Niagara Escarpment Views - Autumn 2016

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▲ Entrance to the park is by this boardwalk over Silver Creek, a tributary of the Credit. ◀ On right, Tunde Otto, programs director, and Carolyn Martin, board chair and park manager, offering crafts in the pavilion. 44 Niagara Escarpment Views • summer 2016
Regenerated grounds offer a great space for free play, exploration and contemplation in a varied natural environment where Silver Creek meets the Credit River in Norval, part of the town of Halton Hills. Willow Park is a passive leisure space open to the public. It hosts school and summer programs, special events for all ages, and acts as a tourism attraction for the town. People come to relax, connect with nature, learn, walk, paint, take photos and participate in community events. First-time visitor Laura Draga says, “My son and I were looking for something to do in the March break. I was pleased to learn about Willow Park which is moments from our house. We had a wonderful time learning about butterflies and making a bird feeder. The grounds are beautiful and we look forward to coming back.” Visitors enter WPEC from Mary Street at Norval Park, and cross over Silver Creek on a wheelchairaccessible boardwalk. Boxes for butterflies, bats and birds are interspersed through the park. Newer features include a xeriscape garden, which needs little water, a roadside pollinator patch, and a large Native medicine wheel or Sacred Hoop. The park has an interpretive centre, pavilions and a demonstration area. Natural Education It all grew from an idea in 1996, after a roundtable on green communities hosted by the Town Environmental Advisory Committee (TEAC), to restore what was a grassy trailer park, subject to flooding, into a natural environment for “the engagement and education of citizens.” Former Halton Hills resident and visionary, Ruth Kuchinad, was the first coordinator of the centre, setting the groundwork for what is now a successful regeneration that continues to evolve. “We’ve been on a journey,” says the current WPEC programs director Tunde Otto, of the tension between controlling that evolution and letting nature takes its course. With the butterfly and pollinator garden for instance, she says, “We said ‘manage it, manage it’ and then once established, we let it do its own thing.” It is a little overgrown, and the pathways are cleared a few times of year because as Otto says, “It is fun to go in there and discover things.” Just as the natural space evolves, so too does the use of that space, the programs it offers and its funding. Tree PlanTing? FUNDING SUPPORT IS AVAILABLE If you are planting trees on your property, you may be eligible for funding assistance. Planting trees on your property helps fight climate change and increases wildlife habitat and water conservation. Forests Ontario is working with its tree planting partners across the province to deliver the Ontario government’s 50 Million Tree Program. Paid for, in part, by the Government of Ontario If you have at least 2.5 acres of productive land, you could qualify. Call or visit us at: Forests Ontario 416.646.1193 www.forestsontario.ca/50mtp ▶ Fearlessly observing nature: a harmless Brown Snake crosses a path. summer 2016 • Niagara Escarpment Views 45
Page 1 and 2: WITH WORK BY CONSERVATION HALTON HE
Page 3 and 4: SUMMER 2016 (JUNE, JULY, AUGUST) PM
Page 5 and 6: View From the Editor’s Desk n Tur
Page 7 and 8: From our farm to your grill Paradis
Page 9 and 10: View of the Crombie Report n Forget
Page 11 and 12: Please see www.NEViews.ca for more
Page 13 and 14: Please see www.NEViews.ca for more
Page 15 and 16: ▲ Horizontal fencing, gabion pane
Page 17 and 18: The garden’s structure emphasized
Page 19 and 20: ◀ The big picture: Erin’s Prime
Page 21 and 22: category: Flowers & Foliage A colou
Page 23 and 24: category: Open Monochrome A black a
Page 25 and 26: PHOTOART WINNERS Lawn and Garden Sa
Page 27 and 28: UNDER DARK SKIES WRITTEN BY SANDRA
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Page 31 and 32: B - 139 Resort Rd (Red Bay) South B
Page 33 and 34: summer 2016 • Niagara Escarpment
Page 35 and 36: Peter de Vries of Summerbound tours
Page 37 and 38: ▲ Mark Bourbonnais of Xtreme Humm
Page 39 and 40: Lunch in Thornbury GTTA treated us
Page 41 and 42: Ready, Set, Explore Start your jour
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Page 49 and 50: Protecting Neighborhood Trees Since
Page 51 and 52: At the terrified cry of the man we
Page 53 and 54: Eat & Stay Along the Niagara Escarp
Page 55 and 56: MARKDALE The Market Shoppe Homemade
Page 57 and 58: View of Land Conservation n The How
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Page 61 and 62: Halton Hills (Acton, Georgetown) co
Page 63 and 64: Grilled FRUit Skewers with Habanero

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