TORONTO: The City of Toronto is preparing for a prescribed burn in High Park in spring of 2022 and is dependent on favourable weather conditions. Prescribed burning is a highly successful vegetation management technique historically used by Indigenous people, where fire is deliberately set and allowed to burn under strictly controlled conditions.
Trees work hard. They absorb water, clean the air, provide shade, reduce erosion, flooding and wind tunnels, and decrease heating and cooling costs. Maintenance is important for the health of trees.
Once snow has melted and weather patterns begin to consistently warm, City staff will begin daily monitoring of on-site ground conditions including temperature, precipitation, and relative humidity. The burn consultants will use the collected information to forecast the appropriate time window for a prescribed burn.
A burn date is selected once the ground fuels (dried grasses and leaf litter) have dried significantly, and optimal temperature and humidity are met to support a slow moving fire with high smoke lofting.
High Park will be closed to vehicles starting at 7 a.m. on the day of the prescribed burn, and will re-open once the fire is complete, typically by early evening. Access to burn sites and surrounding areas may also be temporarily restricted to ensure the safety of park users.
The burn sites in the City will be as follows:
• Site 1: located south of the Forestry School
• Site 2: located south of the Forestry School opposite the Sports Complex
• Site 3: located south of the Sports Complex just north of Grenadier Restaurant
• Site 4: located on the east side of the park, south of the Parkside Drive entrance, between Howard Park Avenue and Parkside Drive
• High Park contains remnants of Black Oak savannah, a globally rare and threatened ecosystem. Prescribed burns are part of Urban Forestry’s long-term management plan to restore and protect Toronto’s rare Black Oak woodlands and savannahs.
• About Prescribed Burns
• A prescribed burn is a deliberately set and carefully controlled fire. It burns low to the ground and consumes dried leaves, small twigs and grass stems but does not harm larger trees. It encourages the growth of native savannah vegetation and sets back the growth of undesirable invasive species.
• Prescribed burns are:
• planned and lead by a highly trained Fire Boss
• controlled by the Fire Boss and a trained crew
• used on small areas of land to ensure the survival of habitats for birds, butterflies and insects
• During prescribed burns:
• City staff onsite ensure the safety of the public and wildlife and can provide information about the burn
• park users should be prepared for restricted access to areas near burn sites, including temporary road closures, trail closures and reduced, or no parking
• smoke from burns will rise and dissipate in ideal conditions, however, weather changes could cause smoke to drift and impact residential areas near the park(s)
• close windows or consider leaving the area to avoid potential sensitivity to smoke
Toronto is home to the rare black oak savannah ecosystem. Only 1% of this ecosystem remains after European settlement. This ecosystem can be found in High Park, Lambton Park and South Humber Park.
High Park contains about 23 hectares of fragmented black oak savannah and is the most significant area of the savannah ecosystem in Toronto.
Prior to European settlement, the landscape was defined by Indigenous Peoples’ use of controlled burns to manage the landscape, coupled with naturally-occurring wildfires. Indigenous people would use fire to clear the land for agriculture, to rejuvenate the quality and quantity of forage and medicinal plants, and to attract wildlife.
This use of fire also helped to regenerate and maintain savannah habitats.
Prescribed Burns are designed to echo these historic controlled and natural fires and benefit native plants and animals by reducing invasive/exotic plants and grass, stimulating native plant regeneration, restoring wildlife habitat and returning nutrients to the soil.