Ground 57 – Spring 2022 – Explore by Ground Magazine

Landscape Architect Quarterly 12/

Round Table Decolonizing Landscape Architecture

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Features Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice!

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The Fungal Classroom

Publication # 40026106

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Exploring in Search of an Inner Landscape Spring 2022 Issue 57

Masthead

OALA

About

About the OALA

Past President Jane Welsh

Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly is published by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects and provides an open forum for the exchange of ideas and information related to the profession of landscape architecture. Letters to the editor, article proposals, and feedback are encouraged. For submission guidelines, contact Ground at magazine@oala.ca. Ground reserves the right to edit all submissions. The views expressed in the magazine are those of the writers and not necessarily the views of the OALA and its Governing Council.

The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects works to promote and advance the profession of landscape architecture and maintain standards of professional practice consistent with the public interest. The OALA promotes public understanding of the profession and the advancement of the practice of landscape architecture. In support of the improvement and/or conservation of the natural, cultural, social and built environments, the OALA undertakes activities including promotion to governments, professionals and developers of the standards and benefits of landscape architecture.

Councillors Matthew Campbell Aaron Hirota Shawn Watters

Upcoming Issues of Ground Ground 58 (Summer) Impact

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Editor Glyn Bowerman

2022-2023 OALA Governing Council

Photo Editor Jasper Flores

President Steve Barnhart

OALA Editorial Board Saira Abdulrehman Tracy Cook Eric Gordon Mark Hillmer Helene Iardas Eric Klaver Sarah Manteuffel Nadja Pausch (Chair) Dalia Todary-Michael Stacey Zonneveld

Vice President Stefan Fediuk

Web Editor Jennifer Foden Social Media Manager Jennifer Foden Art Direction/Design Noël Nanton/typotherapy www.typotherapy.com Advertising Inquiries advertising@oala.ca 416.231.4181 Cover Saplings in the mist: plant nursery in Niagara. Photography by Ilze Andzans. See page 24 Ground: Landscape Architect Quarterly is published four times a year by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Ontario Association of Landscape Architects 3 Church Street, Suite 506 Toronto, Ontario M5E 1M2 416.231.4181 www.oala.ca oala@oala.ca Copyright © 2022 by the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects. Contributors retain copyright of their work. All rights reserved. ISSN: 0847-3080 Canada Post Sales Product Agreement No. 40026106 See www.groundmag.ca to download articles and share content on social media.

Treasurer Cameron Smith Secretary Justin Whalen

Associate Councillor—Senior Jenny Trinh Associate Councillor—Junior Layal Bitar Lay Councillor Karen Liu

Ground 59 (Fall) Food Deadline for editorial proposals April 14, 2022

Appointed Educator University of Guelph Nadia Amoroso

Deadline for advertising space reservations: July 13, 2022

Appointed Educator University of Toronto TBC

Ground 60 (Winter) Neighbours

University of Guelph Student Representative Tatijana Vukovic

Deadline for editorial proposals July 7, 2022

University of Toronto Student Representative Natasha Raseta

Deadline for advertising space reservations: October 5, 2022

OALA Staff

Erratum

Executive Director Aina Budrevics

In the Ground 56 (Winter 2021) feature “Regreening the Moonscape,” a line acknowledging the annual financial contributions of Sudbury Integrated Nickel Operations, a Glencore Company, to the Sudbury’s Ugliest Schoolyard Contest was deleted in error.

Registrar Ingrid Little Coordinator Sherry Bagnato Membership Services Administrator TBC

See www.groundmag.ca for a digital, searchable, archival database, listing all articles, authors, subjects, key words, etc. published in Ground over the years.

TO VIEW ADDITIONAL CONTENT RELATED TO GROUND ARTICLES, VISIT WWW.GROUNDMAG.CA.

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Advisory Panel Advisory Panel Message and a Call to All for Contributions In an effort to streamline the editorial process for Ground, and after much deliberation, the Editorial Board has decided to dissolve the Advisory Panel. Ground would like to express heartfelt thanks to Panel members, past and present, for their contributions to over 50 issues of the magazine. This was a difficult decision, but one we are confident will maintain the energy and imagination necessary for future issues. What is needed most, at this time, is a robust and diverse Editorial Board and contributing writers. Anyone interested in joining is encouraged to email magazine@oala.ca, Subject Line: Volunteering. You do not need to be an OALA member or landscape architect to contribute to either the Editorial Board or the magazine, and anyone who expresses interest will be seriously considered.

Contents

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Up Front Information on the ground Explore:

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Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice! TEXT BY STEVE BARNHART, OALA PRESIDENT, AND EHA NAYLOR, CHAIR, OALA PRACTICE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

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Round Table Decolonizing Landscape Architecture

President’s Message

Editorial Board Message

The warm weather is here, bringing with it the visual signs of new beginnings and a fresh start to active life outdoors again. With no more pandemic lockdowns in place, plans of discovery and exploration of community life near and far are on the minds of many.

Spring is upon us, and the reemergence of green and awakening of the natural world inspires a desire for exploration. Buds appearing on trees and spring ephemerals popping up through leaf litter provide joy and promise warmer and longer days ahead. These harbingers of spring can also reawaken us to the world around us, reinvigorating our ways of seeing. The season of spring, both in the natural world as well as metaphorically, is one of new growth, new ideas, and new ways of being. We slough off the stillness of winter and burst forth toward the sun.

Thoughts of global vacation travel, however, are mixed, given international economic sanctions, rapidly rising COVID counts, and the crisis in Ukraine. I cannot imagine what Ukrainians are going through as communities have disappeared overnight, and what the future will hold for those who have fled.

MODERATED BY SHEILA BOUDREAU, OALA AND TERENCE RADFORD, OALA

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The Fungal Classroom What mushrooms can teach us about natural relationships

It is a time of reflection, and gratitude for our peaceful world right here in Ontario, where we have never found our parks and open spaces more important to explore than right now for people’s mental wellness.

