Abbreviation | TFBBD |
---|---|
Formation | 1989 |
Dissolved | 2010 |
Type | Municipal advisory committee |
Purpose | Environmental |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Staff | 1 |
Volunteers | 20 |
Part of a series on the |
Don Valley |
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Rivers |
Parks |
History |
Environment |
The Task Force to Bring Back the Don was a citizen advisory committee that advised the city council of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on issues concerning the Don River and its watershed. It consisted of up to 20 citizen members and 3 council members. It was formed in 1989 and disestablished in 2010.
On September 7, 1989, city council established the Interim Task Force on the Don River Clean-Up. [1] The impetus for the creation of the Task Force was a public meeting held 5 months earlier on April 1, 1989 at the Ontario Science Centre attended by about 500 people who were interested in cleaning up the Don. At the time the Don River was seriously neglected and polluted. At the same time, an article entitled "Rebirth of a River" was published in the Globe and Mail newspaper that detailed the current state of the river and its issues and challenges. [2]
In 1991, the Task Force published a book entitled Bringing Back the Don. The book detailed visions for restoration of the Don Valley potential methods for doing so.
In addition to the advisory committee, the Task Force sponsored restoration projects. These included tree plantings and wetland restorations. In 1996 the Task Force launched a major wetland restoration project called the "Demonstration Wetland". It was later renamed "Chester Springs Marsh". Two basins were excavated adjacent to the river and these periodically flood with river water. [3]
The Task Force either created or enhanced four more wetlands in the Don Valley and another three in nearby tributary ravines. [4]
The Task Force advised the city on environment related issues including the sewer use bylaw, [5] road salt reduction, snow dump sites, the Wet Weather Flow Master Plan, [6] and flood protection of the lower Don. [7]
The Task Force also sought to create a naturalized mouth for the Don River, which empties into a concrete lined harbour waterway called the Keating Channel.
Members of the Task Force were appointed for a three-year term in parallel with the term of council at the time. One member was appointed as chair by the committee for the same three-year term. After 2001, the committee appointed a vice-chair who chaired meetings whenever the chair was unavailable or declared a conflict of interest during a point of discussion. Members were recruited through the city appointment process. The Task Force interviewed prospective members to ensure that they had an interest in the Don River and could participate in the goals of the committee.
The Task Force had three sub-committees called teams where individual members discussed issues in detail. The teams reported back to the Task Force once per month and tabled motions if necessary. The teams were Habitat Restoration; Policy & Planning; and Communications, Outreach, and Marketing.
The Task Force had the support of some city staff who were more or less dedicated to Task Force business. The city clerk's office assigned a person who sent out a printed agenda and took minutes during the monthly meetings. Another employee in the Planning Department assisted with editing the newsletter which was produced twice per year, website updates, and other Task Force material including educational material.
To support the Task Force's restoration initiatives, there was an employee in the city's Parks and Forestry department who was responsible for projects in the Lower Don. Originally the person was hired specifically for the Task Force but the position evolved to include other similar responsibilities.
The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, commonly known as the Gardiner Expressway or simply the Gardiner, is a partially at grade and elevated municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running close to the shore of Lake Ontario, it extends from the foot of the Don Valley Parkway (DVP) in the east, just past the mouth of the Don River, to the junction of Highway 427 and the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) in the west, for a total length of 18.0 kilometres (11.2 mi). East of Dufferin Street to just east of the Don River, the roadway is elevated for a length of 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi), unofficially making it the longest bridge in Ontario.
The Don River is a watercourse in southern Ontario that empties into Lake Ontario, at Toronto Harbour. Its mouth was just east of the street grid of the town of York, Upper Canada, the municipality that evolved into Toronto, Ontario. The Don is one of the major watercourses draining Toronto that have headwaters in the Oak Ridges Moraine.
The Don Valley Parkway (DVP) is a municipal expressway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which connects the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Highway 401. North of Highway 401, it continues as Highway 404. The parkway runs through the parklands of the Don River valley, after which it is named. It has a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h (56 mph) for its entire length of 15.0 km (9.3 mi). It is six lanes for most of its length, with eight lanes north of York Mills Road and four lanes south of Eastern Avenue. As a municipal road, it is patrolled by the Toronto Police Service.
Judith A. Sgro is a Canadian politician. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, she currently represents the electoral district of Humber River—Black Creek in the House of Commons of Canada. Sgro currently serves as the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade and as a Chair on the Canadian House of Commons Liaison Committee since 2016.
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The Toronto Works and Emergency Services department was responsible for a variety of services.
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The Keating Channel is a 1,000-metre (3,300 ft) long waterway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It connects the Don River to inner Toronto Harbour on Lake Ontario. The channel is named after Edward Henry Keating (1844-1912), a city engineer (1892-1898) who proposed the creation of the channel in 1893. The channel was built to connect Ashbridge's Bay to the harbour; later, the Don was diverted into the channel, and its river mouth infilled in the early 1910s.
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Daylighting is the opening up and restoration of a previously buried watercourse, one which had at some point been diverted below ground. Typically, the rationale behind returning the riparian environment of a stream, wash, or river to a more natural above-ground state is to reduce runoff, create habitat for species in need of it, or improve an area's aesthetics. In the United Kingdom, the practice is also known as deculverting.
Crothers Woods is an area of the Don River valley in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is 52 hectares in size and consists of woodland, meadows, wetlands, and an assortment of past and present municipal uses. The wooded area has been designated as an Environmentally Significant Area (ESA) by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. An ESA designation is useful in highlighting valuable natural areas but this does not affect planning uses. The area is currently zoned as undeveloped parkland. Crothers Woods was named after George W. Crothers who owned and operated an equipment dealership called Crothers Caterpillar which sold and serviced new and used heavy machinery for the construction and mining industries. The company stayed until 1979 when they relocated to Vaughan, Ontario. Murhal Developments bought the property and eventually sold it to Loblaws which built the store that currently occupies the site just off Millwood Road.
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