It was a beautiful day for a Jane’s Walk and about 100 people took advantage of the weather on Sunday May 3 to trek to the Scarborough Bluffs and soak up a little local history.
The walk began at Kingston Rd. and Birchmount Ave. and then proceeded east on Springbank Ave. to Rosetta McClain Gardens, the 23-acre park overlooking the Bluffs.
Jane’s Walks are “walking conversations about neighbourhoods and how people use cities”.
Anyone can lead a walk and this one was organized by Bluffs resident Lucille Yates, who said she wanted to share “the usual morning walk I do several days a week with my husband and neighbours.”
Raptor Watch
At Rosetta McClain, Ann Brokelman, a wildlife photographer, told the crowd about Raptor Watch, a group of birding enthusiasts who document the migration of raptors, also known as birds of prey.
Brokelman said that 11,000 hawks can be seen in the park from September until the end of November.
“There’s nothing better than on a day when it’s really cold and it’s misty and you go and stand by the fence and out of nowhere literally coming along the water’s path is a bald eagle right in front of you and at your eye level. you can take the most amazing photos here,” said Brokelman.
Bald eagle. Credit: Ann Brokelman Photography
Historian Don Simerson tells the history of Rosetta McClain Gardens
Rosetta McClain Legacy
Don Simerson, a Toronto Parks horticulturalist in south Scarborough explained the history of the park, noting that the land was bought in 1905 by Thomas MacDonald West, the owner of Toronto Safe Works, who was told to “move to the country’ to improve his health.
West divided the land amongst his four children but only Rosetta was interested in keeping it. After Rosetta died in 1940, her husband, Robert Watson McClain, offered the property to the city.
Simerson gave his talk standing on a rock in Rosetta’s pet cemetery.
Many Birch Cliff residents might be surprised to know that Rosetta’s dogs Buffy, Doc and Dooley are buried in the park along with her donkey Baalam.
And then it was time for the trek down to the lake, using the walkway on Fishleigh Dr. between the community garden and the public works yard.
Joe Delle Fave, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority
Bluffs Erosion
On the shore, the talk was led by Joe Delle Fave of the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.
Delle Fave has spent his entire adult life helping to prevent erosion at the Bluffs through the construction of 50 foot groynes (those long stone piles perpendicular to the shore) gravel beaches and stone walls that run along the shoreline.
When he started his work on erosion prevention in the early 1980s, Delle Fave said the Bluffs were losing about one foot a year, with 90% of the erosion coming from waves lapping at the bottom of the Bluffs, which weakens the bottom of the Bluffs, and makes the tops fall over.
The other factors in erosion are rain, wind and ground water.
At one point, Delle Fave pointed to the extensive vegetation on the Bluffs and noted that when he started work 35 years ago the Bluffs were mostly bare.
“We haven’t planted anything, that’s all mother nature at work,” said Delle Fave. “Once the erosion is stopped at the bottom then all of a sudden you’ve got trees, brush – everything is starting to flourish. And now there’s very few bare spots and the erosion… I”m not going to say we’ve stopped it but we’ve really substantially reduced the erosion.”
Impact of airport expansion
For Tim Weber, a former Liberal nomination candidate and supporter of NoJetsTO, the Jane’s Walk provided an opportunity to warn local residents about the potential impact of jets flying over the Bluffs should the expansion of Porter Airport receive approval.
NoJetsTO supporter Tim Weber talks about the impact of airport expansion on South Scarborough.
According to Weber, 90% of the jets will be flying south of Kingston Road and over the Bluffs.
“This is definitely going to impact our waterfront,” said Weber. “In fact if it was happening right now I would have to stop every 240 seconds to allow the jets to pass so you could hear what I have to say. I don’t know how many of you are interested in living like that but it certainly to me negatively impacts our way of life in this part of Scarborough.
The group then trekked eastward until they literally hit the end of the road at the Cathedral Bluffs, with retired geologist Ed Freeman explaining how the Bluffs were formed by Lake Iroquois, a massive glacial lake that existed during the ice age approximately 13,000 years ago.
Lake Iroquois was approximately 100 feet above the present level of Lake Ontario and the Scarborough Bluffs are what’s left of the old shoreline.
