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Region of Peel NAI Area # 1238, 1247, Toronto and Region 1254, 1258, 2433, 2620, Conservation Authority 2622, 3934 City of Size: 35 hectares Watershed: Etobicoke Creek Con 3 E, Lots 12, 13 Ownership: 15% Subwatershed: private, 85% public Upper Etobicoke Creek (City of Mississauga; Province of

General Summary This urban site along Etobicoke Creek is comprised predominantly of cultural meadow along with other culturally-impacted terrestrial communities, deciduous forest and wetland communities. The watercourse of Etobicoke Creek is natural, with meanders and a broad floodplain.

While the area is highly fragmented by agriculture under the hydro lines, the existing narrow strip of connecting natural vegetation provides an important linkage between Etobicoke Creek and a tributary stream that would otherwise be isolated. Its high percentage of open and successional communities combined with nearby agricultural land makes this natural area capable of supporting area-sensitive grassland birds. The area is highly disturbed by a variety of causes, both historical and current. But since a large part of the area is in public ownership, considerable opportunities exist to mitigate disturbances and restore and enhance parts of the area.

TRCA ELC surveyors, botanists and ornithologists have provided complete data coverage for the core NAI inventories (vegetation communities, plant species, breeding birds) plus incidental observations of other fauna over the delineated area (Table 1). Currently, full species lists are not available, although TRCA-tracked flora and fauna as well as plant species that dominate vegetation communities, are noted here.

Table 1: TRCA Field Visits Visit Date Inventory Type 04 June 2003 Fauna 06 Aug. 2003 ELC 07 July 2003 Fauna 07 Aug. 2003 ELC, Flora 08 July 2003 Fauna

Physical Features This area is in the Peel Plain physiographic region; characterized by flat to undulating topography. Soils of this region tend to be low-permeability clays, deposited when glacial meltwater ponded up over a layer of low-permeability deposits.

Etobicoke Creek is the central hydrological feature of this natural area, winding across the floodplain, taking a natural course. The north tip of the area includes part of another small tributary creek, which joins Etobicoke Creek a short distance downstream from the lower end of this natural area (and across the road). This small creek and its surrounding riparian and meadow communities are only narrowly connected with the main natural area by a strip of naturalized vegetation running between the agricultural land under the hydro corridor and an industrial property. This small tributary emerges from under Highway 407 through a culvert, thus wildlife movement upstream is restricted for land- based (non-bird) fauna.

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Human History The former community of Mt. Charles was located nearby at the crossroads of Dixie Rd. and Derry Rd. Derry Rd. was once a busy pioneer road linking Malton and Meadowvale. In 1819, Charles King Sr. was granted 100 acres of dense forest on the northeast corner of this intersection. He later purchased 100 acres on the southeast corner of this intersection where he operated a store and his son later ran a post office (Wilkinson, Undated). One of the conditions on land granting of the time, was that a portion of it be cleared and put into agricultural usage. Thus land clearing in the area would have begun in the 1820’s.

Part of the south portion of this natural area is known as Mt Charles Park.

A network of off-road vehicle tracks run throughout the main, south part, of this natural area. One of the tracks is particularly wide and runs across the river, in the riverbed. A major hydro corridor with high-tension towers bisects this site. Most of the land under the towers in agricultural, but where the wires pass over the natural area, vegetation height is restricted by periodic cutting.

Tomken Rd., Highway 407 and Dixie Rd. border this natural area. Surrounding land use is predominantly industrial. The agricultural land use under the hydro corridor acts to significantly fragment the area, leaving only a narrow strip of naturalized vegetation to connect the riparian and meadow communities of the north part with the main area. A hydro substation is also adjacent. At the south end of this area, in Mt. Charles Park are two baseball diamonds.

Part of the delineated area on private property that was cultural meadow and meadow marsh has more recently been converted to paved industrial parking space.

Vegetation Communities The general community types present here are deciduous forest (9%), marsh (5%), open aquatic (4%), cultural meadow (70%), cultural thicket (5%), cultural woodland (7%) and plantation (0.6%).

Twenty-five plant communities were mapped for this area, comprised of 11 different vegetation types (Table 2). One of these vegetation types, the Fresh-Moist Black Walnut Lowland Deciduous Forest (FOD6-5) is provincially rare. This community type is also considered to be a TRCA regional Community of Urban Conservation Concern. One community was classified only to ecosite level.

The sugar maple and black walnut forest communities are all mid-aged. The ash forest community is young. All of the cultural woodland communities are mid-aged.