TEXT BY TARA MCCARTHY, OALA

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Exploring in Search of an Inner Landscape TEXT BY ILZE ANDZANS

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Book Corner The Beauty of Accessibility REVIEW BY SARAH MANTEUFFEL

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Notes A miscellany of news and events Artifact A helping hand(rail) TEXT BY GLYN BOWERMAN

After a long winter, I recently had the chance to travel to, and explore Prince Edward County, one of Ontario’s gem regions. Businesses and wineries there are opening up to rebuild traveller confidence. Outdoor spaces are emerging, or have been expanded, with the safety of tourists top of mind. Three days of exploring this perfect blend of landscapes, heritage resources, and rural charm, was exactly the remedy needed for recharging and starting to enjoy our beautiful outdoor spaces again. Exploring more of Ontario is also on the provincial government’s agenda. In March, the Ontario government announced the Staycation Tax Credit to help boost the local tourism industry. This tax credit will help residents get back up to 20 per cent of eligible accommodation expenses they spend on leisure stays, this year. With the provincial election now only a month away, Ontarians are focused on jobs, their health, migration, and housing. Perhaps the new era for landscape architects is one of resilience, where we need to further explore conversations and ideas about how to create more communities across the province that are safe and beautiful, and easily accessible, and offer Ontarians so many more places to explore. STEVE BARNHART, OALA, CSLA OALA PRESIDENT PRESIDENT@OALA.CA

Spring 2022 Issue 57

Editorial Board Message

As we venture outside, we have the opportunity to explore both the outer landscapes around us, as well as the inner landscapes within. For many, the limited travel options afforded to us by the pandemic have provided an opportunity to deepen our relationship with the land closest to us, whether it be neighbourhood parks or our broader Ontario landscapes. Remote work has given many an increased freedom to migrate across the province, or even the country, embracing a less tethered working life and allowing the exploration of new terrain, outside the prescribed one- or two-week vacation. Ilze Andzans discusses her personal journeys as she shares her account of exploring Ontario landscapes throughout the pandemic. There is also the opportunity for exploration at the micro scale as well, as Tara McCarthy reminds us about mushrooms and what they can teach us about natural relationships. We explore not only physical landscapes in this issue, but changing modes of practice and relationship as land-based practitioners. The Round Table is a poignant discussion between Indigenous landscape architects, artists, and knowledge keepers on the important work of decolonizing our practices, our education, and ultimately ourselves. NADJA PAUSCH, OALA, CSLA CHAIR, EDITORIAL BOARD MAGAZINE@OALA.CA

Up Front

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In mini forests native trees and shrubs are planted randomly and closely together to increase competition and promote accelerated growth.

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Heather Schibli

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Local volunteers came out to plant saplings at Windemere Basin mini forest in October 2021.

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Giuliana Casimirri

Up Front: Information on the Ground

GREENING

mini forests A Miyawaki forest is known by many names: tiny forest, mini forest, little forest—direct references to a Miyawaki forest’s characteristically small scale. Miyawaki forests are small, dense, diverse, native tree plantings, typically the size of a tennis court, equivalent to seven to ten parking spaces. Their small size makes installation manageable, and convenient in tight urban spaces where conventional afforestation strategies may not be possible or desirable. They are not, however, a replacement for natural forests. Rather, mini forests can provide greening benefits to already built-up places, residual urban spaces, monoculture lawns, or damaged lands in need of healing. 02

Up Front

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The mini forest concept has been implemented in Asia and Europe since the 1970s. The method for creating Miyawaki forests was developed in Japan, by Akiro Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist, to deal with Japan’s non-native monoculture pine forests. His goal was to grow diverse, multi-layered, native forests quickly. Miyawaki or mini forests can become mature forests within 20 to 30 years, instead of 150 to 200 years.

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Local volunteers came out to plant saplings at Windemere Basin mini forest in October 2021.

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Giuliana Casimirri

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In mini forests native trees and shrubs are planted randomly and closely together to increase competition and promote accelerated growth.

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Heather Schibli

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Landscape architect Heather Schibli planted 220 native trees and shrubs in her backyard to create her own mini forest based on the Miyawaki Method. (Before & After)

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Heather Schibli

The Miyawaki Method relies on in-depth knowledge of local site conditions: soil, light, gradient, drainage, and plant associations. A diverse selection of 30 or more native species that includes canopy trees, sub-canopy trees, arborescent trees (small understory trees), and shrubs, are carefully chosen to be planted in a bed of richly amended soil, and then mulched. Saplings are planted very densely and randomly, mixing species to maximize

biodiversity. For the first two or three years, the mini forest must be regularly watered, weeded, and monitored. The planting density encourages a fierce competition for access to light, water, and nutrients, speeding growth to create a recognizable forest in just a few years. Once established, it becomes selfsufficient, and will naturally change form and composition. CanPlant, in association with Dougan & Associates Ecological Consulting & Design, received a 2021 Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation (LACF) grant to develop a virtual resource platform showcasing site appropriate plant communities to support interest in mini forests in southern Ontario. A multi-disciplinary team including Heather Schibli, landscape architect/ecologist, Steven Hill, senior ecologist, Janel Sauder, GIS manager, and Summer Graham, ecologist, completed the study. The knowledge hub is available on the CanPlant website with resources (coming soon), as well as mapping and data input tools. A technical paper and brochure will be issued this year.

Up Front

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Interest in the mini forest is growing. By fall 2021, some of Ontario’s first mini forests were planted in the City of Kingston at Walking The Path to Peace Together (or Highway 15), Lakeside, and Wolfe Island. In October 2021, a pilot mini forest consisting of nearly 600 trees was planted in two 100 square metre plots at Windermere Basin in the City of Hamilton. In the City of Cornwall, a mini forest was planted adjacent to the Public Library. Plans are currently underway for a mini forest component, almost 2,000 square metres in size, as part of the design for Leslie Lookout Park within Toronto’s Port Lands. Marc Hallé, an associate with Claude Cormier + Associés Inc., the park designer, noted that natural succession is a powerful signature of the area’s identity. “We want to build upon this identity at Leslie Lookout through the accelerated succession offered by this approach to afforestation,” Hallé tells Ground. Mini forests, though small, can make important contributions to natural, as well as human environments. They provide

carbon sequestering, shade to mitigate heat island impacts, soil improvements, and potential wildlife habitat and food sources, as well as increasing biodiversity. By providing natural green in tight urban spaces, they can also promote improvements to mental health, education, and local aesthetics. To date, the new mini forests have been well received by the public, as well as by Indigenous communities, perhaps signaling their potential for reconciliation and re-wilding initiatives. Well-suited to challenging urban environments due to their compact size and accelerated rate of growth, their benefits are realized more quickly than many other tree planting strategies. The Miyawaki Method is not without its critics. An important aspect of piloting mini forests will be to monitor the early Ontario projects to appreciate their unique aesthetic and environmental characteristics. Issues arising from pilot project monitoring may also need to be vetted at policy level.

Mini forests are no substitute for natural ecosystems or forests; nonetheless, with a clear understanding of their potential as well as their limitations, we can use them to complement and support natural systems, help to regenerate degraded landscapes, and enhance our cities. Mini forests are small-scale local interventions that are manageable, actionable, and timely—an effective strategy we should consider in response to the overwhelming environmental issues we face. Think globally; act locally. These little forests can give us hope for a better world. 08/

Local volunteers came out to plant saplings at Windemere Basin mini forest in October 2021.

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Giuliana Casimirri

TEXT BY HELENE IARDAS, BLA ‘78, GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, CURRENTLY ENJOYING HER OALA SEMI-RETIRED STATUS, AND HER GARDEN. WITH STACEY ZONNEVELD, GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AT THINC DESIGN, AND GRADUATE OF THE MASTER OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO.

Up Front

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The controversial Norway maple.

