Basic Info
History
Jobs and Brownfields
This map shows the existing conditions of the land, with a legend depicting the different types of tree and plant communities. Good for an overview of the site.
This document outlines the trees the city wants to cut down for the HCBP. It lists their name, their diameter, the radius of their crown, whether they are considered to be a 'hazard,' their overall condition, and for what reason they are being cut down. Of edible trees on site, these lists include at least 65 apple trees, 240 black cherry trees (a native cherry that is slightly astringent but can be very delicious), 70 black walnuts (which can contain an edible nut that is different from the walnuts we're used to eating from stores, but good nonetheless), 20 bur oak (which has the largest edible acorn of any native oak, a very underappreciated food source), a handful of pear and plum, five mountain ash (a very astringent but healthy fruit, very high in vitamin c, it becomes more palatable with freezing), and various others.
The tree inventory maps are computer-generated maps that show the location of the trees the city wants to cut down for the HCBP.
Phase 1 and 2 Tree Inventory Map
This is a list of all the birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians on the site.
This is a list of all the plants observed on the site.
This is a map showing the path of the tributaries of the Hanlon Creek.
What does it mean that there is an Old Growth Forest?
A commonly accepted definition for 'Old Growth' is a tree that is older than 150 years. While the trees in this forest are nowhere near the size of the gigantic trees on the west coast, they are considered Old Growth.
Several years ago, Old Growth Forest expert Bruce Kershner did some field work on the HCBP site. Before Bruce passed away in 2007 from cancer, he had authored twelve books, and was widely recognized as a leading expert on Old Growth Forests of northeastern North America. One of Bruce’s first discoveries on the HCBP lands was a Hop Hornbeam tree that he estimated to be between 500-600 years old, which would mean this tree predates the colonization of the Western hemisphere. This tree is surrounded by a grove of Sugar Maples who are between 150-230 years old. In early 2006 a member of LIMITS and Bruce later explored the central forest, and found more than 100 trees older than 150 years of age, and many other qualities to the forest that indicate it is an Old Growth Forest.
An accurate age of a tree can be determined by a number of characteristics, including the diameter of the tree, the stage the bark is in, the height of the lowest branches, unique growth forms in the trunk and branches, the presence of moss, the growing conditions on the site, and a few others.
An Old Growth Forest can be identified by a number of characteristics, including the presence of long-lived and shade-tolerant trees (like hemlock, sugar maple, white and red oak, yellow and black birch, beech, white ash), the presence of surviving commercially valuable species (like large black walnut, black cherry, white pine), pit and mound shapes on the forest floor (which are caused by the toppling of large trees from long ago, which indicates a continuous time period of being undisturbed), many large logs in different stages of decay, diverse populations of fungi, lichens, mosses, and ferns, and an absence of evidence of logging or human disturbance. The forest on the HCBP site has all of these characteristics.
Guelph is part of the much larger Grand River Watershed, thus anything that we put in our water in Guelph ends up traveling downstream. The Hanlon Creek, of which a primary tributary runs through the HCBP site, later becomes part of the Speed and Grand Rivers, which means Guelph is a steward for several downstream communities and has a responsibility to not pollute this water. In fact, the Speed River is barely a couple kilometers from the proposed development.
Brantford relies on the Grand for 100% of its drinking water, Cambridge 20%, and it is also the main supply for the Six Nations reserve, Canada's most populous reservation with more than 22,000 people.
Already, 81% of the Grand River watershed's original forests have been replaced with cities and farms. There are more than 135 dams in the watershed, and 29 sewage treatment plants. Dams are barriers to the movement of fish and many reptiles and amphibians, often cited as a primary cause of species decline. Treated sewage can often choke rivers, depleting oxygen levels and raising the temperature to unnatural and unstable levels. In times of low water level in the Speed River, Guelph’s treated sewage can comprise 1/3 of the water.
Amid all the ongoing problems in the Grand River watershed, some of which have gotten better over the years, and many of which have gotten worse, it seems strange that Guelph, a city with a reputation as an environmental leader, would pursue a 675-acre industrial development surrounding a headwater tributary of the Hanlon Creek, a Provincially Significant Wetland, and an Old Growth Forest.