on…
LDD (Gypsy) Moth Caterpillars Lymnatria dispar dispari - The "LDD Moth"
If you’ve been walking through wooded areas in the park recently, you may have heard what looks like a gentle rain pitter pattering around you. Not rain, but the munching of hundreds of Gypsy Moth caterpillars! They have been feeding…
TRCA’s 2019 Terrestrial Biological Inventory of High Park View virtual presentation
Presentation Link and Follow-Up Q&As now available! Learn about the Toronto & Region Conservation Authority’s methodology, findings and observations as presented in the final High Park Terrestrial Biological Inventory Report, 2019. A question and answer opportunity followed the presentation. Urban…
Purple Martins and Other Bird News
The Purple Martin house at the south end of Grenadier Pond was cleaned out on April 14 by volunteers led by David Creelman, in preparation for this year’s arrivals. Last year there were several successful nests, and hopefully this year…
5 Important Ways to Protect Wildlife in Toronto As Spring approaches, we look forward to a new year of gardening, stewardship, bird watching and protecting the natural habitats we care about.
As Spring approaches, we look forward to a new year of gardening, stewardship, bird watching and protecting the natural habitats we care about. Some things can be accomplished by groups of people and others can be done at home. For…
Leave the Leaves for Wildlife and more things to do this spring… Don't clean-up your garden just yet insects need some time to grow
Now that spring-like weather is here, we gardeners are desperate to “get in the garden” but the insects need us to hold on just a little bit longer. Garden waste pickup begins next week (March 15) but we urge you…