The Culvert under Milton Line Revisited

Earlier I visited to and did find another dry rail bridge through which Jackson Creek once flown.  Unfortunately, it was inhabited.  Travelling through the area, I decided that since it was colder now, Greg might have moved out to a place with more walls (or Vancouver), so I decided to get a better glance.

While the creek was flowing, the railway had only two tracks.  Therefore the original entrance is from the north side.  When the rail bodies added extra tracks, from the south side, they simply inserted a pipe to continue the culvert.  

Being quite belligerent with my safety, I hopped right down.  This time there was no date stamp, unlike at the Canpa bridge.  Also, unlike with the Canpa bridge, I did not venture further down, since it was dark inside and potentially still inhabited.

I also noticed that across the fence, the dry bed continued.  I decided to investigate.

The dry bed is crowded with brush and trees; there appeared to be be some sort of concrete formation down there too.

As you can see from above photo, I decided to descend down the dry bed.

I hiked up to the concrete structure and was met with, presumably Greg, who was understandably unhappy.  I then went on with my day.

Alderwood Collegiate Institute Erased with Jackson Creek as a Bundle

Once upon a time there was a high school that allowed Jackson Creek to flow freely through its property.  Also once upon a time there were city/government officials that demanded out of developers at least one lot allocation for parkland.

Right now the impugned city official for Etobicoke-Lakeshore displays lack of ethics (2) when it comes to developer relations.  In fact South Etobicoke is famous for such hanky-panky (2).  That's how we end up with a final design over a new block that erases any public green space or traces of natural heritage that was there and maximises the plots for developers:

Jackson Creek flowed through the school grounds as follows from an aerial photo:

Up until recently there was come green space on the creek bed favoured by dog walkers.

Now it is all dug up in the implementation of the plan above:

Predictably the water pools where the creek used to flow, as it lies on the landscape formed by Jackson over millennia before the planners decided to delete it.

Jackson Cleek flowed through the pipes unearthed during construction in order to provide access to the school's parking lot.  There is a much longer pipe buried under the road to the south.  

Alderwood Collegiate Institute can also be remembered though these pictures.  The abandoned building was even visited by some fat positive photography troupe.

The development got about 40 seconds of official time by TRCA in regards to Jackson Creek (Page3 Section 8).  Kudos.  Their request is filed with the city.  Their efforts were in complete vain, as can be seen with the final development plan. Predicted fruits, given the ways and practices of the governmental officials. 

At least the elementary schools to the north gets to keep its green-space for now.  It features a culvert collecting with Douglas Park (Just Add Water) and a dry bed.  

Curiously, the groundskeeper crudely capped the culvert from Douglas Park with concrete.  Maybe the inflow of water was unwelcome without a proper further outlet.

Here is a view of the pigeonhole development from the north.

There aren't too many areas where Jackson Creek may be daylighted.  Looks like this sliver of land was lost forever in favour of 15 houses crammed like sardines along a former schoolyard's edge.

Editor's note:  this is me completing the backlog/ drafts of the project.  Unfortunately, the owner of the idea retired this blog and soon enough we will be archiving this 'act local' neighbourhood project towards more abstract, inconsequential, academic, 'act global' movements that is normal for the people these days to get behind (like being a Global Warming believer and sharing/ subscribing what politicians/ celebrities say about it).  If someone want to pick up on this thankless task, feel free to use/ re-purpose the contents of this blog.

Broadacres Park- Headwaters of Jackson Creek

Earlier, I've mapped the headwaters of the creek above the Burnhamthorpe Rd.  I've been meaning to put a blurb on this spot for a while and this is the high time, given me stumbling on some exciting new information making for a more complete post.

Courtesy of Archives Toronto

This nano-ravine is possibly one of the best preserved parts of the protagonist of this blog.  Even the northern branch of the creek is discernible to the eye.  Images below.

Imprint in the grass of the N branch

6 o'clock view of the 1st image

View from within, the N branch is entering the main one in the centre of the pic

Let us now embark on a virtual tour around the wood-lot and the ravine.  Walking up from the west side, I followed the imprint in the grass from the water that likely still flows during rain and melt.  Since the slope here is more pronounced towards the lake, the surface water flow is more vivant, as underlined by a high amount of storm drains (two of them are even in the groove  that we are following) and a ditch leading towards Renforth Creek along the road immediately to the West of the park.

 As soon as the city-maintained grass parch hits the wood-lot, the creek's bed becomes more pronounced.

