Welcome to the Volunteer Stewardship Program (VSP)!  Our goal since we began in 1996 is to assist the City of Toronto Restoration Crew in returning the natural areas of High Park (54 hectares or 135 acres) to pre-settlement conditions and to encourage the use of native plants in Toronto and beyond.

Before European settlers arrived, the local environment consisted of large areas of Oak Savannah and its related wildlife. The VSP works with the City of Toronto to increase this now rare and unique ecosystem. Our document, History of High Park Geology and Vegetation, is available for download (below).

VSP Activities

Our activities range from planting, weeding and watering to our semi-annual native plant sales, social activities, presentations and field trips.  Our calendar is updated in June and in January with events for the upcoming six months. 

Volunteer Stewards meet for hands-on events at 10:30 a.m. most every other Sunday, year round, and at 6:30 p.m. most every other Tuesday during May to August at the entrance to the Grenadier Café and Teahouse.

We don’t keep attendance, and you can leave an event at any time.  We’re happy to see new faces, as well as familiar faces that have been away for awhile. Not all of our volunteers are schooled in ecology or gardening but everyone shares a love of the outdoors, learning more about their environment and taking an active role in helping it to thrive.

Planting and Monitoring

VSP volunteers care for about 3,000 native wildflowers, shrubs and grasses plants a year and spend approximately 1,500 to 2,000 person-hours working in the park.  VSP activities also include weeding and cutting down invasive and non-native plants, collecting seeds in the fall, cleaning and planting those seeds in the greenhouses and transplanting seedlings in the winter months. Over the years we monitor and document the results of our progress and share these reports and photographs with those who can benefit from our experience.

Adopt-a-Plot Program

The Adopt-a-plot Program was launched in 1999 to further extend the restoration work of the VSP.  This program allows individuals or groups of volunteers to adopt and maintain a designated area and plant or seed them with native plants to help restore the site.  There are currently thirteen adopt-a-plots on the Tablelands between the baseball diamonds and the Grenadier Café and Teahouse.  This program has dramatically increased the diversity of native plants since the inception of the program.  Some of the plants that have been re-established are Wild Lupines, Indian Grass, Big and Little Bluestem and Butterfly Weed (HP Woodlands & Savannah Management Plan Feb. 2002).

Boulevard Beds

In 2000, VSP took over the Boulevard Beds, which are located around the perimeter of the parking lot east of the Grenadier Café and Teahouse.  Initially, the beds were bare earth, now they are a flourishing example of the Oak Savannah ecosystem that exists throughout less publicly-accessed areas of the park. Throughout the growing season a multitude of colour can be seen - in the spring serviceberry trees bloom white and smooth roses pink, in the summer there is blue hairy beardtongue and orange butterfly weed and in the fall there are yellow goldenrods and purple and white asters.

Native Plant Sales

The borders of High Park and the Oak Savannah are expanded when area residents grow native plants in their own yards.  VSP holds two native plant sales during the year, one in the spring and one during the Harvest Festival in October.  Some of the many advantages to growing native plants are that they:

·         Are well suited to their natural habitat

·         Require less maintenance than ornamental cultivars

·         Have longer blooming periods

·         Do not require organic matter or fertilizers

·         Tend to withstand insect and disease attacks

·         Attract more wildlife than ornamentals

·         Are drought tolerant once established

The list of plants that will be available at the next plant sale is available on our website within a two weeks of the sale.

Downloads

History of High Park Geology and Vegetation

Adopt-a-Plot map

VSP Calendar for January to June 2008

VSP Native Plant Ref Guide (PDF Format)

VSP Native Plant Ref Guide (EXCEL Format)

How to Select and Buy Native Plants – City of Toronto Urban Forestry Dept.

Native Plant List for VSP May 4, 2008 (WORD)

Native Plant List for VSP May 4, 2007 (PDF)

Contact

For more information, please contact VSP at any of the following:

E-mail:  vsp@highpark.org

Phone:  416-392-1748 ext 1 for an audio event listing and to leave a message for our volunteer coordinator

For non-urgent information you can send mail to:

Volunteer Stewardship Program

c/o High Park Community Advisory Council

P.O. Box 108, Swansea Town Hall

95 Lavinia Avenue

Toronto, Ontario

M6S 3H9

VSP Links

NANPS - North American Native Plant Society http://www.nanps.org

LEAF - Local Enhancement & Appreciation of Forests http://www.leaftoronto.org

TFN - Toronto Field Naturalists http://www.torontofieldnaturalists.org