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Tracy Cook

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TREES

norway maples I have a love-hate relationship with the Norway maple, probably stemming from my first Plant Identification class and a horticulture teacher that shared his obvious disdain for it. The mixed feelings come from the fact that I have a 63-centimetre diameter-at-breast height Norway maple, smack dab in the middle of my back yard. This maple valiantly shades my back deck from the western sun in the summer months, and its dense canopy hides our outdoor evening meals from the neighbour’s view. In summer rainstorms, I can sit under the canopy experiencing a sprinkle while I watch the downpour beyond the dripline. This large tree is contributing to the tree canopy of my city, interrupting rainfall and reducing stormwater runoff, and performing exactly what the tree preservation policies in

The Norway maple (Acer platanoides) was introduced to North America in the late 1700s, and after the Second World War, it was valued for its fast rate of growth and tolerance to urban and salt conditions. These characteristics made the tree an attractive replacement for the many elm trees lost due to Dutch elm disease.

saccharum). To the untrained eye, the leaf shape is quite similar, but where our sugar maples are a glowing red in fall, the Norway maple is yellow, and the fallen leaves resemble used paper bags. The growth habit is quite different as well. Sugar maples grown openly tend to branch beautifully up the main trunk of the tree, whereas Norway maple limbs often arise from a very compact area on the tree, creating a weak branching habit prone to failure.

But what we didn’t understand at the time was how well the Norway maple would adapt to our city, and how prolifically the saplings would invade our ravines and

The leathery leaves of the Norway maple create a dense shade under the canopy, and the shallow, tight rooting system outcompetes understory species for

naturalized areas.

water and nutrients. Acer platanoides (the Norway) reproduces at twice the rate of our native sugar maples, having two viable seeds per samara (those helicoptering

various municipalities are hoping to achieve with increased tree canopy coverage targets.

Norway maple is often mistaken for our national symbol: the sugar maple (Acer

Up Front

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The Norway maple’s shallow, tight root system outcompetes understory species for water and nutrients.

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Tracy Cook

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seed pods), compared to only one viable seed for Acer saccharum. For these reasons, the invasion of the Norway maple into our ravines and forests has been particularly successful. This invasion into the natural forests reduces biodiversity, wildflowers, birds, and mammals, as the species composition transitions toward non-native. The Ontario Invasive Plant Council has issued a Best Management Practices Guideline for managing the Norway maple, and the City of Toronto has removed it from their approved planting lists, but other regional municipalities continue to allow Acer platanoides and its various cultivars to be planted on municipal lands. Popular varieties of Acer platanoides are often sold at local nurseries to unsuspecting homeowners drawn to the name and

look of the trees. Many enthusiastic hobby gardeners often mistake the Acer platanoides ‘crimson king’ for native red maple (Acer rubrum), or are enamored with the beautiful, variegated leaf of the Acer platanoides ‘drummondi’—the harlequin maple. As the rootstock of the cultivars is Acer platanoides, the saplings that grow from the seeds of these cultivars return to the Acer platanoides parent tree. These homeowners unwittingly contribute to the invasive species problem. As several local conservation authorities have classified the Norway maple as an invasive species, municipalities and nurseries have a responsibility to limit the availability and/or permission to plant these trees. There are many other native

species or even non-native species that do not have invasive tendencies that could replace the Norway maple in our landscapes. As stewards of the land, we are making responsible choices to ensure that trees live longer, healthier lives by increasing their soil volumes and soil quality through the use of policies that require prescribed root volumes for trees and the use of soil cells under pavement to allow for adequate water and air for growth. With the assured longevity of our trees, this makes it all the more important that our long-lived trees are not contributing to the invasion of our forests with non-native species.

TEXT BY TRACY COOK, BLA, ISA, TRAQ, GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, MOM, WORLD TRAVELER, NATURE LOVER, NOT ALWAYS IN THAT ORDER.

Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice!

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TEXT BY STEVE BARNHART, OALA PRESIDENT, AND EHA NAYLOR, CHAIR, OALA PRACTICE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE

Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice!

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On June 2, we, as landscape architects, have an opportunity to make a big difference. Many of us work in the public sector and know that day will see Ontario hold its first provincial election in four years. In 2018, over 40 per cent of eligible voters did not participate in that election. We want to make sure landscape architects have their voices heard. We want to tell provincial candidates: • • • •

what landscape architecture is its contributions to the health, safety and well-being of the public that the profession is a fastgrowing sector that landscape architects are employed in private, academic, and public realms across the province 02

PEDESTRIAN STREET SAFETY A January 21, 2022 Toronto Star article by Kevin Rupasinghe revealed that “according to City of Toronto data, from 2017 to 2021, the five years that Toronto has had its Vision Zero program, there have been at least 293 people killed and 1,488 people seriously injured in collisions on our streets. On average, that’s more than one death per week, and nearly one serious injury per day.”

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Before the “road diet.” Via Google Street View

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Courtesy of OALA

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The road lining Niagara Falls goes on a “road diet,” removing the curb lane by using decorative barriers and expanding pedestrian space.

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Courtesy of OALA

We want to ensure that candidates and the public know the contributions we can make. OALA is pushing hard for each party to include in their platforms an acknowledgment of the issues that central to the work of landscape architects. Those predominantly include, in no particular order: • • • •

pedestrian street safety flood protection improved universal accessibility outdoors protection of natural areas to mitigate the effects of climate change

For decades, the design of streets has primarily focused on accommodating vehicles, while cyclists and pedestrians are given minimal consideration, accommodated where possible. Landscape architects play an integral role in designing safer streets and can lead the paradigm shift to focus on rebalancing pedestrian and cycling needs first. Landscape architects are skilled at designing and rebalancing these competing and complex requirements to address society’s changing needs. There are many great examples of built works by landscape architects that are making streets safer in cities large and small across the province.

Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice!

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FLOOD PROTECTION Much of Ontario is located near lakes and rivers. We want to avoid what recently happened in British Columbia. In recent years, we have seen unprecedented flooding across Canada. This is a symptom of the climate crisis, and we can expect more in the future. Here in Ontario: • • •

In 2013, unprecedented flooding caused $1.5 billion in losses when 120 millimetres of rain fell on the GTA, overflowing the Don River, stranding commuters, and causing extensive property damage. In 2017, the spring storm forced 850 people to evacuate along the Ottawa River and caused $235 million in damage. In 2018, the ‘ninja’ storm dumped over 100 millimetres of rain in less than two hours and caused Black Creek to overflow property and Lake Ontario to flood and damage its adjacent shoreline.

Landscape architects are the professionals who design one of the most cost-effective and beneficial tools for addressing this problem. Natural infrastructure replicates and augments the functions of ecosystems, is complementary to traditional solutions, and delivers environmental benefits such as improved habitat, sequestering carbon, and reducing the heat island effect.

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Rendering of future Villiers Island with normal, base flow levels in the new Don River.

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Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

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Aerial view of construction progress in the Port Lands. Visible: Keating Channel (current mouth of the Don River,) Promontory Park North and South with West and North habitat coves, and Cherry Street North Bridge.

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Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

Landscape Architects: We Need Your Voice!

