海角社区官网

There was a time when Toronto鈥檚 ravine system was seen as polluted or even dangerous. Places to avoid. Some of that was true, a lot was perception, but that鈥檚 all changed and over the last two decades Torontonians have embraced the ravines as part of city life.

Their benefits are better known too: flood mitigation, cooling the city and they could help 海角社区官网weather climate catastrophes. They鈥檙e also beautiful, pleasant and being in them is good for mental health.

Today they鈥檙e busier than ever, yet so vast it’s easy to feel alone, as if the city is far away even if a subway station is a short walk. I鈥檝e been exploring them since I moved to 海角社区官网a quarter century ago and still regularly 鈥渄iscover鈥� new tentacles in its . That鈥檚 17 per cent of Toronto, something few cities can boast.

My favourite way of exploring is on hours-long bike rides. There鈥檚 a meditative rhythm to how paved trails go from dense, forested areas to wide open spaces, sometimes by picnic grounds or sports fields. On these rides I pass through different neighbourhoods and oddly feel more in touch with the whole city by going down below it. I see people from Don Mills on evening walks in Wilket Creek park or big summer picnics in Morningside Park with epic sound systems.

As beloved and crucial as they are, they need a lot more love and attention.

Quick fixes

Tree roots and thin paving techniques have created hundreds, perhaps thousands, of humps in the pavement. The more dangerous ones are sometimes painted orange, but that quickly fades and they鈥檙e often big enough to knock someone off a bike. A dedicated trail auditor inspecting a stretch everyday, empowered to fix it immediately, could smooth this out.

Nearly a decade ago a signage pilot project was launched in the 鈥淒on River Valley Park,鈥� the area south of Pottery Road. While the signs are slowly spreading north along the Don, they鈥檙e needed throughout the system as one of the reasons people cite as a barrier to ravine enjoyment is not knowing how to get down in them and, once there, how to get around.

Serious changes

海角社区官网has had an ambitious in place for years, laying out a plan to fix and maintain them, but it remains underfunded and is executed in bits and pieces. At Spacing, John Lorinc in the Vale of Avoca near Yonge and St. Clair is even getting wealthy neighbours thinking about using private money or a conservancy model to fund improvements.

Some impressive work has taken place in the Vale along some of the creek bank, but other erosion damage continues nearby, an example of the system-wide challenges. The Ravine Strategy needs to be properly funded across the whole city, but it also needs a political champion to keep on it. Who wants to step up?

This year is also the tenth anniversary of the , a legacy project of the Pan Am Games. An almost-continuous, 80-kilometre multi-use trail from the northwest corner of the city, down through the core and east to Rouge Park, generally following ravines, the lake or the Gatineau Hydro Corridor in Scarborough.

A way to physically and symbolically connect the city, it was lined with art installations along the way, like the canoes lodged into the concrete below Don Mills Road called 鈥�.鈥� The legacy project was meant to expedite the process of fixing some of the many missing links in the trail network, .

While work is underway in a few places like the near Flemingdon Park, where river bridges and a tunnel under a railway are very slowly coming together, other gaps remain. Let鈥檚 just finish the Pan Am Path, and remember to make sure other legacy projects for mega events get finished while there鈥檚 political momentum and will.

Pie in the sky

Ravines don鈥檛 stop at Toronto鈥檚 border, they continue into other GTA municipalities where trails are hit and miss. Connecting all major ravines from the lake to the Oak Ridges Moraine would be like creating an alternative, 400-series highway network but without cars.

Other missing ravine connections exist because of golf courses. They can remain, but let’s establish public right-of-ways through them. Some, like the Dentonia or Don Valley courses, are municipally owned and should be easy. Others, like Rosedale, Markland Woods and Weston clubs, are private. It鈥檚 a privilege to be in the ravines, and a historical mistake to allow private property so close to rivers and creeks. The city is currently studying the ”” through the Weston course.

Use all means necessary, even expropriation, to create paths through them, building structures聽 to keep users safe from errant balls. There鈥檚 a mayoral legacy waiting to happen.