How Carlington Park is under threat
City can’t afford to take urban forests for granted, warns Sharon Boddy.
While the world grapples with a tragedy of the commons writ large — in the form of climate change — you don’t need to look far to see other, smaller tragedies unfolding.
Public parks are a shared resource; we all pay for them and we all benefit. Parks with urban forests are particularly important because they provide stormwater, erosion, pollution and temperature control, promote biodiversity, and give us places to chill out.
Parks are insurance policies against some climate change impacts. Whether or not we “see” these services in action, they work for all of us and at far less cost than engineered solutions.
But parks and urban forests are, at best, being taken for granted; at worst, dismissed. The latter is the tragedy of the commons unfolding in Carlington Park.
In 2016, the City of Ottawa approved the construction of a mountain bike pilot project on the park’s Meadow, and granted the proponent, the Ottawa Mountain Bike Association, $150,000. The Ontario Trillium Fund granted another $150,000 this past January.
The Meadow is one of the highest natural points in Ottawa. Until July, it was a thriving ecosystem, with plants that were well adapted to the rocky and windswept environment.
The Woods within the park’s boundaries, and the NCC woods to the south, form part of an increasingly rare alvar environment, but are often dismissed as “scrubland” and worthless.
Worthless lands don’t have endangered butternut trees, or mature maples, hickories, ironwoods, pines, cedars and spruces; nor do they support species of concern such as grass snakes and barn swallows. The Woods have these and more.
Worthless lands are also not designated by the city as an Environmentally Protected Zone (EPZ). The Carlington Woods are.
Certain activities — and mountain biking is high on that list — are prohibited in EPZs because consistent high-impact use of smaller or sensitive areas compacts soil, damages vegetation, decreases biodiversity, and increases the spread of invasive species.
Damage is already evident in Carlington’s EPZ: cut, spray-painted and damaged trees and vegetation; berms, jumps, and other structures built; new and expanded trails; and soils dug out.
The Meadow is only a few steps from the EPZ, but the city approved the pilot project anyway, and has done little since then to protect it (EPZ signs were installed at the request of a community group).
Carlington’s EPZ is not unique in this regard. Many EPZs in Ottawa deal with the same challenges but no consistent conservation approach is being taken; there isn’t even any standardized signage.
In fact, not a single City of Ottawa sign advertising the project inside Carlington Park has ever been posted.
Development signs must be posted on private land to give citizens notice and an opportunity to comment. Developments in parks can occur without any user ever knowing about it until it’s too late. No wonder so many were taken by surprise when construction of the pilot cut off all pedestrian access and enjoyment of the Meadow earlier this summer.
Despite what you have read or heard, Carlington Park is not a bike park. Nor is it a dog park or any other specialty-use park. Just because you can fly a kite there, or picnic, or train for a marathon, doesn’t mean it’s only for kite flyers, gingham-blanket enthusiasts, or triathletes.
It’s a public park and that means it’s for everyone.
Some believe that having the pilot project will stop the damage in the EPZ but without enforcement or signage to educate users, human nature suggests it will continue and worsen.
Time will tell. One thing is certain: If we lose the Carlington Woods due to ignorance and apathy, it will be a tragedy for everyone. Sharon Boddy is an Ottawa freelance writer and researcher.