Environmental Stewardship Pickering

2012
Annual Report
Environmental Stewardship
Pickering
Environmental Stewardship Pickering is a
collaborative community committee that hosts
environmental events in the City of Pickering. This
annual report outlines our events throughout
2012.
Environmental Stewardship Pickering (ESP) is a collaborative committee that works together
with the community to organize environmental events and activities. These events and
activities provide leadership, support and build awareness of environmental stewardship in the
City of Pickering. Our ESP partnership includes the in-kind and financial support of the AjaxPickering Board of Trade, City of Pickering, Durham Sustain Ability, Ontario Power Generation,
Pickering East Shore Community Association, Toronto and Region Conservation and Pickering
residents.
Throughout 2012, Environmental Stewardship Pickering organized and participated in 19 events
and engaged 1576 volunteers. Highlights include the Water Week movie screening in
partnership with Dunbarton High School, a record turnout of 300 volunteers at the spring Take
Pride in Pickering tree planting event and the inclusion of outdoor workshops at our annual
Environmental Leadership Forum.
Events and Activities
Winter 2012 ESP e-newsletter – February 1st, 2012
ESP distributes a biannual e-newsletter to Pickering residents. The e-newsletter
includes environmental articles and upcoming events to help keep the residents
informed and educated about local environmental issues. The winter e-newsletter
included articles about our Forum, the Altona Forest Hoot and Howl, Seedy Saturday
and northern ducks spending the winter in Pickering.
Pickering Seedy Saturday – February 5th, 2012
This is an annual event hosted by the Pickering Museum Village Bloomers and Britches
Gardening Club. Cynthia Brown, who is the Healthy Yards Coordinator for the TRCA,
represented ESP and TRCA at this event. She connected with approximately 100
participants and handed-out Healthy Yards brochures and ESP information. Throughout
the event there were speakers presenting about gardening, native plants and other
related topics.
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Altona Forest Hoot and Howl – February 11th, 2012
The Altona Forest Stewardship Committee collaborated on a Hoot and Howl in Altona
Forest. The Hoot and Howl program is a Family Nature Event run by the TRCA to teach
the public about owls and coyotes in our urban areas. The 56 participants started at
Altona Forest P.S. and walked to Altona Forest. During the event, participants had the
special treat of hearing a great-horned owl, two eastern screech owls and the resident
coyotes.
Tree Wrapping Event – March 16th, 2012
After a quick call out to our ESP volunteer contact list, 16 participants came out on a
Friday morning to help protect the trees along the Beachfront Promenade where a local
beaver was chewing through many of the trees. Over 50 trees were wrapped in wire
fencing, ensuring that the beaver was deterred.
Movie Screening: Mysteries of the Great Lakes – March 21st, 2012
To celebrate Canada Water Week, ESP and Dunbarton High School hosted a movie
screening for local residents. The event was held in the Dunbarton H.S. South Campus
theatre and the 75 participants watched the movie - Mysteries of the Great Lakes. The
Dunbarton High School Eco-Club helped with organizing 6 displays showcasing local
environmental heroes.
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Gorgeous Gardens Workshop – March 27th, 2012
To encourage Pickering residents to get out into their gardens early, we had a Gorgeous
Gardens workshop in March this year. The Durham Master Gardeners did an outdoor
session on pruning and an indoor presentation on how to create a naturalized garden at
the Petticoat Creek Community Centre. It was a great way to connect with the 52
participants and get an early start on our garden workshops, normally held in April.
Sustainable Pickering Day – March 31st, 2012
ESP had a booth set-up at the Pickering Town Centre for the City of Pickering’s 7th
Annual Sustainable Pickering Day. The booth theme was “Pollinators” and visitors were
invited to create bee habitat structures and other activities relating to pollinators and
local food. There were approximately 270 participants actively engaged at the booth.
