Story based on a conversation with John LaRose

”Now I see a tree of agile grace and beauty, limbs in upward swing pulling down the sun, building up the earth, breathing out the air, this very life for us, this simple truth, we are all made up of one…”

Excerpt of a poem by John LaRose

I walked through the Black Oak Savannah of High Park with forestry technician for Urban Forestry John La Rose. The birds and crickets sang in full throttle, the earth smelled rich and moist and the foliage glistened in the sun after the brief and intense rain. John pointed out the wildflowers as we walked. First a butterfly milkweed. Its stunning orange flowers will bloom later this summer. Then a showy tick trefoil. This wildflower is not only beautiful, but also beneficial. It takes nitrogen from the air and brings it into the soil, converting it to a form that plants can use. Finally we come to a large patch of lupins, a classic symbol of the black oak savannah. With it’s colour variations – of purple, violet, white and pink, this flower is a beauty.

John tells me how plants are beings, like us, only upside down.  “The roots are the heads, looking for food and interacting. The leaves are the body, collecting the light, they don’t have to do the thinking. Plants are deeply connected to the earth around them, they connect the air and the earth together. And science is finally figuring out how to measure how plants interact with each other.”

John is passionate about protecting native plant ecosystems; “I’m here to take care of nature. I’m just happy to be in High Park. I’ve made it. In terms of forestry you want someone who will stick with it for years, who will see a vision through. We live in this environment that we were born from, that feeds us perfectly, if we just take care of it.”

Story by Kathryn Naylor

“Like many people, my husband and I like to get some exercise in High Park.  We do a lot of mountain trekking and scrambling, and there’s only one good way to train for that:  put on the backpack and traipse up and down some hills.  We particularly like the Rock Garden path because it provides an up-and-down loop.  We trained there for climbing Kilimanjaro a few years ago, and we eventually calculated that we had climbed eight Kilimanjaros during our months on the Rock Garden loop.

The training continues.  When the weather warms up it’s nice to get out there early.  On one particular spring morning, we were heading down the path on the east side of the garden, intending as usual to cross the next foot bridge and continue back up on the other side, past the big magnolia tree – but we saw that our path was obstructed over there.  While we were trudging along, four ballerinas had materialized under the magnolia tree!  Clearly it was an early-morning photo shoot; a photographer readied his camera while the ladies used the iron fence as a barre to perform extension moves.  The flowering season was nearly over for the magnolia, and the blossoms fell all around these four dark-haired princesses in peach tutus.

We never knew what dance company they represented, and this soft spring vision remains a mysterious and magical memory.”

Story by Michael Ball

“On my regular walks around High Park I marvel at the wide range of sights, smells and experiences which are available to me, and other, to freely enjoy. The park is a unique place only minutes from a noisy, hectic, and a crowded urban world so I appreciate the many individuals, and groups, who came before me and who made contributions to help ensure that High Park is a wonderful natural pocket in the middle of Toronto for now and well into the future.

I appreciate the foresight of John George Howard who deeded his property and his home, Colborne Lodge, to the city with the conditions that the park remain ” . . . for the free use, benefit and enjoyment of the Citizens of Toronto for ever and to be called and designated at all times thereafter High Park.”

I also appreciate the actions, and foresight of earlier city councillors who invested in additional lands to expand the size of the park to make it more sustainable, including all of Grenadier Pond and more of the important streams, springs and vegetation.

I am thankful that the City of Toronto Urban Forestry department has a long-term management plan, including regular prescribed burns, to help manage the rare Black Oak savannah habitat in the park. This will help to ensure that future generations are still able to experience and enjoy this endangered habitat. Now, thanks to their earlier efforts, I can regularly see the soft blue colour of wild lupins in the Spring which were nearly lost forever.

I am grateful for the efforts of High Park Stewards, in the past and currently, whose work has helped to maintain and improve the natural environment of the area. The hours they put in throughout the year ensures that future visitors are able to experience a wonderful green oasis in the heart of Toronto.

Finally I appreciate the current visitors who control their pets, respect their picnic spaces, and ensure that High Park stays an inspiration for photographers and artists, a space for walkers, runners, and players, both young and old, and a long-lasting jewel for the future.”

Story based on a conversation with Sandy, a High Park Zookeeper

“When Honey was born, High Park Zoo was in a fight for it’s life. The City of Toronto had cut funding for the zoo and it was at imminent risk of shutting down.

‘Friends of High Park Zoo’ was formed and they began to raise funds to keep the zoo running. The Honey Family Foundation  agreed to match all community donations for the next three years. The llama, Honey, was named after these generous donors, and became the poster child in the fight to save the zoo.      

Luna was Honey’s first born baby. When Luna was born she was also in a fight for survival, only she was fighting for her own life.

On Sept 9, 2015, I received a call from 311. “There was something going on in the llama pen, an animal or something, it might be dead.” I went there right away. I almost didn’t see the whitish little lump near the feeder. None of the other llamas were near her and she was unresponsive. I thought to myself ‘this isn’t good’. I picked her up and began to dry her off and shake her and eventually got a little sigh out of her. She was alive but very weak. I brought her and her mother indoors to a stall and encouraged her to nurse. It’s crucial that new-borns get some milk within a couple of hours of being born. She wasn’t able to nurse, and I couldn’t milk the mother very well, so I mixed up a bottle of powdered colostrum and fed the baby.  We continued feeding her this way for a few days, then she took a turn for the worse. We had to take her away from her mom and bring her to the vet.

She stayed at the vet for a week before she was well enough to return home.  While at the vet, she developed a problem with her neck. It became very crooked with her head leaning to the right. We were told that she needed physical therapy several times per day. Back at the zoo we massaged her neck and encouraged her to use her neck muscles. At that point she couldn’t even walk well. She kept veering off to the right and crashing in to things. Because she was so vulnerable we kept her in her own separate pen, away from the other llamas. We kept working and working. One day I sat with Luna in her pen and cried because she’d been through so much.

Eventually she started to improve.  We came to believe that her only hope for a full recovery was put her back in the llama pen where she would need to keep her body moving, to look in all directions. She had a little brother who was an in-your-face kind of guy, and that alone we thought would keep her moving. So that’s what we did. During the day we brought her to the llama pen, and at night we brought her back to her own pen. And then she got better rapidly. Within a couple of days your average person looking wouldn’t have noticed anything.

The vet thought for sure she wouldn’t be able to start nursing at that point. It had been six weeks since her birth at that point. But she did. She resumed nursing.

All babies are special. But Honey’s baby was perhaps more special than most. We pulled out all the stops for her. And she’s such a sweetheart. She loves us, and she’s bonded with the llamas. We can come down here and call her and she’ll come running. She’s our baby and we love her.”