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ACCESSIBILITY Moreover, landscape architects help to build more equitable spaces for marginalized groups by addressing issues related to accessibility, mental health, gender, Indigenous peoples, BIPOC, and LGBTQIA2S+ communities. For instance, the Advancing Accessibility in Ontario framework (Government of Ontario, 2020) highlights “breaking down barriers in the built environment” as a key area to help identify, remove, and prevent barriers for people with disabilities across the province. The document notes one way of implementing improvements is by working with key industry partners and ensuring the Ontario Parks capital renewal and renovation projects include up-to-date accessibility specifications. These are just two areas through which the government has called upon experts like us to improve accessibility for more than 2.6 million people with disabilities across the province.

Studies show both environmental and social investment in “human capital management” can render measurable and profitable benefits to our communities. This election, provincial candidates must be made aware of the contributions that landscape architects make to livable communities. In a similar vein, a Landscape Architect Professional Practice Act would have the effect of increasing public safety, the cost-efficiency of public spaces, and the preservation of the natural environment in the face of a variety of the above challenges.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND WELLNESS Green spaces have been vital to ensuring healthy communities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, the work of landscape architects must be recognized as critical to the mental and physical health of Canadians. 05 05/

Dundas Place, London, Ontario. The conversion of a traditional downtown street to a Woonerf, by Dillon Consulting.

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Unilock

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Aerial rendering of village surrounding Corktown Common, Toronto.

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Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

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Aerial view of Corktown Common and the future Sediment and Debris Management Area.

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Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

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The Corktown Common pavilion.

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Courtesy of Waterfront Toronto

Moreover, in a post-pandemic world, nature-based solutions employed by landscape architects continue to mitigate climate change and associated health risks. Landscape architectural solutions in Ontario’s rapidly urbanizing lands have been proven to result in Ontarians having: • • • • • •

decreased stress, anxiety and fatigue better mental health lower crime rates lower healthcare costs higher workforce productivity increased learning ability

This is not merely a one-sided relationship. Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) can make a difference in your career, your community, your business, and your life. Many projects are funded by the government, or you might work for the government. OALA Past President Jane Welsh said it well, “We have a once in a lifetime opportunity. Let’s not lose it.” Landscape architects deserve a seat at the table. This election, you can make our voices heard. Visit the OALA’s election central website, to find out more about getting involved. BIO/ STEVE BARNHART, MLA, OALA, HAS OVER 20 YEARS’ EXPERIENCE IN ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND DESIGN, WITH THE LAST 17 YEARS IN PUBLIC SECTOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE. HE IS CURRENTLY A SENIOR EXECUTIVE WITH THE NIAGARA PARKS COMMISSION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ORGANIZATION’S ENVIRONMENTAL PLANNING AND CULTURAL HERITAGE. SOME OF THE MORE RECENT INITIATIVES INCLUDE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF COASTAL WETLAND SITES ALONG THE UPPER NIAGARA RIVER, A NEW PUBLIC REALM PLAN AT THE BRINK OF THE FALLS AND THE HERITAGE ADAPTIVE REUSE OF THE 1905 HYDROELECTRIC POWER STATION. EHA NAYLOR, OALA, BLA, MBA, FCSLA, HAS OVER 40 YEARS OF CONSULTING EXPERIENCE FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR CLIENTS. SHE IS A PARTNER EMERITA AT DILLON CONSULTING AND IS THE CHAIR OF THE OALAS PRACTICE LEGISLATION COMMITTEE. SHE IS A LICENSED LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AS WELL AS A REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL PLANNER.

Round Table

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Moving toward reconciliation

MODERATED BY SHEILA BOUDREAU, OALA AND TERENCE RADFORD, OALA

Round Table

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leadership identifies the need for Indigenous perspectives, and then invites a community to come comment on that project. That has a lot of value, and it’s how we’ve been working ourselves. However, as a longterm strategy, this is a stopgap measure. What we need to have is, embedded in the approvals process, Indigenous voices formally invited for all major projects.

02 BIOS/

SHEILA BOUDREAU, OALA, APALA, CSLA, RPP/OPPI, MCIP, BA, BLA, MA (PLANNING), IS A LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AND REGISTERED PROFESSIONAL PLANNER WITH OVER 25 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS. SHE FOUNDED SPRUCELAB INC. TO FOCUS ON NATURE-BASED PLANNING AND DESIGN, AND TO SUPPORT INDIGENOUS INITIATIVES. TERENCE RADFORD, OALA, CSLA, HAS OVER SEVEN YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IN GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE, LANDSCAPE PLANNING, URBAN DESIGN, INDIGENOUS PLACEKEEPING, AND ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN. HE HAS A MASTER’S IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. IN 2017 HE OPENED TROPHIC DESIGN AS A 100 PER CENT OWNED AND OPERATED INDIGENOUS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURAL PRACTICE. CATHERINE TAMMARO IS A MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST WHOSE PRACTISE SPANS DECADES. CATHERINE IS A SEATED SPOTTED TURTLE CLAN FAITH KEEPER AND IS ACTIVE THROUGHOUT THE CITY OF TORONTO AND BEYOND, IN MANY ORGANIZATIONS AS ELDER IN RESIDENCE, MENTOR, TEACHER, AND CULTURAL ADVISOR. SHE IS AN ALUMNA OF THE ONTARIO COLLEGE OF ART AND IS ALSO THE NEW INDIGENOUS ARTS PROGRAM MANAGER AT TORONTO ARTS COUNCIL. ELADIA SMOKE IS THE PRINCIPAL ARCHITECT AND OWNER AT SMOKE ARCHITECTURE INC. AND A MASTER LECTURER AT LAURENTIAN’S MCEWEN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE. PLANNED OR ONGOING PROJECTS INCLUDE THE DAWES ROAD LIBRARY, IN TORONTO (WITH PERKINS & WILL); AND THE ALGOMA UNIVERSITY MUKQUA WAAKAA’IGAN, IN SAULT STE. MARIE (WITH MORIYAMA & TESHIMA). CAROLYNNE CRAWLEY, FOUNDER OF MSIT NO’KMAQ, IS MI’KMAW AND ALSO HAS BLACK AND IRISH ANCESTRY AND IS FROM MI’KMA’KI TERRITORY, ALSO KNOWN TODAY AS NOVA SCOTIA, BUT TKARONTO HAS BEEN HER HOME SINCE SHE WAS YOUNG. SHE IS DEDICATED TO SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE AND SUPPORTING INDIGENOUS-LED COMMUNITY WORK. CAROLYNNE LEADS WORKSHOPS FOR THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR BASED UPON INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGES. GRANT FAHLGREN IS A MEMBER OF WABIGOON LAKE OJIBWAY NATION, AND CHAIR OF THE CSLA RECONCILIATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE. HE HAS A BACHELOR OF ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA AND MASTERS OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. HE WON THE CLSA EMERGING PROFESSIONAL AWARD IN 2021. 01/

The Deer Clan Longhouse at Crawford Lake, Milton, Ontario. This is the site of archeological remains of a pre-contact Iroquoian village, and includes designs by Brook McIlroy’s Indigenous Design Studio.