OFAH/OPG Atlantic Salmon Release Event – April 11th, 2012
Ontario Power Generation and Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters held an
Atlantic Salmon Release at the Brock Ridge Community Park in Pickering as part of the
Bring Back the Salmon program. Two Grade 5 classes from Holy Redeemer Catholic
School released the fish into the nearby Duffins Creek, with help from students from
Pine Ridge S.S. ESP attended to help with the event and organized an activity for the
students.
Lush Lawn Workshop – April 11th, 2012
The second lawn and garden workshop for 2012 was about organic lawn care. Guest
speaker, Sabrina Selvaggi from Resource Management Strategies Inc., taught the
participants how to take care of their lawn without chemicals and pesticides. There
were 49 participants at the Pickering Recreation Complex that benefited from the great
presentation.
Vertical Vegetable Workshop – April 14th, 2012
The final lawn and garden workshop of the season was a crowd favourite, Vertical
Vegetables. Our local expert on vegetable gardens, Ken Brown, returned to teach 54
participants about growing non-typical vegetable gardens in small spaces.
Seaton Trail Hike with Hillside Outdoor Education Centre – April 20th, 2012
To help celebrate Earth Day, the Grade 3 students from Heritage Park Public School
participated in a hike through Seaton Trail. The Hillside Outdoor Education instructor
organized the class and ESP led the 28 students through an activity where they built bee
nesting habitat structures. The students then installed the structures along the trail.
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Take Pride in Pickering – April 21st, 2012
Ontario Power Generation, City of Pickering, TRCA and ESP helped organize the Take
Pride in Pickering tree planting event at Alex Robertson Park. Approximately 300
enthusiastic participants arrived on the Saturday morning to plant 600 native trees and
shrubs. The trees were installed on the north-west side of the park to naturalize an
existing no-mow area. It was one of the best turn-outs for this event and we had all the
trees planted in an hour and a half.
Brock Woodlot OPG Planting – April 27th, 2012
Students from Pine Ridge Secondary School came out to the Brock Woodlot at the
corner of Brock Road and Montgomery Park Road to plant 200 trees and shrubs. The 28
students planted the native trees and shrubs in the mature woodlot to help with
understory growth and to fill in some open areas.
Western Gateway Habitat Creation – June 9th, 2012
In a celebration of the Rouge Watershed, the City of Pickering and ESP collaborated on a
Rouge Days event at the Western Gateway on Bella Vista Drive. This year, the theme
was Habitat Creation. We had 40 participants help create toad abodes, bee habitats,
bird boxes and plant wildflowers.
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Dunbarton High School’s Watershed Science Class Presentation – June 15th, 2012
To finish off the school year, the Dunbarton H.S. Watershed Science class presented
their findings from their stream study and set-up displays at the high school’s South
Campus auditorium. Jim Robb from Friends of the Rouge made a presentation about his
work and the Rouge Park. ESP set-up a booth to profile to the students and the
community the work that we are doing in Pickering. There were 80 participants from
the high school and local community.
Tuesdays on the Trail: Amazing Adventure – August 7th, 2012
This very popular summer program is organized by Ontario Power Generation as a way
to get local children involved in different educational activities during the summer.
TRCA has collaborated with OPG on this event for seven years. This year’s Tuesday on
the Trail event focused on teaching the children about the natural wonders in Alex
Robertson Park. We had 150 children engaged in nature themed games, activities and a
scavenger hunt around Alex Robertson Park.
Summer 2012 ESP e-newsletter – August 28th, 2012
To recap the first half of the year and to update residents about ESP events, we put out
a second e-newsletter in the summer. This e-newsletter included a reminder about our
Environmental Leadership Forum, information about Emerald Ash Borer and articles
about bats and discovering Pickering’s urban forest.
Great Canadian Shoreline Clean-up – September 15th, 2012
This event is a national clean-up effort that is organized by the Vancouver Aquarium.
Every year during the third week in September volunteers are encouraged to clean-up
one of their local shorelines. The Rotary Frenchman’s Bay West Park was chosen again
this year as the clean-up site. There were 15 participants and we collected 15 bags of
garbage. Some interesting items that were collected this year included: a mountain
bike, a window screen and a lawn chair.
