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Welcome to the Volunteer Stewardship Program (VSP)! Our goal
since we began in 1996 is to assist the City of 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 Rare Plants of the Endangered High Park
Black Oak Savannah, A Volunteer Stewardship Program Guidebook a plant and habitat
guide, history of Locally, you can
purchase the guidebook at these locations:
To order directly from
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 January and in June with events for the upcoming six
months. VSP
meets at 10:30 a.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of each month, year
round except December, and for extra sessions during the spring and summer as
needed. For work sessions we gather in front of the Grenadier Café and
Teahouse in the middle of the park. Our educational presentations (mostly in
winter) are at the Howard Park Tennis Club, 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 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.
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.
The borders of ·
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 two weeks of the sale. Downloads
E-mail: vsp@highpark.org Phone: 416-392-1749 for an audio event listing and to leave a message
for our volunteer coordinator Useful Links
Events
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