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Tiffany Adair

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Program that engages Indigenous youth in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design at TRCA’s Bolton camp.

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John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design

Terence Radford: Our guiding question is: how can practitioners work to create a culture of truth, reconciliation, respect, and celebration of Indigenous communities in the profession of landscape architecture? To start, are there best practices, programs, initiatives, or ideas that can foster these goals. Eladia Smoke: We need more Indigenous design voices in landscape architecture, and throughout the building industry. All segments are quite underrepresented, and that has to do with the perception of ownership of land that has been overlaid on the continent. When you don’t own land, you don’t get to name it, decide what’s done with it, or occupy it. Those colonial strategies are all land-based.

We do have precedence for this. Most major municipalities have an urban design panel, or something commensurate. The way I can see this unfolding, long-term, is to have expert Indigenous voices as part of the approvals process for new projects, and that we’re also part of the long-term and bigpicture planning vision. For urban spaces, especially, but also for land use in general. Our communities take the responsibility of speaking for their territories very seriously. Unfortunately, they have very few formal and officially recognized avenues to exert their authority over what occurs on traditional territories. So, those modes of authority need to be sought out and initiated, as they just don’t exist right now. Right now, we have a very piecemeal patchwork approach to any kind of a voice in land use, right down to the specificity of design. There’s just no overall organizational approach. In Anishinabek territory, how this used to get done was, (what I’ve been told from elders), through the clan system, which was our original governance structure in Anishinabek territories, and those clans would take responsibility over those territories under their purview. If we can somehow reconsolidate that approach, look back at our original governance structures, how we made land use planning decisions in the past, pre-contact times, I think that can really inform a way forward.

What I’ve been hearing from communities is it would be nice to move away from the ad hoc approach, where a particular project 04

Round Table

Sheila Boudreau: How can we position Indigenous communities at the beginning of the design process, especially when it involves landscape or land use? Catherine Tammaro: I’m thinking of the site-specific aspect of each project and how one communicates with people, as well the ancestors, who are imbued in the land, and a particular space. Ceremony can be a component of this whole process with the Indigenous communities involved, and they can find a way to consolidate their views among themselves around how they want to proceed. And they should be automatically involved in every project that comes into that space. Around the world, there are specific spiritual spaces in various quarters of what are defined now as countries, with specific purposes that are spiritual in nature, and also designed through the cultural lens or spiritual practice they’re part of. That containment is a beautiful foundation, and a way in which to start any holistic process around negotiating these projects. Carolynne Crawley: In terms of best practices to foster a culture of truth and reconciliation and respect, everybody has a responsibility to know the true history of what’s known today as Canada, and the colonial systems and powers still in place that continue to oppress Indigenous peoples, and to have an understanding of the treaty agreements.

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Oftentimes, people who have the privilege to travel to another country where there’s a different culture will take time to learn a bit about that culture, the language, the food, and maybe even the politics and history of the place. But people don’t often make the effort to learn about where they’re actually living: that’s one big step everybody living and working upon these lands known today as Canada has a responsibility to do. People are often doing land acknowledgements, and it’s important to acknowledge the land and the Indigenous peoples and nations whose territory we’re operating on. But it’s really important that it’s not just a checkbox. Otherwise, it’s just words with little-to-no action behind them. In my neighborhood, there was a posting saying, “My land was stolen and all I got was this lousy land acknowledgement.” People aren’t putting any action towards these words. There’s an Algonquin Anishinaabekwe author, Lynn Gehl, who said in an article, “When your home gets broken into and a man walks off with your television, you discover years later that every time he turned on your television set, he acknowledged that it wasn’t his TV, but thanked you for its use, would you be okay with that?” She said, “I think I would be pissed.” So, what are these words? What else can we do, in regard to that reconciliation? It’s also about reparation.

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Birch Bark Canoe Construction Workshop, outdoor classroom, Rideau Lakes, Ontario. With teacher Blake Seward.

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Chris Canning

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First Nations School of Toronto girls retreat at Toronto Island School.

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Amber Smith

What is the individual, business, and collective action needed to reconcile and make those reparations? There’s a turtle nest protection program we’re starting in the area called High Park, and it’s important we have people who are Turtle Clan involved in that from the very beginning, to guide us in that good work. Grant Fahlgren: The first question is probably the thing practitioners come and ask us, members of the CSLA Reconciliation Advisory Committee, the most: “What are the right things to do? What are my best practices?” And the answer is never as easy or straightforward as they hope. Because, often, it’s based on relationship building. The onus is really on you, and these things cannot happen overnight. It’s you, as a practitioner, who has to understand and ask the questions, like Carolynne said, about whose land you are situated on? How did their culture evolve with the ecology and ecosystems they share the land with, over time? How is that interrupted by colonialism? What are the issues they face today in being able to carry out traditional practices? How might those traditional practices come back in the future, those

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stories be remembered and shared, and new stories be generated by engaging with the environment? That’s sort of what we’re going towards, and the steps to get to there are about building relationships with people and changing, fundamentally, how we think about our cities: as interconnected sets of systems that include the ecological, the urban, and us, as people, and how we engage with them. That’s the space for Indigenous people to situate themselves in as guides, and bring non-Indigenous people on that journey. Because only Indigenous people have those thousands of years of knowledge about how these places have changed. And we’re about to see rapid changes in our environment with climate change, into the future. It’s on us right now to make sure we’re able to adapt to those changes, and that those new stories can be generated as the land changes, so our Indigenous cultures remain tied to the places in which they’re situated. Otherwise, the divide caused by colonialism is only going to become bigger as the land around us changes.

TR: Our third question, is about the term “decolonize.” I sometimes respond poorly to the term. What exactly does that mean? But we wanted to get your ideas and thoughts on the term “decolonize,” which is often used to refer to systemic changes in governance, or government in general. What does it mean to you? SB: When I started SpruceLab, I was advised to not use the word “decolonize” anywhere on my website by non-Indigenous people that felt it was off-putting. I said, “Well, there’s a reason it’s on the website.” It was a tough conversation, but it’s still there. CT: I always try to replace ideas of colonization with ideas of the continuum. I look at things in terms of the line of time that not only moves linearly, but is also all around us in relative ways. I have a visceral response to past conditioning: upchucking this dreck we’ve all been fed, this horrendous racism, the disproportionate and unwholesome ways of engaging with Indigenous people. That can be quite a tumultuous, sometimes

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Exhibit in the Deer Clan Longhouse, Milton, Ontario.

