Centennial PS students outdoors building a
Helping to restore nature
By Kathryn Stocks
An exciting new group is stewarding our waterfront trail this year and you can help. Toronto Nature Stewards is a non-profit network of nature restoration volunteers who want to increase the populations of pollinators, birds and other wildlife in our natural spaces. New volunteers are taught everything they need to know about identifying harmful invasive plants and how to remove them.
A few years ago, Toronto Nature Stewards were given the go-ahead by the City of Toronto to steward city parks, and they now have 42 sites. Sandra Bill has been the lead steward for Birkdale since 2022, and she is the lead steward for the new site along the Port Union Waterfront Trail.
“We were super excited to get this site,” she said. Since the trail is a new site, no planting of native plants will be done yet. This year is all about stewarding, and they will be removing some of these invasive plants: garlic mustard, dog-strangling vine, creeping bellflower, periwinkle, buckthorn and burdock.
The biggest goal right now is to engage volunteers to help. “We want to get as many people involved as possible,” Sandra said. “We have a lot of fun! It’s such great community involvement and it’s a really nice way to spend time in nature.”
Stewarding takes place every Sunday afternoon from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m., starting at the waterfront gazebo. Volunteers are encouraged to sign up on the website at torontonaturestewards.org. Signing up is not a firm commitment, it just means you’ll drop in whenever you can. This is a great opportunity for students to get volunteer hours. Those under 16 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
They appreciate anyone who comes out to work with them and ask that you bring a pair of garden/work gloves and small garden clippers or scissors if you have them. Participants must wear long-sleeved shirts or jackets and long pants tucked into socks.
“We’re trying as hard as we can to increase the diversity in our parks,” Sandra said. “We can effect a lot of change.”
Invasive plants abound
The main reason invasive plants are problematic is because their aggressive growth crowds out native plants, especially in our natural areas. You’ve probably heard about dog-strangling vine and garlic mustard, but you might be surprised to learn that some of the invasives spreading in our forests and ravines have come from people’s gardens. Plants like periwinkle, lily-of-the-valley and English ivy have escaped cultivation, and they will continue to be a problem because they are still being sold at garden centres and traded at plant swaps.
What you can do to stop them:
Learn how to identify invasives. The iNaturalist app is good for this. There are other plant ID apps as well, but with this one the information is used for research.
Avoid buying invasives. Garden centres are still allowed to sell plants like periwinkle, lily-of-the-valley, goutweed, English ivy and creeping jenny, but it’s better not to buy them.
Buy native plants. For ideas on what to plant to avoid the invasives, check out “Grow Me Instead” at ontarioinvasiveplants.ca. The website suggests native plant alternatives to put into your gardens instead.
Dispose of invasives properly. After removing invasive plants, put them in black garbage bags, set them out in the sun for several weeks, and then throw them in the garbage. NEVER put them in the compost or discard them in natural areas.
Prevent the spread of invasives. Stay on trails and keep your pets on a leash when you’re out hiking in our parks.
More green time, less screen time this summer
By Don Lawrence
While not as well known as Toronto’s larger city parks, each of our local parks, such as Adams, Wanita, Bill Hancox and Colonel Danforth parks, has its own unique charm within the urban landscape.
If you want to exchange screen time for green time this summer but not sure how to engage your kids with the natural world, go to a park and have them look for signs of nature – get their hands
dirty. Turn over rocks and leaves to see what they can find or look around for interesting birds and flowers.
Bring sidewalk chalk to express their creativity and draw some of the things they see, or play outdoor games, like hopscotch.
Create an obstacle course among the playground structures for kids to work through. Most kids will love the challenge.
Local resident Oliver, age 9, says he really likes the new playground at Wantia Park. “It has bigger slides and I come once or twice a week“. His sister Lily, 6,and friend Sarah, 6, love the chair
that spins around. All agreed that they like the new location of the playground.
Each summer, the City of Toronto landscapers create flower gardens nestled within the park. Adams Park is a favourite among wedding photographers, which tells you something about how
pretty it is. The artfully arranged flowerbeds contain many different species of plants and flowers and create little oases in the city away from the bustle of daily life.
Whether you’re going for a stroll, entertaining and educating the kids on summer break or just stopping to smell the roses, Centennial offers some beautiful parks with one close to most homes.
Search online for city of toronto parks listing for more information.
Every day is Earth Day for these students
By Denise Bacon
The Nature Club, under the caring guidance of Ms Carolyn Spahn, teacher at Centennial Road Public School, is made up of about 20 students from Grades 1 to 3. Mila enthusiastically said, “we are Citizen Scientists!” The little ones couldn’t contain their excitement in relaying everything they see and do. “We were looking for birds and we actually saw the bird of the month, a golden finch,” said Reneé. Emilia added, “For Nature Club, we mainly see common birds like blue jays, robins and red-winged blackbirds.
Students were very excited earlier this spring when a robin’s nest was spotted tucked above the outdoor school bell. “We got to see two robins getting food for their babies and one stayed behind to look after the babies,” said Pluriana. Gia was worried that the bell was too loud for the babies.
The Nature Club is creating a wonderful awareness of the natural world for the students. They are recognizing different species of birds and their preferred habitats. On community walks, the students learn about trees and how trees and their seeds behave. They learn that nature has trees and birds that look different from each other, the same as children are all different from each other.
Trash pick-up is one aspect of this awareness. Avia said, “We cleaned up all the trash in the school yard so the Earth wouldn’t have so much pollution.” Zaia added, “We wore gloves and luckily there wasn’t too much garbage around.” Nature Club has had a positive impact in the Centennial Road P.S. school area!
The main message from the Nature Club students is, “Everybody participates and protects the Earth and keeps it clean.”
This is a strong message for all of us here in Centennial as Campaign Clean Centennial continues. A great summer project for families will be to follow the lead of the Nature Club and keep Centennial Clean. Make it fun for children to wear their gloves and pick up trash when they go for walks or to the park. They can become Citizen Scientists, too, and protect the Earth!
