Green politics always places great emphasis on better and less expensive healthcare by reducing toxins released into the environment, promoting wellness programs, etc. Vitamin D just might become a key ingredient in preventative healthcare, especially for counties in polar regions (both north and south) of the planet. After watching a compelling video lecture with Dr. Reinhold Vieth a few years ago, I started taking vitamin D supplements in winter and ever since have badgered family and friends to do the same. Does it work? I dunno — I’m just a sample of one, but I think I feel better and get fewer colds in winter. Every month new studies are churned out which demonstrate links between diabetes, cancer, etc with vitamin D deficiency. Here’s a lecture by Dr. Frank Garland of the U.S. Naval Health Research Centre that makes an even stronger case for vitamin D’s role in human health. Definitely worth considering.

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Unfortunately, the Conservation Review Board decided they would not accept this letter as evidence, even though it clearly shows what thousands of citizens have been saying for months: the David Dunlap Observatory park has broad heritage value. It has local, provincial and national significance and should be preserved. As the letter states:

“No matter the outcome of the CRB ’s deliberations and its advice back to Council on this matter, we are of the opinion that in relation to this site the Province should demonstrate proactively its leadership in the conservation of Ontario’s heritage for the benefit of the people of Ontario. This is not simply a local issue.”

Alexander further advises that the Minister of Culture, Aileen Carroll can establish the “immediate protection of the entire site through designation by you as Minister,under Section 34.5 ofthe Ontario Heritage Act”.

You can download the entire “Ministry of Culture 08-022-responsive-record”

The question is: why has the Ontario Government been sitting on this file for months, despite the direct pleas of thousands of residents and the advice of the Ontario Heritage Trust?  If you would like to help, please support the Richmond Hill Naturalists’ letter campaign.  Over the course of the Conservation Review Board Hearings hundreds of people have submitted personal letters calling for the complete preservation of the Dunlap property. In addition to the above letter campaign, you can also show support by adding to our original online petition and joining the Save Dunlap Observatory Facebook Group .

If you live in the Toronto area, Dunlap Observatory is a green space you will want to protect.

After attending one of the public lectures and seeing the 74-inch telescope for the first time on my 13th birthday, my friends and I made many trips to the DDO.  A few years later we moved to Weldrick Road and the observatory became a favorite place where I could walk, write and take photographs.

I realize my story is not unique.  It has been repeated by thousands of Richmond Hill residents for more than 70 years.  I suspect that all of these stories share at least this in common:  everyone who walks up Donalda Drive, between the towering pines and rounds the corner to see the Great Dome, the Administration Building and Elms Lea is struck by the majesty of these buildings and the solitude that surrounds them.

But there is more to Dunlap than buildings.

Twelve years ago, my wife and I moved into our own home about 2km from the DDO. Once again, the Observatory became a special destination – a place where we took our children and our dog to explore the forests and meadows.  Over the years, we became avid birdwatchers and — along with others — have made a special point of documenting bird sightings on the Dunlap lands. Since the fall of 2007, we have noted 72 species of birds on the property. These include many migratory species such as Eastern Towhee, Black-throated Green and Blue, Blackburnian Warblers (and many others).  Each year, these birds visit the DDO forests to rest and feed during spring and fall migrations.

The Dunlap habitat is also extensively used by northern birds that come south from the northern boreal forests. These include Pine Grosbeaks, Purple Finches and White-winged Crossbills, all of which have been seen on the Dunlap property. While the forests are important, the meadows and regenerating farm fields are crucial for the vole population that provides food for hawks and owls. The Dunlap fields also provide spring and summer habitat for grassland birds such as Field Sparrows, Kingbirds and Eastern Bluebirds.

At this very moment, Red-tails and Coopers hawks are soaring over the property, hunting mice and voles. Deer are browsing in the dense brush. Woodpeckers, nuthatches, juncos and chickadees are feeding in the woods. White-winged crossbills are soaring above the conifers and feeding on the cones.  This natural heritage is interwoven with the cultural heritage – and is enjoyed and confirmed through the daily activities of visitors who walk, cycle, cross-country ski, watch birds and wildlife and take photographs.  But where did these forests come from?

Trees and Nature

When we first moved to Richmond Hill, the signs posted around the Dunlap property read “David Dunlap Observatory and Arboretum”.  As you know, the Dunlap Arboretum was managed by the U of T Faculty of Forestry and the original gift of the property called for the creation of a park that could be used by the public.  Since local volunteers such as the Richmond Hill Naturalists began researching the scope and depth of heritage attributes of the site, I have seen a number of historical documents, including the plan for the DDO Arboretum and learned how many of the trees on the Dunlap Property were planted by astronomers and students.  The Dunlap trees include the “Mulock Oaks” which were planted in 1938 by Chant and Jessie Dunlap and other notable citizens such as Sir William Mulock, the Chancellor of the University of Toronto and Chief Justice of the Ontario Supreme Court.