Table 2: ELC Vegetation Communities Map Vegetation type Size in % of natural reference * hectares area FOD6-5 Fresh-Moist Sugar Maple - Hardwood Deciduous 1.38 3.98 Forest FOD7-2 Fresh-Moist Ash Lowland Deciduous Forest 0.9 2.60 FOD7-4 Fresh-Moist Black Walnut Lowland Deciduous Forest 0.88 2.55 (2 communities) PROVINCIALLY RARE S-rank S2S3 MAM2-2 Reed Canary Grass Mineral Meadow Marsh 1.38 3.98 (3 communities) MAM2-A Common Reed Mineral Meadow Marsh 0.23 0.65 OAO1 Open Aquatic Ecosite 1.24 3.56 CUM1-C Exotic Forb Old Field Meadow (9 communities) 24.27 69.95 CUT1-C Exotic Cultural Thicket (2 communities) 1.85 5.34

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CUW1-A3 Native Deciduous Cultural Woodland (3 communities) 1.67 4.82 CUW1-B Exotic Cultural Woodland 0.67 1.92 CUP3-3 Scotch Pine Coniferous Plantation 0.22 0.64 TOTAL AREA INVENTORIED 34.69

* Note: The map reference code refers to the vegetation type shown on mapping for this area and also to the Appendix list of species typically encountered in this vegetation type.

Species Presence Vascular Plants At least 36 species of vascular plant are present at this natural area, of which 23 (64%) are native. None are Species At Risk, provincially or regionally rare. One plant species present here is a TRCA regional Species of Conservation Concern and an additional three species are TRCA regional Species of Urban Conservation Concern (Table 3).

Breeding Birds At least eight species of breeding birds occur in this natural area, all of which are native. None are Species At Risk or provincially rare. All eight of these breeding bird species are TRCA regional Species of Urban Conservation Concern (Table 3).

Two species of colonial-nesting birds occur here, the Bank Swallow (Riparia riparia) and the Northern Rough-winged Swallow (Stelgidopteryx serripennis).

Mammals One incidental species of mammal was detected at this area, the White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus). This species is native and is a TRCA regional Species of Urban Conservation Concern (Table 3).

Table 3: Regionally Rare Species (shown in bold), TRCA Regional Species of Conservation Concern (L1-L3), and TRCA Regional Species of Urban Conservation Concern (L4) (Kaiser, 2001; Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, 2007) Scientific name Common name S rank G rank L-rank VASCULAR PLANTS Acer rubrum Red Maple S5 G5 L4 Acer saccharinum Silver Maple S5 G5 L4 Euonymus obovatus Running Strawberry-bush S5 G5 L3 Fagus grandifolia American Beech S4 G5 L4

BREEDING BIRDS Riparia riparia Bank Swallow S4B G5 L4 Ceryle alcyon Belted Kingfisher S4B G5 L4 Contopus virens Eastern Wood-pewee S4B G5 L4 Dumetella carolinensis Gray Catbird S5B G5 L4 Myiarchus crinitus Great Crested Flycatcher S4B G5 L4 Northern Rough-winged S4B G5 L4 Stelgidopteryx serripennis Swallow Vireo olivaceus Red-eyed Vireo S5B G5 L4 Actitis macularia Spotted Sandpiper S5B G5 L4

MAMMALS Odocoileus virginianus White-tailed Deer S5 G5 L4

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Site Condition and Disturbances This natural area is highly disturbed from a variety of historical and present causes.

Historically, forest cover was removed for agricultural use. Fragments of the area have been allowed to recover to natural vegetation, but this has been fairly recent and full recovery has been restricted by surrounding land use (e.g. prevention of tree growth under hydro lines) and fragmentation. The construction of Highway 407, a major freeway, would also have contributed additional disturbance of surrounding lands, which in turn affected this area. Ongoing disturbances and the conversion of the surrounding countryside to an urban environment slow or prevent full recovery.

Off-road vehicle use presents an important, and preventable, disturbance, predominantly along the Etobicoke Creek corridor part of this area. While most of the tracks appear to be only lightly used, they do form a fairly extensive network on the publicly-owned lands and they cut across riparian wetlands and meadows, close to the river. Debris adhering to off-road vehicles from other locations may include propagules of invasive species and thus, may introduce new invasives to an area and exacerbate an existing problem. In addition to the lesser tracks, there is one wide, apparently heavily- used track that creates more than just localized disturbance in the form of noise, erosion, spur tracks and disturbance to the riverbed where the track runs in the river. There is also some light, localized disturbance from trails in the north portion of the site, by the tributary creek.

Light disturbance from flooding is associated with the riparian community along the tributary as well as with the community that accepts drainage from the southern agricultural field under the hydro lines. In the north section there is a small pond that accepts drainage from ditching alongside Highway 407, which shows moderate disturbance from flooding, not unexpected as it appears that this pond was created to mitigate flooding.

Light disturbance from trash and dumping exists throughout the southern part of the creek floodplain. The presence of vehicle tracks in this area makes trash dumping possible. In the north part of the area, a higher level of trash dumping disturbance is widespread throughout the communities, possibly associated with the adjacent industrial use as well as the presence of the highway.

Evidence of earth extraction and filling is widespread in this area, affecting many communities. Filling is generally closely associated with adjacent industrial and agricultural properties and ranges from light to severe disturbance. Filling serves as a significant vector for the introduction of invasive species.

