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“Restoring habitat, restoring wetlands, is important for ecosystem health and diversity,” explained Cheryl Post. Post is lead for the Cudmore Creek Project, which officially opened as the Cudmore Creek Wetland and Trail in early October, after nearly a decade of planning and revitalization. Post is also a natural environment specialist, and she says she is confident in the way the Cudmore Creek restoration finished. “This site itself has gone through a lot of different iterations over many years,” she said. “It has always sort of wanted to be a wetland.”
The project was led by the city’s Urban Forestry Division and the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) as a part of Toronto’s long-term Ravine Strategy – a plan to protect and restore more than 300 kilometres of ravines across the city. The $1.52 million funding came from the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program, a joint fund between the federal and provincial governments.
According to the City of Toronto website, the project was designed to restore and enhance wetland habitat, improve species diversity, and provide a safe and accessible connection to the Crothers Woods trail network.
Located at the southern end of Crothers Woods in the Don Valley, the area was once filled with gravel after a sewer main break in the 1990s.
“The area had to be filled in to deal with that,” Post said.“ And [then] people started using it as an informal parking area to access the trails into Crothers Woods.”
Post and her team began reimagining the site in 2016, and construction officially began in October 2023. The site was transformed into a functioning wetland with native vegetation, scenic outlooks, and walking paths that connect directly to the Crothers Woods Trail Network, a mountain biking and hiking trail.
Post said the results have already started to show.
“Over time, wetlands are just one of those great ecosystems that sort of, if you build it, they will come. And so you end up seeing tadpoles already, and you know, ducks and other waterfowl and frogs already starting to come into the site,” she said.
She added that the restoration goes beyond decoration. “From a climate lens, wetlands provide a lot of mitigation to flooding and water hydrology across the city.”
Post described wetlands as nature’s “sponges,” absorbing water during heavy rainfall and releasing it slowly during dry periods.
“There’s a lot of different layers that having healthy, intact wetland ecosystems can really help to improve, not only ecosystem health and resiliency and biodiversity overall, but also mitigate some of the flooding impacts of climate change and drought as well.”
Despite the site’s success, Post noted the site’s location made it a challenge. “It’s a really complex site. It’s on a transportation right of way, beside sewer infrastructure, right beside a major Metrolinx crossing, and right underneath a hydro tower, amongst other things.”
According to Brendon Samuels, a postdoctoral fellow in the ecological design lab at the School of Urban and Regional Planning at Toronto Metropolitan University, Cudmore Creek reflects a new model of ecological design.
“Ecological design is a holistic approach to understanding the interface between our human needs and the needs of the rest of the natural world,” he said.
Samuels emphasized that the process of restoration takes patience and a sustained effort. “Ecology doesn’t care about our timelines. It works slowly.”
According to Samuels, design must anticipate the future as Toronto continues to face more frequent flooding and extreme weather.
As Toronto continues to face more frequent flooding and extreme weather, design must anticipate the future.
“We have to anticipate that our climatic norms are changing a lot. So, flooding conditions are pretty severe throughout the GTA as a result of climate change. We have to be able to anticipate where is all that extra water going to go? What will this site look like under flood conditions? Let’s say in 20 years, when the vegetation has matured, hopefully the plants are helping with limiting erosion, providing a structural barrier to kind of move water where it’s intended to go,” Samuels said.
Post noted how the species that live in the site play an important role in the restoration. “A significant amount of trees, shrubs, and aquatic and herbaceous plants were all planted on the site. All of those are native species that will be maintained and looked after as we move forward.”
Karen Chapple, the director of the School of Cities at the University of Toronto, said projects like Cudmore Creek highlight Toronto’s natural advantage. “Toronto is blessed by being a city within a park,” she said. “The city has to make an intentional effort to pay attention to the rest, particularly the post-annexation amalgamation parts of Toronto.”
She is currently in the undergraduate journalism program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University), where she enjoys creating multimedia content, writing for news and sports, and recording for Frugal Radio whether that be for social media content or full episodes. She is passionate about learning about individual backgrounds, and people’s personal stories whilst learning about new perspectives.
Over the last six to seven years, leadership has been a big part of her journey. Ria actively finds new ways to stay informed and involved in society. She is a passionate leader and team player: analytical and creative in her approach. Throughout high school and now in university, her love for being in student groups, being a part of a team at large, and being a part of a bigger cause has motivated her in all aspects of life. She was formerly the Co-President of the Journalism Course Union and is currently the President of The Society of The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Throughout her life, working with cameras, taking pictures, and recording mini-vlogs as a little girl were always some of her favorite things to do. Now, she enjoys working as a Content Creator under the Student Communications department at TMU (@StudentLifeTMU & @ChooseTMU), planning videos, filming and working in post-production, whether that be creating news packages, podcast episodes or social media and marketing content.
This article was created with the use of Otter AI for transcription.