What is perhaps less well-known is that for many years Mulock was also part of a world-wide movement that recognized the problems of deforestation and promoted the planting of trees. If you search the Toronto Star archives in the 1930’s, you will find other stories of ceremonial tree plantings and public calls for the creation of a local arboretum.  At one such planting in July 1939, Sir William urged Canadians to “bring pressure on their local members to convince all governing bodies it is in the highest interests of Canada to restore our destroyed forests”. And he urged individual action by planting trees wherever possible.

It seems to me that in addition to the astronomical benefits, the trees planted at Dunlap are the direct result of the noble and farsighted actions of these citizens.

From a heritage perspective, I do not know what the difference is between a plan that results in a building or a plan that results in a series of forests and meadows.  I do not know how to count the heritage attributes of the green spaces at Dunlap, though if we could understand them, I suspect the birds and animals that depend on them would have much to say on the matter.  Perhaps one way to view the eastern portion of the property is to consider it as “built habitat” – a series of forests, meadows and a wetland that grew out of the vision Jessie Dunlap, C.A. Chant and Sir William Mulock.

Heritage is Context

Over the course of these hearings, it has been said there are thousands of farmscapes in Ontario and not all of them warrant protection.  But part of the point about Dunlap, is that it sits here in the midst of 181,000 people.  The Dunlap Property is easily reached by thousands on foot. It could be accessible to thousands more by transit – perhaps even a GO Train stop.  The trails could provide a safe and sustainable way to link residents with other sections of the Town.

On the other hand, if you drive west along Major Mackenzie Drive, you’ll see that almost every farm field from here to Kleinberg has been scraped and prepped for development. You will see the same thing if you travel east towards Markham.  As you have heard, the scientific and cultural history of the Dunlap site is rich and unique. But, given the rate of development in the northern GTA, the land itself has become a rarity.

The fact is, the Dunlap property is larger in area than U of T’s St. George Campus. It is about the same size as Montreal’s Mount Royal. And, as you can see from the aerial photograph, it is the last remaining significant greenspace in the heart of Richmond Hill.

Dunlap’s Heritage is more than a sum of attributes.  In addition to the forests, meadows and buildings, Dunlap’s heritage can be found in thousands of newspaper articles, scholarly papers, photographs, stories and memories. The entire Dunlap Property, including the Great Telescope, the Administration Building, Elms Lea and all of the forests and meadows is a noble reminder – a much-needed reminder – that we are better than we think we are.

It deserves protection.

Obama’s acceptance speech and McCain’s concession speech were remarkable for different reasons. Obama is always very much aware of the arc of history and he has an uncanny ability to map paths along that arc for both himself and his audience. I envied the crowd in Chicago as tears of joy rolled down their cheeks in concert with his words.  MLK had a dream and now (finally!) Obama is living it and inviting the world to go along.

As for McCain, while he is not a particularly eloquent speaker, tonight he was gracious, transcendent and real. In fact, this was McCain’s most presidential moment since the campaign began and it should be a harbinger of the attitude the Republicans must adopt if they hope to rebuild.

All in all, a truly remarkable evening.

And now, as a Canadian, I wonder how, and if, Stephen Harper can work with Obama. Tomorrow morning Harper may discover that he has gotten up on the wrong side of the ideological spectrum. We shall see. All I know I that I will soon have to change the PenOpticon banner. After all, Tony Blair is gone and Bush and Cheney are starting to pack up their stuff.  Can Harper be far behind?

It is amazing that Americans can shoehorn most of their political views into these two political parties, especially when much of the democratic world requires three, four, five or more parties. As Canada lurches forward with four national parties, it is obvious, that the change we need here is a proportional voting system that will enable these diverse voices to obtain seats in government and work together in a spirit of practical collaboration. Until that day comes, Canada will be cursed with a series of minority governments that will have a hard time getting the job done.

Congratulations President Obama! Now how can Canadians get the change we need?

From Oct 30, 2007 Open letter to the Governing Council of the University of Toronto:

This afternoon, the University of Toronto Governing Council will meet to decide the fate of the David Dunlap Observatory and its adjoining 189 acres of forests and meadows. This will be no ordinary meeting, and, if U of T’s governing body decides to sell, it will be no ordinary sale.

If these lands are permitted to be sold off and turned into houses and big box stores, it will require the consent and collusion of U of T’s governing council, the Town of Richmond Hill and the province. In other words, the destruction of DDO forests and meadows will proceed only if the University declares the property to be surplus land, the Town of Richmond Hill council rezones it from institutional to residential/commercial, and the province (through Ontario Municipal Board hearings, if not ministerial intervention) allows bulldozers to begin scraping away the topsoil and trees.