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Tiffany Adair

disturbing, but ultimately incredibly liberating process. Connecting with the continuum helps me get beyond, underneath, or around ideas of colonization. It means a direct connection with the land and water. If I get to those places and spaces, I’m somehow psychologically bolstered. It’s a psychological, spiritual, and political process. It’s changing the way you speak and think, and it touches every aspect of one’s life. GF: To me, decolonization is about changing the structures that continue to harm our people—and those are embedded across our society. My biggest issue with the term is the way it centers settler society within this process. It doesn’t empower Indigenous people to do it, it suggests others have to provide the opportunity, and we should

Round Table

be so grateful to receive it. We have to change these structures, but we have to be active participants. To achieve reconciliation, society has to be reflective of our cultural perspectives, as well. It’s absolutely critical. One way in which I don’t think a lot of people understand how colonization affects Indigenous peoples, when working in those communities, is how you go about funding projects and working with them: the money contributed by the federal government gets distributed based on need. Only those with the greatest need, where there’s truly a crisis, get funding. This makes a kind of sense, but it means communities approaching a critical need aren’t able to get funding. And so, the entire funding process is generating a crisis in and of itself, because they’re not thinking about how funding can go towards making sure communities are healthy in the way they operate. It’s going to those areas being triaged, with most need, and is not sufficient to stop a crisis from developing in the first place. We, as Indigenous people, had ways to adapt and change in society. But colonialism fixed us on reserves, bound us there, put us into particular houses, and gave us infrastructural systems that cannot adapt. The ways out of that are Indigenous perspectives. The old colonial attitudes are not going to get us out of this problem, it has to be new perspectives on how we think and relate, and we need to build that capacity on the Indigenous side, in order for us to move forward and be more self-sufficient— as we had been for thousands of years in these places. That’s why decolonization is an important process, but it’s only the first step within a larger process of building Indigenous capacity to realize change.

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earth; and following the natural rhythms and walking in that good way. That’s where I put my attention to, and when I do, it’s automatically going to decolonize me. CT: One of the things I do on a regular basis is land acknowledgement workshops with people, and we look at putting aside those colonial structures, and encouraging people to connect with the land itself as a way of opening their hearts to that acknowledgement process. When you connect deeply to where you are, who’s been there, and who continues to be there and is imbued in that land, you start stripping away the artificial constructs. The work produced in these workshops is phenomenal—the poetic and creative responses. It’s quite an amazing thing to witness, and it often ends in tears, and people having huge heart-opening realizations about power dynamics, the structures that exist and how they clamp down on the natural world, and how they need to be revoked. SB: What can we do to ensure Indigenous people can pursue an education and career, and thrive in landscape architecture? GF: As an Indigenous landscape architecture practitioner, what I heard throughout school was the importance of context. Designers and landscape architects talk about context all the time, but they really limit what context they’re going to pay attention to. My experience as an Indigenous person born in the North, then living in Winnipeg, and on the West Coast, (there are large Indigenous populations in all three of those places), is that I was a visitor on those territories, but the people whose traditional territory these places are were also treated as visitors by the very built environments in which they lived.

CC: I acknowledge and reflect upon the ways that I have been colonized, as an individual, and the impacts of colonization through generations, but my focus is about being guided by creation. Instead of focusing on colonization, I’m focusing on my Indigenous ways of being in relationship. It’s holistic. It’s about body, mind, and spirit; about self, others, and 08

So, we really need to expand what we mean when we talk about context. How far back are we talking about? What relationships are privileged within those narratives? And if we, as Indigenous people, can’t see ourselves reflected in the built environment created by landscape architects, how can we imagine being in that profession, when it has not even acknowledged our presence? CC: If I don’t see anyone who represents me, or if there’s only a Eurocentric perspective, learning, or ideology being offered, I’m probably not going to feel welcomed, or may not be interested. You have to ask who the program is actually designed for? It’s important to include Indigenous ways of knowing or pedagogy—which is holistic and benefits all students. It’s important for schools to build authentic, reciprocal relationships with Indigenous communities, elders, knowledge carriers, having Indigenous advisory circles or councils, and ensure there is welcoming space for Indigenous students. GF: In bringing Indigenous youth into landscape architecture, it’s not only that we’re welcoming them, we have to appreciate what Indigenous knowledge can contribute to the profession. Working on the Canadian National Adaptation Strategy climate plan, we’re talking about metrics, and how to measure certain things—because they’re always fixated on quantification—instead of thinking about the relationships between elements. I think an Indigenous way of knowing would say you can’t just record one thing in isolation, you have to understand how different things interact. These ways of knowing are why we need Indigenous practitioners within the profession. Those stories aren’t just passed along readily to everybody, they are shared stories, held within particular families. And you need local practitioners who have that knowledge, shared with them by elders over a lifetime, to be able to bring that into our thinking in landscape architecture, and inform us of how we might better practice on these lands and think about the relationships between elements that have history reaching back thousands of years.

Round Table

We need to appreciate how important it is, particularly for youth, to be able to ensure they can hold their stories, that they’re represented in the landscape, and can be passed onto future generations. CT: I’m involved in four different projects in Toronto with landscape architects, and it’s been quite a process. I understand that people are working within certain frameworks, but I also feel very positive about the ways in which they’ve invited me into this process, and how they’ve relied on the information I’ve shared with them, and tried to use it in the best way, and for us to work in partnership toward the realization of these projects. One of these projects I’m calling “Energetic Signatures,” which is a series of clan-based dodems (or totem) designs, which are being cut into bronze and embedded in the street from Spadina Avenue to McCaul Street, on the north side. There’ll be 22 of them, along with five signifier plates, and they represent all of the peoples, the nations, who traditionally have lived in this space. They’re meant to reflect sound songs, so they’re in an irregular, staggered pattern, to suggest a shuffle dance. It’s been going on for a year. I’ve done it, of course, with community consultation, because it’s essential to the process. I’m very excited to see what’s developing in the city, and to be asked to participate in these projects. I do think people are thinking about these things, and working hard at trying to incorporate Indigenous artists and designers into these spaces. But I think you’re right about involving the youth. As somebody who works with youth in various capacities, it’s a great reminder to me to approach them about the idea of mentorship. TR: How does living in the city, urban environments, public space, and the design of these, impact you as an Indigenous person. And has this inspired you to pursue change or specific activities in your life related to that urban experience? CC: Public space design is very humancentric. It can lack an awareness of interconnected relationships. For example:

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Erratic boulders discovered during a construction dig, and designed by Indigenous artist Michael Belmore, part of Ethennonnhawahstihnen’ Park, which translates to ‘where they had a good, beautiful life.’

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Courtesy of Lara Tarlo, Toronto City Planning, Urban Design

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Program that engages Indigenous youth in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design at TRCA’s Bolton camp.

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John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design

lawns—whether in front of the house or an office building. There’s often turf or grasses not native to here. What are the impacts of those turfs? How does that impact birds, insects, and other beings, and other plant relations? There’s also an increased use of artificial turf in the city which, to me, is very problematic. I also think about city bylaws prohibiting grasses over a specific height, which decreases habitat and biodiversity, and the use of chemicals the city’s been using—such as glyphosates—for the past 20 years in High Park. What are those impacts? I see that, and what inspires me is walking upon the earth thinking, always feeling, about the seven generations before me, but also those seven generations yet to be born. Not just generations of humans, but of all beings. Were all interconnected. I feel that I have a responsibility when I witness harm or injustices upon the earth, whether it’s in the city or elsewhere, and it reminds me of my individual responsibility to be in good relationship, defend, advocate for, and protect the earth in whatever way is needed. But the land has also been harmed here by the impacts of colonization, so there needs to be reconciliation with the earth, the lands and waters, with all beings.