All communities in this natural area are affected by exotic species, and some communities are dominated by invasive species. Over half of this area is severely affected by exotic species and most of the remainder is moderately affected. This disturbance pattern reflects the widespread distribution of not just exotic, but invasive, species. Only the forest community behind the forest adjacent to the ball diamond, thus buffered from sports recreational use, is lightly affected by exotic species. This high disturbance from exotic species is not unexpected given the long disturbance history, plus the intrusive nature of the tracks throughout the natural area and extensive filling and dumping.

Ecological Features and Functions With forest communities greater than 2 ha, wetlands over 0.5 ha in size and cultural meadow over 10 ha, this natural area has the potential to support and sustain biodiversity, healthy ecosystem functions and to provide long-term resilience for the natural system. The riparian area provides a transitional zone between terrestrial and aquatic habitats, helping to maintain the water quality of the stream and providing a movement corridor for plants and wildlife.

By containing a relatively wide variety of habitat types, this natural area supports biodiversity, particularly for species that require more than one habitat type for their life needs. This natural area contains provincially rare vegetation communities and thus has the potential to support additional biodiversity above and beyond that found in common community types.

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This area is in a key location, at the intersection of the main Etobicoke Creek valley and a major hydro corridor. Along the valley, connectivity with natural areas upstream and downstream is relatively good for an urban site. Bounding roads bridge the stream leaving at least a narrow terrestrial space along the stream banks for wildlife to travel safely under the road. At the upstream end of this area, passage under the bridge at Tomken Rd. is particularly good as the bridge span is fairly long.

The small tributary at the north end of this area emerges from a culvert under Highway 407, so wildlife access upstream along this route is restricted. However, access to the upper reaches of this tributary is possible in a roundabout way, via under the bridges along the main stream Etobicoke Creek to the natural area immediately north of Highway 407, and then northeast laterally to the upper part of the tributary. This connection makes the linkage between the north part of this natural area by the tributary and the main part by Etobicoke Creek even more important because it allows continuity of flora and fauna and gene flow along the tributary to remain intact.

This relatively close proximity of other areas of natural habitat creates above-average potential for wildlife movement between natural areas, species dispersal and recovery from disturbance, creating additional resilience for the ecosystem.

Etobicoke Creek runs through this area and thus this natural area supports the connectivity function of Etobicoke Creek and its tributaries by providing a natural habitat corridor that facilitates the cross- regional movement of wildlife along this corridor between major provincial corridors.

This natural area contains two communities of a provincially rare vegetation type.

This area supports two species of colonial-nesting birds.

Based on the above features, this area should be evaluated to determine if significant wildlife habitat is present in accordance with the Provincial Policy Statement, Region of Peel Official Plan, and area municipal Official Plan.

Opportunities Although this area is highly disturbed, the fact of its largely public ownership presents opportunities for great improvement of the environmental quality.

Many of the current disturbance sources are associated with the accessibility of vehicles throughout this natural area. If vehicle access is restricted/prevented, then additional trash dumping and disturbance in the interior of the site can be prevented, and introduction of additional problematic invasive species may be slowed. Existing trash could be cleaned up. The riverbank and riverbed damaged where the main track cuts across the river could be planted to prevent erosion and to allow a naturally vegetated stream bank to re-establish. In-stream remedial structures could be used to restore the riverbed habitat.

The natural vegetation linkage between the north portion of the area associated with the tributary stream and the main part of the area along the Etobicoke Creek floodplain should be enhanced where possible. This strip is currently very narrow. Widening of the strip by restoration plantings or by allowing part of the agricultural field to revert to natural vegetation would improve wildlife movement between these parts of the area and would help to reduce the effects of fragmentation. Otherwise the communities at the north end of the area are left rather isolated as they are bounded by busy roads and the stream flows through culverts under the roads. Enhancement of this corridor may be feasible because the hydro corridor under agriculture is publicly owned property and is presumably rented to a farmer. Thus, a strip of the field could be removed from the rental agreement for agricultural usage (with the agreement adjusted accordingly) without loss to the farmer.

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A delay in mowing or cutting of vegetation under the hydro lines is encouraged until after the young of ground or shrub-nesting birds have fledged.

The distribution and extent of invasive species in the natural area could be monitored. Controls of at least some invasive species might be considered

Additional inventories of mammals, herpetofauna, dragonflies/damselflies and butterflies might be productive given the large open areas and presence of the stream and wetlands.

Literature Cited Kaiser, Jeff. 2001. The Vascular Plant Flora of the Region of Peel and the Credit River Watershed. Prepared for: Credit Valley Conservation, the Regional Municipality of Peel, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority.

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. 2007. Terrestrial Natural Heritage Program Data Collection Methodology.

Wilkinson, M. Undated. Preserving Our Places. Available at http://www.oocities.com/judydrysdale/kinghistory.html Last Accessed 23 November 2010.

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Date of this Site Summary: October 2011