If these three entities collude to ensure the destruction of the largest remaining green space in the heart of Richmond Hill, it will demonstrate once and for all that our society has no interest in building sustainable communities or fixing the environmental mess we have gotten ourselves into. It will show that despite the pretty words in a thousand press releases, no one really believes green space is important for the well-being of people and wildlife.

After all, if one of Canada’s leading universities – an institution responsible for teaching conservation and sustainable development practices and for researching the social and environmental aspects of natural green space – is willing to sell the DDO to the highest bidder, what can we expect from rest of society?

In fact, the sale of this land will undo much of the University’s institutional effort to become sustainable and environmentally sound. The University of Toronto demonstrated leadership by opening a Sustainability Office in 2004. Since then, it has launched numerous greening initiatives – from the LEED-certified Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre in Mississauga to extensive tree planting and naturalization projects on the St George campus. In an article on the University’s “Open Space Plan”, Mary Alice Thring writes “Trees are so integral to U of T that they appear in its crest and are invoked in its motto: Velut Arbor Aevo, which translates as ‘As a tree with the passage of time.’” She adds, “Trees are such a focus of all phases of the Open Space Plan that the landscape architects describe transforming the campus into an ‘urban forest’” (U of T Magazine, Spring 2004).

Clearly, when it comes to its Toronto and Mississauga campuses, U of T’s administration understands the relationship between the environment and the health and well-being of people and all living things.

But, will the greening of U of T’s 160-acre downtown campus mean anything if that institution sells off 189-acres of healthy forest and meadow lands in order to pay for future expansion projects? When the Dunlap property became part of the University in 1935, it was cultivated farmland. After seventy years of U of T’s stewardship, this land has been regenerated. It is now a crown of forest cover in the midst of Richmond Hill and a quiet haven for dozens of species of birds, deer, walkers – and astronomers.

If the University proceeds with this sale, it will be in spite of the broad and deep environmental expertise of its own academics. A quick scan through the U of T undergraduate catalog turns up dozens of courses on the environment, forest ecology, conservation biology and other topics. Dr. Mart Gross, for example, teaches courses which focus on “biodiversity; endangerment; habitat loss and fragmentation” as well as “moral philosophies, and political, economic and social justice issues surrounding biodiversity”. In fact, U of T is home to Canada’s oldest forestry program and celebrated that Faculty’s centennial this month by hosting an international Congress to develop a “comprehensive Global Vision of Forestry in the 21^st Century”.

What kind of “vision” will the sale and destruction of a major urban forest provide for the residents of Richmond Hill and their children?

Given the repeated warnings of coming climate change and environmental degradation from UN panels such as the IPCC; given the fact that southern Ontario – and much of North America – is in the midst of a multi-year drought; given that Great Lakes water levels are at all-time lows and central plains aquifers are being depleted; given that our electrical grid has been pushed to the limit while geologists tell us that Peak Oil will occur – or has occurred – within our lifetime; we must ask whether now is the time to diminish our environment further by destroying the David Dunlap Observatory lands.

Again, I would draw attention to the Spring 2004 edition of U of T Magazine: “People need trees, and lots of them. Each year, Toronto’s trees absorb roughly 28,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of the output of thousands of cars. They also absorb about 1,500 tons of other pollutants, such as smog-causing nitrogen oxides. Not only do we need trees to maintain our health, we need them to nourish our souls.”

Alumni and friends of the University of Toronto have responded generously to the University’s desire for trees. By taking “minimum” donations of $750 per seedling, the University has planted hundreds of new trees on its downtown campus. To celebrate U of T’s 175^th anniversary, for example, F. Ross and Susan L. Johnson made a gift of 175 trees and perennials along King’s College Road and the Sir Daniel Wilson and Knox College walkways. Are not such wonderful gifts diminished if the University forges ahead with sale and destruction of the DDO property – a thriving urban forest that is considerably larger than the St. George campus?

Over many decades, thousands of Richmond Hill students have paid millions of dollars in tuition fees to attend the University of Toronto. To this day, these students graduate with deep technical and critical thinking skills and a desire to build rich lives and communities. After 70years, it is unthinkable that the University would threaten the health of a vibrant community by removing the 189-acre heart that sits in the middle of it.

The fact that these healthy forests and meadows can be sold off for millions of dollars with out regard for, or consultation with, the people who live next to it is emblematic of many of our current social and environmental problems. The ability to speculate, to buy and sell remote tracts of land, mineral rights, water resources and currencies while remaining disconnected — or willfully ignorant of local consequences — explains a great deal about how we have moved close to the brink of our own destruction.

I do not see how the U of T Governing Council, the Town of Richmond Council and the Province can support the sale of David Dunlap Observatory. There is time. And the University should use it.

Sincerely,

Rod Potter

Member of the Richmond Hill Naturalists Executive and long-time Richmond Hill Resident