Scanned copy, if there are errors, please e-mail me with corrections:
Jan. 20, 1994, Mississauga News. No credit for story. Cawthra woodlot to be thinned out Between five and 10 per cent of the trees in the Cawthra woodlot are to be removed to give the remaining woodlot a chance to revitalize. The huge 25 hectare (64 acre) stand of trees on the east side of Cawthra Rd. south of the Queen Elizabeth Way has suffered from a "noticeable decline in vitality" according to a report presented recently to city councillors. Development on the edges and in the midst of the woodlot, changing drainage conditions and lack of forestry management have combined to cause some deterioration in the woodlot, one of the finest of the 40 owned by the public in Mississauga. "Intervention is required to facilitate natural and assisted regeneration of the woodlot," say a report from the City's community services department. A team of foresters has put together a management program for the woodlot, which is designed to remove dead and damaged trees and open up the forest canopy to allow the remaining trees to flourish. A third watermain is to be installed along the eastern edge of the woodlot this June, requiring the removal of 460 trees by the Ministry of Environment and Energy. The lands are to be replanted. The Credit Valley Conservation Authority has agreed to use its expertise to do the tree removal. The work is to be done in an "environmentally sensitive" manner. Limbs and brush will be left on site or sold as firewood and saw logs. The revenue will cover the costs of the thinning program. A video is also to be made during the various stages of the rehabilitation to be used as an educational tool. The northern two-thirds of the woodlot consists of 65-75-year-old sugar maple, red maple, white/green ash, and yellow birch. The southern third consists of old sugar maple and beech and 15-20-year-old sugar maple, beech, ash, yellow birch and red maple saplings. The management program will allow for natural regeneration but it will also include plantings of species no longer present, including white pine, red oak, swamp white oak, hickory, black ash, redbud and buttonbush. Public meetings and site tours are to be part of the communication program for the program. This is the first of what the City plans to be a series of management plans for all of its woodlots. PHOTO; of the snow covered Cawthra estate house CAPTION; Cawthra estate
[COMMENTS BY DON B. - The first news article about the City's logging and tree farming plans for the Cawthra Bush. Statements like "noticeable decline in vitality" and "Intervention is required to facilitate natural and assisted regeneration of the woodlot," are quickly challenged as having a forestry bias and not using the ecosystem method. It is claimed that species "no longer present" were to be planted, I have never seen a factual account of what species were there before the white man came. Interesting the Missing news doesn't report how fast they rammed this thing through or that the public meeting was to tell people what has been decided, not to ask for their in put. You really have to know how to read between the lines on this one, as a lot is said. The term "woodlot" is one of the worst terms to use when talking about a forested environmentally significance area. Woodlot means; a place where you cut fire wood and construction materials. ]
|