Crothers' Woods

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Crothers' Woods

Crothers' Woods is an area of the Don River valley in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 25 ha in size and consists of woodland, meadows, wetlands, and an assortment of past and present municipal uses. The wooded area has been designated as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. An ESA designation is useful in highlighting valuable natural areas but this does not affect planning uses. The area is currently zoned as undeveloped parkland.

While there are no clear boundaries, Crothers' Woods is generally thought to include both sides of the valley that extends from Pottery Road and the Bayview Avenue extension in the south and west to the Millwood Road bridge in the east. Further east, good quality forest exists on the north side of the valley for another 1.2 km to the western edge of E.T. Seton Park.

The land in this part of the valley is owned by the TRCA and managed by the city of Toronto.

1 History
2 Forest
3 Mountain biking
4 Local buildings and other infrastructure
5 External links

[edit] History

Prior to European colonisation, this area of the valley was heavily wooded. The area remained relatively untouched until 1787 when this area was bought from the Mississauga natives as part of the Toronto Purchase. After the establishment of York in 1793, land grants were made for much of the land north of the city including the Don Valley. In the 1800s, the Don River was exploited for its capacity to support water driven mills. At least two mills were constructed in this part of the valley. They were eventually purchased by the Taylor family who owned the Don Valley Brick Works.

Due to urban expansion, the city constructed the North Toronto Sewage Treatment Plant in 1929. This handles effluent from local areas including Leaside and North Toronto.

Domtar operated a plant that produced polyresins on the south side of the valley. This operated until the 1980s when it was shut down. Subsequently the TRCA purchased the land and demolished the building. This area was cleaned up and contaminated soil removed.

On the north side of the valley, the land where a former brick making operation called Sun Valley Ltd. was used as an industrial landfill. This was used mostly for brick and ash waste from nearby industry. It was shutdown in the 1980s. The dump was capped with clean fill and now is marked by a large meadow covered with invasive grasses and plants. It is currently undergoing natural restoration efforts. In particular it has become the Don Valley site for Trees Across Toronto, a city wide tree planting program.

[edit] Forest

Crothers' Woods is known as a beech-maple climax forest. It includes such tree species as American Beech, Sugar Maple, Black Walnut, and Red and White oak. There are also a few Butternut which are currently listed as an endangered species by the Species at Risk Act. The forest was designated as an ESA partly due to the quality of the forest but also to the presence of rare understory plants. These include Greater Straw Sedge, Thin-leaved Sunflower, and Pale-leaved Sunflower. The forest is a good place to view common spring ephemerals such as Trout Lily, Trillium, and Bloodroot.

Animals typical of an urban forest can be seen here. Black-crowned Night Herons have been spotted near the river and at ponds within Crothers' Woods. Red-tailed Hawks are also frequent visitors and can be seen hovering over the woods. Recently White-tailed Deer have been spotted in the woods and it appears they are becoming permanent residents.

[edit] Mountain biking

Trail construction in Crothers' Woods

Due to the steep walls and the extensive gullies that exist through this part of the valley, Crothers' Woods has attracted the attention of the mountain biking community. Several informal dirt trails run through the woods and the valley and are frequently used by mountain bikers. Cycling activity has existed here since the 1980s but only since 2000 has use increased substantially. This corresponds with the North American popularity of the sport. Increased use has created more trails and has fragmented the forest habitat. Some of the trails have become degraded through overuse. In the early 1990s some efforts were made by the Parks Department to control activity by blocking off badly eroded trails. However this activity subsided after the Metro amalgamation in 1998.

In 2004, the city again became involved at the behest of local groups such as the Task Force to Bring Back the Don. Rather than try to limit use, the city adopted a proactive approach and decided to work with the mountain biking community to repair and improve the trail system. They brought in consultants from the International Mountain Bicycling Association and put on trail building workshops. These workshops have taught skills necessary to create shared sustainable trails and have resulted in a marked improvement in the quality of the trail system.

While the mountain biking community has supported this program some environmentalists have been less than sanguine about the trail use. This has caused some friction between the mountain bikers and local community groups. To alleviate the situation the city commissioned a management plan in 2006 on Crothers' Woods to come up with guidelines on how to best manage the trails as well as other uses.

In order to better deal with the city staff the mountain bikers have made attempts to organize. In 2004, a group called the Don Valley Trails Users Club was formed but interest failed to materialize. In 2007, a new group formed called the Toronto Off Road Bicycling Group.