October 25: Autumn is for me at once the most beautiful and the most discouraging time of year. Where Spring can be timid and tentative, a watercolour portrait of the Summer yet to come, Autumn is a full-throated blast of colour that marks the transition to a darker, colder season. It is a reminder that time waits for no man.
We have always prided ourselves as being “the city in a forest”. We had the great fortune of locating a city on a plain crossed by major rivers and the ravines they carved. Our ravines have been a part of our consciousness as the city grew. They provided parks and natural areas in the heart of the city, while forcing some of our most ambitious engineering projects.
I think many people forget that the city they see every day has not existed for long. As recently as 50 years ago, many of our most prosperous neighbourhoods were farmer’s fields. Those leafy streets that we so admire now, were once muddy croplands with scattered homes and barns. Cities grow and mature, rejuvenate, and, on occasion, become less than healthy.
Raised as I was in central Toronto, I grew up accustomed to the tranquility, security and beauty that surrounded me. The tree canopy that lined the streets and parks of my neighbourhood stood in the background. I recall chatting with my Dad in front of the house many years ago. It was after dark and a “cathedral of trees” lit by the streetlights, stretched down to St Clair Avenue where cars whispered by. This wondrous backdrop disappeared some years later as the “first growth” trees, planted when the subdivision was built in the early 1900’s, all started to die off at the same time. Like humans, trees have a survival cohort – they are planted, grow large and die off at roughly the same time.
I grew up climbing in the steel girders under the St Clair Avenue bridge, which spans the Vale of Avoca ravine about a block from our house. I went back there last week with my camera to shoot some pictures of the autumn foliage and discovered a discouraging scene. Many of our ravines have suffered from overuse and lack of maintenance. Although they are resplendent with large mature trees, there do not seem to be many young trees coming long to take their place. As well, invasive species such as the Emerald Ash Borer are taking a toll, leading to the destruction of large areas of tree growth.
Just as people tend to assume that “the city has always been here”, I think that many assume that large parts of it – like the ravines – will go forward into the future largely unchanged (thousands of new condominiums in some areas to the contrary). I think we have now reached a point where many of our downtown neighbourhoods will lose the majority of their current tree cover and with it, a good deal of their identity. Think of Rosedale without trees ….. nothing lasts forever.