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Gorgeous Garden: Fall Edition Workshop – September 19th, 2012
The second annual Gorgeous Garden: Fall Edition workshop was a huge success with 50
participants. We had Ken Brown back again to present on putting your garden to bed.
During the second half of the event, the Pickering in Blooms awards were handed out
and each winner’s garden was profiled in a slide presentation.
ESP Environmental Leadership Forum – September 29th, 2012
Our annual Environmental Leadership Forum had a make-over this year. From
suggestions and ideas from our Expo Round Table event in 2011, the decision was made
to have our Forum in the fall to accommodate outdoor workshops and bus trips to
profile different areas of Pickering. The day started at the Pickering Civic Complex with
a keynote address by Cam Collyer from Evergreen regarding inspired outdoor spaces.
Afterwards, the participants had a chance to choose from three sessions for the day.
There was an indoor session at the Civic Complex and two separate bus trips to the
Pickering Village Museum and the Arboretum/Alex Robertson Park. We had 42
participants that attended workshops throughout the day.
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Take Pride in Pickering – October 13th, 2012
The fall Take Pride in Pickering tree planting event at Alex Robertson Park was attended
by 120 volunteers. There were 280 native trees and shrubs planted along the south
berm to naturalize the area and help shade a potential native wildflower garden. We
had the 856th Pickering Air Cadets and many local residents assist with the planting that
day.
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Frog and Toad Workshop – November 12th, 2012
A presentation was made to the 47th Pickering Guides about frog and toads around
Pickering. The purpose of this workshop was to teach the guides about the difference
between the two and their importance to the ecosystem. After a presentation and
game, the Guides built a toad abode habitat structure, which they were able to take
home and install in their backyards. There were 27 Guides that participated in this
workshop.
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Event Summary
Event
Pickering Seedy Saturday
Altona Forest Hoot and
Howl
Tree Wrapping Event
Movie Screening:
Mysteries of the Great
Lakes
Gorgeous Gardens
Sustainable Pickering Day
OFAH/OPG Atlantic
Salmon Release Event
Lush Lawn Workshop
Vertical Vegetables
Seaton Trail Hike: Hillside
Outdoor Ed. Centre
Take Pride in Pickering
Brock Woodlot OPG
planting
Western Gateway Habitat
Creation
Dunbarton Watershed
Class Presentation
Tuesdays on the Trail:
Amazing Adventure
Great Canadian Shoreline
Clean-up
Gorgeous Garden: Fall
Edition Workshop
4th Annual Environmental
Leadership Forum
Take Pride in Pickering
47th Pickering Guides Toad
and Frog Workshop
Total Number of
Participants
Location
Pickering Recreation
Complex
Altona Forest P.S and Altona
Forest
Beach Front Promenade
Dunbarton High School South Theatre
Date
February 5th, 2012
Participants
100
February 11th, 2012
56
March 16th, 2012
March 21st, 2012
16
75
Petticoat Creek Community
March 27th, 2012
Centre
Pickering Town Centre
March 31st, 2012
Brock Ridge Community Park April 11th, 2012
52
270
28
Pickering Recreation
Complex
OPG Information Centre
Seaton Trail
April 11th, 2012
49
April 14th, 2011
April 20th, 2011
54
28
Alex Robertson Park
Brock Woodlot
April 21st , 2012
April 27th, 2012
300
24
Bella Vista Drive
June 9th, 2012
40
Dunbarton High School –
South Theatre
Alex Robertson Park
June 15th, 2012
80
August 7th, 2012
150
Rotary Frenchman’s Bay
West Park
Pickering Civic Complex
September 15th,
2012
September 12th,
2012
September 29th ,
2012
October 13th, 2012
November 12th,
2012
15
Pickering Civic Complex
Alex Robertson Park
St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic
School
50
42
120
27
1576
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