GF: My understanding of the city and public space is informed by what a lot would think of as its inverse: wilderness and wildness. I spend summers in Northern Ontario in complete isolation: no roads, being out on the lake that my European side has been on for over 100 years, working and witnessing what real wilderness is like. It informs me, as a person, about how our environments should be—because it’s protected by Caribou Woodland Provincial Park in Northern Ontario. Then I come back to the city where my family ended up because of colonial processes, including the Sixties Scoop my mother is a survivor of, which moved us from there into towns, from towns to cities. So, when I experience a city, I see the way people have been decoupled from their environment and that the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and planning have largely framed those relationships we have with our environments and have not created the space for it. When we spend time in parks, or walk our streets, we’re not asked to engage with them. We’re not asked to think about how their processes unfold over time. They’re held in a perpetual state of climax, or we have trimmed hedges, and we think about nature, and how things change over time, in a very peculiar way. The moments that have the greatest impact for me are when I’m in the city and I find that little sliver of wilderness, or aspect of nature, that breaks through all the systems we put in place in a city that says, ‘No, we want to hold things in a constant state and keep people from engaging with nature.’ It inspires me to pursue changing how we think about the landscapes we’re creating as practitioners, how can they be integrated into the natural systems we see breaking through in these spaces, about how Indigenous people can play a role in making sure they function well, because of our deep understanding of relationships.

THANKS TO NADJA PAUSCH FOR COORDINATING THIS ROUND TABLE.

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What mushrooms can teach us about natural relationships

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me with comfort. The cycles of life and decomposition beneath my feet generate the umami of the forest olfactory palette.

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Turkey tail

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Tara McCarthy

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My basket of finds, fall 2021.

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Tara McCarthy

My mouth waters as I think of morels, chanterelles, hedgehogs, and boletes melted into pounds of butter and garlic, turning my pizza, pasta dish, and breakfast omelette into gustatory indulgence. These natural mushroom treasures we have foraged with our hands, cleaned and prepared in our kitchen—a process that is always punctuated by the stories of the day’s adventures that lead to our finds. I smile as I picture my children moving through the forest, squeals of excitement pulsing through the landscape, treasures found, and I revel in the memories of my own childhood hikes, where every little forest jewel was a curiosity. I take a deep breath as if, for a moment, I am deep in the forest and the complex earthy smells fill

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a highly complex organism network called mycelium that feeds and grows by digesting surrounding organic matter. Fungi, the kingdom that mushrooms belong to, are neither plant, nor animal, and are incredibly fascinating members of our biosphere. They show up in every corner of our planet and clearly speak of the ecological fabric. They are calendars of time, seasonality, and cycles of life, nutrients, and decay. The myriad shapes, colours, flavours, and textures of the fruiting body have captivated the imaginations, spirits, and souls of humans for thousands of years. Evidence of this shows up in archeological and cultural remnants, lore, art, symbology, artefact, and remains. Today, the number of websites, social media groups, YouTube channels, and media focused on the many aspects of mushrooms are proof that human fascination with the world of mushrooms has not waned. There are Facebook and Instagram groups dedicated to foraging, field identification, emergency identification, cultivating, conserving, cooking and eating, psychedelics and pharmacology, and medicinal benefits—and these are just some of the groups I personally follow. Prominent mycologists are in the spotlight, captivating TED Talk audiences and the like with the wonder of the kingdom of fungi. It would be a dishonour to not mention Paul Stamets here, and, having seen him speak long ago at an event at the Toronto Botanical Gardens, I can attest that his passion, creativity, and brilliance blew open my mind as to what a mushroom is. I strongly recommend investigating the research and work done by

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like understanding a little more about a culture by learning the language. It’s a mechanism for seeing the world through new eyes, a different perspective, a honing of observational skills. Developing a deeper understanding of a particular ecological component is a beautiful window into understanding our complex world a little more comprehensively.

mycologists worldwide. They are enigmatic storytellers, activists, innovators, and impassioned scientists with an incredibly different perspective of living systems. My father is an avid amateur naturalist, and growing up, family vacations were spent outside, with the mosquitoes, often knee deep in marshes and swamps, looking for obscure little brown birds. Mushrooms were always a treasure when found along the way. To be quite honest, when I was a kid, I hated eating them, but absolutely loved finding them, so I really didn’t care if they were edible or not—the shapes, colours, miniature worlds and fairy tales was what peaked my interest. I learned that they (mushrooms and fungi in general), along with the birds, plants, and rocks, tell a complex story of the surrounding ecology, geomorphology,

seasonality, health of a system, age and stage of a system, co-dependency and relationships to other species, balances and imbalances, and this knowledge gave me an awareness to read a forest, meadow, stream bank, and urban wasteland differently, and was one of the main drivers that lead me to become a landscape architect.

I believe that a landscape architect’s role is pointed towards the greater good for the planet and that we are well positioned to lead, inspire, and guide society towards a heightened awareness and appreciation for nature and the value of protecting this incredible planet of which we are a part. The more I try to understand the world around me, the better I hope to be at including all species and elements concerned when making planning and design decisions. It takes only a quick internet search to see how many people are dedicating their lives and careers to understanding, testing and leveraging the incredible talents of mushrooms within their own specific ecologies, and as corrective and innovative solutions within the human sphere. I immediately think to the first time I specified a soil with mycorrhizae and felt closer to building the foundations for a healthy ecology. I tend to a colony of bees in my beehive, and I’ve read about the developments of mushroom mycelial treatments, by Paul Stamets, to combat “Colony Collapse Disorder”—a serious threat

As landscape architects, we have a tuned awareness to the natural environment. My process as a designer looks to find the language of the natural landscape, to humbly read what I can, and learn from the lessons spoken by the many voices of our planet. Mushrooms are one of my favourite teachers. Environmental literacy is a mechanism of connectivity that every human should have the opportunity to practice. It is 05

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field, and interface with knowledgeable and practicing scientists for a greater sciencebased understanding of ecology, while contributing to critical, sustainable, futureoriented initiatives. I now take my kids out on the same kinds of trips my parents took me on, and I see them organically starting to make the connections with their natural world and spirit. I see them noticing more details, and developing a relationship to everything, attending to all creatures and living things with empathy and care.

to food production worldwide. And my mind was absolutely blown when I read “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben and learned that trees’ fungal partners, interconnected mycelial networks, enable them to “communicate” and exchange nutrients with each other. A healthy forest is a whole, connected, communicating system. These are just a few of the ways mushroom research has changed the way I approach work and life.