The west side of the wood-lot features very diverse trees and shrubs.  This is very impressive, since the place itself is the size of two local backyards.  The flora seems pretty healthy, minus of-course the ever-present invasive garlic mustard.  Also on this side is a historic house, moved here from somewhere else at some point.  Inside is a museum with era antiques on display.  You may host your wedding, etc there if you are into such a venue.  The society in charge of the structure hosts plant sales and participates in doors open annually.  

At the Eastern terminus of the park, the water, when it flows, goes into a water drain.  My guess is that it joins the rest of Jackson Creek in the unfortunate 427 Storm Sewer and drains into Etobicoke Creek at Dundas Street, where our creek goes to die and its zombie waters destroy the trails and wreck the ravines below through erosion, etc.  The dead waters, devoid of  UV ray treatment/ evaporation, ecosystem slow-down and purification also contribute to one of the most unhealthy ravine in Canada and ultimately a very poor quality beach and waterfront at Long Branch. 

 

Unhealthy features include garbage and wood pile-ups by flash floods, due to the speed up of water via pipes.  Such floods create holes and pools of water that are later remain cut off from the flow and produce countless mosquitoes that may carry the newest pathogen as a vector.  Also destroyed ravine is perfect for invasive species, such as knot-weed, hog-weed and garlic mustard that create acres of monoculture wrecking the native ecosystems.  

The south side of the park hosts a prairie-like tall grass habitat with loads of butterflies and a cosy sumac grove.

The inside of the grove is equally bucolic and unpleasantly destroyed by fellow humans.  There is a network of charming little paths, birds singing, etc.  BTW: beware of fire ants, they are ubiquitous here.

 The downside was a number two with napkins that some representative of civilization downloaded,  smack in the middle of the path, bottles and wrappers, and ultimately this:

Also, on literally the second step into the wood-lot, I got treated to a base of a beer bottle with shards going through my skin.  Still itches.  I flipped it, so the shards now go into the ground.

The creek-bed was moist and swampy with a bunch of animal paw prints around.

The human mis-activity here is evidence that all of us need to connect with the outdoors and Jackson Creek, as a significant piece of natural heritage must be restored for our use and benefit.  Such use and benefit ought to be planned by the community through consultation, be based in proper science and planning, etc.  While I respect the creator and caretakers of this wood lot and their admirable personal initiative, still this is simply the best that a very industrious Austrian dude could do (more on it later).  We deserve a community effort to restore Jackson Creek and solve the predicament that previous generation left us with,  Instead or together with the large scale piping projects that follower the Toronto Flood of 2013, water should be returned into this stream-bed and in my opinion, a pond ought to be created here for recreational and water quality purposes, similar to this one nearby.  

Below, I would like to archive an event page with some very useful information about this landmark.  Since said even has passed, I am afraid that the page may get deleted.  

Mobile Mabelle Walks the City: Johann’s WoodLot 

Applewood Shaver House Lot

Led By Johann Fisch

May 8, 2016, 1:00 PM, 2 Hours

Mobile Mabelle Walks the City: Johann’s WoodLot

Led By Johann Fisch

May 8, 2016, 1:00 PM

Meeting at Applewood Shaver House Lot

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About This Walk

Join MABELLEarts for a narrative art walk through the Broadacres Park woodlot, in partnership with Jane’s Walk and as part of “Mobile Mabelle Walks the City”. Led by the woodlot’s enchanting creator, machinist and West Mall resident Johann Fisch, experience Johann telling the story of the woodlot he planted on Earth Day in 1981 and has nurtured every Earth Day for 35 years. Starting at the historic homestead, Applewood Shaver House, proceeding through the remnants of an orchard and arriving in the woodlot, participants will get take part in a poetic exploration of Johann’s story.

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Map

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Walk Route

1. Applewood Shaver House Lot

   Meet up at the Applewood Shaver House parking lot at 1pm. 450 The West Mall

2. Enter Johann's Woodlot

   Through visual aids and with the assistance of ASL interpreters - we begin to tell the story of Johann's Woodlot

3. Unraveling Johann's Woodlot

   Starting in 1981, Johann planted a woodlot, starting with just 5 trees, so that he might have a better view from his condo balcony.

4. The Centre of the Woodlot

   Who is here? What will happen next?

How to Find Us

We will be carrying an umbrella - rain or shine!

Accessibility

Route May Contain

• Curbs and steps
• Uneven terrain
• Lowlight conditions

 Thanks for reading.  New posts are always cooking,  Please comment for suggestions.  Also soon I plan to expand my team and am looking for executive assistants/ contributors.  Furthermore, if any-one has stories of personal experiences with Jackson Creek and especially pictures, please contact.

 Feel free to disseminate this content in any way or form, including expanding the Wikipedia page.