Whitevalemarsh

 During the December 15 meeting of the City of Pickering Council, a motion proposed by councillor Pickles and seconded by councillor Butt was unanimously approved. It is now up to the Province to work with the city of Pickering and its community to protect this precious natural enclave. See the excerpt below: "13.6 Seaton Trail Moved By Councillor Pickles Seconded By Councillor Butt Whereas, the Seaton Trail is an important recreational and natural asset for the Hamlet of Whitevale, and residents of Pickering, Durham as well as used by people from across the Greater Toronto Area; And Whereas, the Region of Durham recognizes the Seaton Trail as part of its Activity Trail Network with the future connection to the Rouge Park and the City of Pickering recognizes the Seaton Trail in its City of Pickering Recreation & Parks Ten Year Plan (2024) noting the growing popularity and use of trails and highly desirable amenity as a valued community asset and destination; And Whereas, there...

 Bundle 10, which includes the Whitevale Marsh, is now being offered for sale to developers by IO's realtor. Offers will be looked at in the new year. We are still determined to advocate for the preservation of the marshlands. On Tuesday, December 10, we met virtually our MPP, Finance Minister Bethlenfalvy and Minister of Infrastructure Surma, in the presence of Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe. Minister Bethlenfalvy and Mayor Ashe have long supported our cause. Mayor Ashe, as Mayor Ryan did in the past, had written a letter of support for our project to Minister Surma. Minister Surma listened to our arguments but insisted that the process of selling the land was in motion.  Her staff indicated that the marsh area that will be protected will be larger (see image below), following the results of an ecological assessment recently done for IO, which, we were told, recommend putting low density housing only in the flat areas. We are trying to get a copy of that ecological report. The ma...

 The City of Pickering council has reiterated its support for the protection of the Whitevale marsh at the September 3, 2024 Council meeting and Mayor Ashe subsequently sent a support letter to Minister of Housing and Infrastructure Surma. We need to continue putting pressure on the Province for them to work with the City of Pickering to stop the planned development of the marsh and instead create a nature park for the community with a trailhead connecting to the Seaton trail. Email Uxbridge-Pickering MPP Bethlenfalvy  (peter.bethlenfalvyco@pc.ola.org)  and  the Minister of Housing and infrastructure: The Honourable Kinga Surma (Minister.MOI@ontario.ca)

Provincial and Municipal politicians need to sit down and work together as Pickering is reviewing its official plan (May 27, 2024 Council Meeting) .  The marsh and former aggregate pit immediately north of the hamlet of Whitevale (west of North Road) needs to be protected. It is for now in the hands of the Province but has been offered for sale to developers. We are asking you to sign the petition on May 25, 2024 during the Whitevale Festival and to start writing letters of support for the creation of this Whitevale Natural Urban Park to our MPP Bethlenfalvy (peter.bethlenfalvyco@pc.ola.org,   Constituency office. Suite 213 1550 Kingston Rd. Pickering, ON L1V 1C3   Tel.: 905-509-0336),   our Mayor Kevin Ashe ( mayor@pickering.ca ), and our Ward 3 councillors David Pickles ( dpickles@pickering.ca ) and Shaheen Butt ( sbutt@pickering.ca ). Other councillors should be contacted too, as they have expressed their continued support. They need to receive these emails b...

May 2024 - The marsh is awaking to Spring  ... but still no decision on protecting it as a Natural Urban Park.  Please write to the City of Pickering Council and MPP Bethlenfalvy to urge them to work together and create the Whitevale Natural Urban Park in their current review of the City of Pickering Official Plan

 Contact Rougeduffinscoalition@gmail.com or whitevalemarsh@gmail.com Park on North Road or Altona Road as it is the opening of Fishing Season

 It has been almost three years since our last post! In the meantime, COVID change our way of living. Going to an office, a cinema, a play, a conference or a workshop were not an option for a while, People communicated by phone or through the internet. However, what increased tremendously was our need for the outdoors, our need to walk or play outside, our connection to nature. The outdoors were relatively safe and we could walk, hike, explore, exercise or run freely outside. The parking lots of the trailheads and local parks were full. We realized even more clearly our need for green space and parks. The Seaton Trail was busy and people signed our petition to protect the Whitevale Marsh. Our group continued to meet on line, or at times face to face with masks, with politicians. We met with MPP Bethlenfalvy, former Pickering Mayor Dave Ryan and councillor Pickles. We were given some hope that there was something in the works to protect the marsh (see attached the letter from former...

Check this poster on the trail: it is advertising our Marsh Petition. Many hikers are walking on the Seaton trail, and many more have discovered it during the pandemic. The parking lots at the Whitevale Community Park and  the Green River trailheads are overflowing and many people park on the streets of Whitevale and on both sides of Highway 7. People need the outdoors, the exercise, the fresh air, the experience of spotting wildlife and seeing the change of seasons, now more than ever.  These hikers do not know that the Whitevale Marsh and regenerating gravel pit are threatened by the future Seaton development. This area, on the east side of the trail, just north of Whitevale will be offered for sale to developers. Being the site of a former gravel pit, it has a unique topography with cliffs, ridges and valleys occupied by marshes and sand barrens. It has woodlots attracting a wide range of bird species and beautiful meadows, rich in milkweed plants, the preferred food of the...

  We have started a petition to protect the marsh and create a Nature Park on the site, as well as a new parking lot and trailhead off North road for the Seaton trail. Sign our petition on this site  www.change.org/WhitevaleMarsh-Seatontraihead

Check this video of the site on this youtube link posted by Eric Farquharson. It was taken in the fall of 2016.  You will see some ATV tracks left by people in the Spring and Fall but as time passes (we are now in the Fall of 2020), some vegetation gains ground on the bare soil and colonizer plant species appear. People on ATV's find this new landscape less attractive, and their absence allows for a more diverse flora ecosystem to flourish. We will shortly post a recent video showing this progression. Whitevale Gravel Pit

The Whitevale Marsh, West Duffins and the trails along the seasons

On August 3, 2018, our MPP Peter Bethlenfalvy met with us and visited the Whitevale Marsh. He listened to our concerns and saw for himself the reasons why we continue to advocate for the preservation of the former aggregate pit and marsh.

Just today, in the marsh, a snapping turtle resting...  Several species of turtles are at risk or endangered   in Ontario as described in this link  Turtles at risk in Ontario . For more information about the plight of this marsh and our struggle to save it, please refer to the 17/04/2017 and 12/04/2017 posts.

Just a few shots from our fall photo contest, won by Andre Denis (microphotography), Elton Law (the marsh) and Mary Evans (the trail). The irony is that we thought Andre's shot was of a Milkweed pod, an ubiquitous presence in the marsh site, beneficial to the Monarch Butterfly, but that it was in fact a shot of the noxious weed commonly called "Dog Strangling Wine", an invasive species colonizing many locations in Southern Ontario.