The killing of the Seaton Trail and Duffins Creek

In 2017 I wrote about the amazing Seaton Trail, the old-growth forests along its route, the crystal clear creek that runs alongside it, and the surrounding farmland and greenspace. Controlled development was being allowed along its east bank while the west shore adjacent to Rouge Park was protected. At the time I wrote “there are two ways to look at the Seaton plan – one is that a large amount of greenspace is being protected in the GTA, including some ecologically significant areas. The other is that an almost equally large area of existing greenspace and farmland is being developed.”

Fast forward to today, when the Doug Ford’s Conservative government is handing nearly the entire western portion of the original Seaton lands, known as the Duffins Rouge Agricultural Preserve, to wealthy developers. The De Gasperis family owns 28 properties in a parcel of farmland the Ontario government is removing from the Greenbelt between Duffins Creek and Rouge Park. Since some of these properties directly abut the Seaton Trail we can expect houses to be built right up to the trail in many places.

This isn’t some marginal land that’s getting developed, it’s actually one of the crown jewels of the Greenbelt, including some of Ontario’s best farmland and a large part of the watershed that supplies one of the healthiest streams in the GTA. The Duffins Creek Watershed has the most natural cover and the most forested area of any watershed in the Toronto region. The clean cold waters of Duffins Creek allow it to support the endangered fish species Redside Dace, and regionally rare Brook Trout. Parks Canada weighed in, saying “Should these lands be removed from the Greenbelt and developed as proposed, Parks Canada’s analysis suggests that there is a probable risk of irreversible harm to wildlife, natural ecosystems and agricultural landscapes within Rouge National Urban Park thereby reducing the viability and functionality of the park’s ecosystems and farmland.” Despite this and widespread public opposition the Ford government is plowing ahead.

I try to choose my battles carefully because advocacy and activism are exhausting, so if I’m going to wade in, it’s for a place that really matters, that is ecologically important and inspires the imagination. This is unequivocally one of them. If you don’t know the Seaton Trail, hike it while you still can, and then join fight for its survival. Call your MPP (you can find their phone number here) and remind them that the Ford government promised to leave the Greenbelt alone. You can also send a letter through the Environmental Defence website and join / organize local protests.

This is not the only ecologically significant area that will be removed from the Greenbelt – 15 areas are slated to be removed from the Greenbelt. The main beneficiaries are billionaire housing developers who bought protected land at for pennies on the dollar then donated to Doug Ford’s campaign, and asked him for a favour. Changing the designation of the Duffins-Rouge lands alone amounts to a transfer of one to two billion dollars from the province (which sold the properties at a discount under Mike Harris’s Conservative government) to some of Canada’s wealthiest families. Imagine if that amount of money was spent on actually affordable housing instead. Developing the Greenbelt will do little to alleviate housing shortages, since in fact there is plenty of land still to develop that is not in the Greenbelt, much of which is actually closer to Toronto.

Ontario Nature compiled the following list of areas that the Ford government wants to hand over to Ontario billionaires:

1. Major wildlife corridors and thousands of acres of farmland, sensitive woodlands and wetlands situated between the Rouge River and Duffins Creek watersheds, including the entire critical headwater reaches of Petticoat Creek.
2. A provincially designated wildlife corridor in King Township that provides a vital connection between the Holland Marsh and the Oak Ridges Moraine.
3. A valley of the East Humber River in Vaughan that supports the endangered redside dace.
4. A large wetland in Richmond Hill that is part of the provincially significant Rouge River Headwater Wetland Complex.
5. Critical wildlife corridors in Markham that connect the Oak Ridges Moraine to Rouge National Urban Park.
6. A large wildlife corridor in Markham at the sensitive headwaters for Robinson Creek, a tributary of the Rouge River, that supports a large cluster of provincially significant wetlands.
7. A band of protected farmland between Ajax and Whitby that connects the coastal wetlands and woodlands of Lynde Shores and a large block of woodlands and wetlands to the north along the former beach of Glacial Lake Iroquois.
8. A large provincially significant wetland in Clarington that is part of a sensitive groundwater recharge area.
9. Large woodlots, wetlands and prime farmland in Hamilton along a sensitive headwater tributary of Big Creek.
10. Farmland in Hamilton and Grimsby designated as Niagara Peninsula Tender Fruit and Grape Area.

After you take actions to save the Greenbelt you can consider supporting my work with a contribution to the campaign to Save Ontario’s old-growth forests. Any size of contribution helps!