Monitoring for The Meadoway

August 29, 2018

Transformative is the word most often used to describe The Meadoway project in Scarborough.  Led by Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA), in partnership with the City of Toronto and The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, the plan is to convert 16 kilometres of hydro corridor into a place filled with butterflies, birds and wildflowers – a rich meadow landscape realized on a scale never before seen in the history of Toronto.  The evolution of this landscape and what species will occupy it will be closely monitored by TRCA’s Environmental Monitoring and Data Management team.

Beyond the recreational and community-building opportunities provided by 20 kilometres of The Meadoway’s mixed-use trail, the Project aims to provide necessary east-west connections to the well-established north-south ravine systems in Toronto, while connecting greenspaces across the east end of the GTA.

Work began in the hydro corridor in 2012 when two pilot projects were undertaken funded by the Weston Family Parks Challenge. Approximately 100 acres have already been revitalized with meadow habitat, a multi-use trail and urban gardens. The ecological benefits of extending the meadow habitat include supporting pollinators in the region, which are increasingly at risk; create food sources for butterflies; providing resident birds with cover to nest and rear their young; and offering migratory birds a place to stopover.

Mr. John MacKenzie, TRCA CEO, said the organization “will be observing the meadow in the years to come to monitor its growth and health,” and as such the TRCA’s Environmental Monitoring and Data Management team has been involved with the Project since 2016 when long-term vegetation plots, butterfly monitoring transects, and breeding bird count surveys were initiated.  In 2018, long-term monitoring continued with the establishment of new vegetation plots, bird and butterfly transects, and the completion of an extensive biological inventory of the entire site.

TRCA Monitoring field biologists setting up long-term vegetation monitoring plots. The longer TRCA can continue to collect monitoring data, the better we will be able to evaluate the health and condition of this meadow habitat. Ten years or more of such monitoring can show significant trends in populations that are not possible to observe in a single year.

Savannah sparrows have been observed in some of the new habitat created along The Meadoway.  TRCA’s Terrestrial Long-Term Monitoring Program data from 2008-2014 shows that meadow birds are showing moderate declines across Toronto and region due to the impacts of urbanization, with fewer sensitive species in urban meadows. Open country birds usually nest either on the ground or low in shrub vegetation and are highly susceptible to increased traffic and disturbance from recreational hikers, bikers and domestic pets. More sensitive regional species, like the Bobolink or Eastern Meadowlark, will only take up residence if there is minimal disturbance to their nests during breeding season.  Read more Terrestrial Long Term Monitoring Spatial and Temporal Trends 2008-2014

This ground-breaking project will also serve as a model for future meadow restoration projects.  For example, TRCA has been building its capacity through this project by embarking on a new type of monitoring – butterfly counts.  The presence or absence of butterfly species, and their abundance is monitored over the course of four visits during the warmer months. The average butterfly lifespan is only about ten days and most species’ flight periods are only a month.  By using the same dates over several years, a list of species can be compiled.

Mike King, one of the biologists involved in the Project shared that “Butterflies have long-served as indicators of a healthy environment; not only are many species sensitive to habitat disturbances but many have very specific habitat requirements, such as relying on one specific plant species.” Some butterfly caterpillars are specialists; that is a species may feed exclusively on one or several closely related species of plant.  For example, the federally endangered Monarch butterfly caterpillars only feed on milkweed plants in meadows and open areas.  Conversely, adult butterflies are not specialists but generalists; they sip nectar from many different plants or may even feed on sap, mud, rotting fruit, carrion or dung.  In order to attract and sustain resident butterflies, The Meadoway will need to incorporate a diversity of wildflowers, grasses, shrubs and trees known to support a variety of butterfly species throughout their life cycles. (Butterflies of Toronto, City of Toronto Biodiversity Series 2011)

The Monarch Butterfly is one of 15 butterfly species observed in the revitalized section of The Meadoway trail between Thompson Park and Scarborough Golf Club Road, known as the Scarborough Butterfly Trail.  The Monarch is listed as a species of “Special Concern” under the federal Species at Risk Act because of a combination of biological characteristics and identified risks, especially risks to the overwintering sites in Mexico. It has been similarly designated under the Ontario Endangered Species Act, 2007.

From the habitat created, to the scientific knowledge gained through monitoring, to the community-building that will take place, The Meadoway will showcase a new reality for environmental collaboration and will redefine the meaning of a community connected through conservation.

Through scientific data collection, TRCA’s Environmental Monitoring and Data Management team tell the stories about the changes affecting the natural areas and watercourses within our regions.  For more information, please visit our webpage, follow us on Twitter, subscribe to our Monitoring Matters  e-newsletter, or visit our YouTube playlist.