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The bounty after a long day of mushrooming.

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Tara McCarthy

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Fly agaric

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Tara McCarthy

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Fall oysters

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Tara McCarthy

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Apricot jelly

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Tara McCarthy

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Elf cups and lichen: tiny forest gems.

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Tara McCarthy

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Destroying angel

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Tara McCarthy

Making a difference can be as simple as taking a hike and making note of the things we see. Citizen science has provided an incredible wellspring of data about our environment and its long term patterns of health and, sadly, decline. Avid bird watchers have contributed data, in the form of sightings, that has informed scientists of migration patterns, population distribution, dynamics, and health. I still go out with my father for one of the longeststanding citizen science events: the Christmas Bird Count. It happens all over North America, every year, and the census informs multiple bird conservation efforts. Mushrooms are as much a messenger of the state of environmental health, and there are many initiatives for reporting and contributing to mycology data collections like mushroomobserver.org and inaturalist.org. Participating in citizen science initiatives offers us, as landscape architects, the opportunity to learn in the

We can’t end this exploration without bringing up the subject of foraging. I want to end this piece with some of my favourite resources, books, and a few tips for getting started, as well as with the compulsory warning that there are some mushrooms out there that can cause serious and life-threatening illness and death. Consuming a single destroying angel may very well be a last meal. Identification should be practiced first: books, books, books, Facebook groups, and real life forays with experts are the key to safely foraging and consuming mushrooms. But, as long as you take precautions, there is nothing like a treasure hunt in the fresh air, forest bathing, escaping today’s challenges, and the thrill of discovering hidden gems for the first time. A completely camouflaged black trumpet is the ultimate reward for finally seeing the almost indiscernible texture change between the leaf litter and the dark, curled trumpet. So:

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1. Get outside, anywhere, and walk a little slower, spend the time to look carefully at textures, colours, and shapes of the landscape, and be newly curious about familiar places. 2. Read about mushrooms and learn their names—common, but more importantly latin. Learn their preferred ecologies, seasonality, hosts, favourite conditions, how to identify look-alikes, and spore printing. My favourite guides are the Peterson Field Guide to Mushrooms, The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Mushrooms, and Wild Edible Mushrooms of Ontario. 3. Join Facebook groups, they are the best resource. They are usually run by experts and filled with a whole community of people’s findings, questions, photos, and experiences. My favourite is “Ontario Mushroom Hunters and Foragers.”

4. Join clubs and/or go on forays. There is nothing like a day in the field with an expert. My favourite team of foraging leaders are “Fervent Finds.” I go on at least one of their trips each year and come home elated, muddy, tired, hungry, and with baskets filled with dinner’s delights. 5. Read about the other aspects of mushrooms and become fascinated by the whole kingdom of fungi. Some of my favourite books are Entangled Life: How Fungi Make Our Worlds, Change our Minds and Shape our Futures, Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms can heal, Shift Consciousness and Save the Planet, The Hidden Life of Trees, and Healing Mushrooms: A Practical Guide to using Mushrooms for Whole Body Health. Fantastic Fungi is also a phenomenal documentary I would highly recommend watching.

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King bolete

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Tara McCarthy

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Winter chanterelle

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Tara McCarthy

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Black trumpets

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Tara McCarthy

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Blue elf cups

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Tara McCarthy

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A foraging and forest bathing expedition.

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Tara McCarthy

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Reishi

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Tara McCarthy

BIO/ TARA MCCARTHY, OALA, CSLA, HAS BEEN SENIOR LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT AT MT PLANNERS FOR 18 YEARS, WORKING ON A WIDE VARIETY OF PROJECTS ACROSS THE GLOBE FOCUSED ON A NATURAL SYSTEMS APPROACH TO CITY DESIGN, WITH THE GOAL OF FACILITATING A DEEP CONNECTION BETWEEN HUMANS AND THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT. ALSO, A LOVER OF MUD, TREES, FRESH AIR, GROWING VEGGIES, AND WATCHING HER CHILDREN DEVELOP A RESPECT AND FASCINATION FOR THE WONDERS OF OUR GREAT PLANET.

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“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.” — Edvard Munch 01

TEXT BY ILZE ANDZANS

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Ottawa Valley, near Rolphton, Ontario, and the St. Joachim Rapids (where the Dumoine joins the Ottawa River).

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Ilze Andzans

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The mesmerizing power of the Brink, Niagara Falls.

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Ilze Andzans

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Wild grass along the Bruce Trail, Iroquois Section.

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Ilze Andzans

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Agricultural landscape, Lake Erie shore horizon, near Long Point

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Ilze Andzans

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Niagara-on-the-Lake sunset over Lake Ontario.

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Ilze Andzans

Traveling to explore new territory or to break away from the restrictions and routines of every day life is an escape for many of us. When life circumstances take an unexpected turn, we seek a mechanism to help make the transition. Carving out time for contemplation often leads to inner growth and can turn a road trip into a pilgrimage. My training and education in landscape architecture inevitably draws my gaze toward landscape elements; seeking peace in the visual harmony found in nature. The colour and texture of plant materials, the shape and grade of various landforms, and the mesmerizing quality of an expansive vista are all subjects that draw me in for closer examination. Constantly evaluating these elements, and taking time to look more deeply, forms the subject of my photographs, which attempt to capture the moment of inspiration, the perfection of nature, and perhaps provide a glimpse into the inner picture of my soul. Travel is food for the soul. Since time immemorial,

many great artists and poets have been writing about the importance of being a wanderer in this world. One of my favourite authors, Bruce Chatwin, was powerfully attracted to nomadism. Through his writing and extensive travel he thought deeply about the opposite poles of home and the thrill of exploration. Chatwin’s writing can be viewed as a struggle to discard the idea of home as a kind of heaven and to replace it with the radical notion that the person who found himself adrift, in perpetual motion, might already be at home—that movement itself might be the ideal human state. Over the last year, I have followed my wanderlust to travel hundreds of kilometres, searching for an elusive understanding of where I feel most at home. Nomadic at heart, I am happiest in motion, heading toward new horizons, ever-changing vistas, discovering what lies at the end of the road. Sometimes all it takes is reading a single sentence about an intriguing location or an image of a striking 05

Exploring in Search of an Inner Landscape

landmark that grabs my attention and stays in my mind. A single spark that develops into an idea. The idea then becomes a persistent itch to want to see the place for myself. Sometimes it is looking at odd place names on a map, sometimes my imagination paints an idyllic picture of yet unexplored places that I am convinced I will find—if I just go there. So it was for me with Elliot Lake. A concept and economic development strategy, conceived of twenty odd years ago, to attract retirees to a desolate mining town where active mining had stopped decades ago. Packing up my dog, my camera, and good hiking boots, I headed north. North, for me, has always been a draw. The north conjures up magnificent stretches of boreal forest, smooth expanses of granite along the Canadian Shield, soft beds of lichen in varying shades of green, silent lakes, rushing waterfalls, and very few people. North starts an hour or two outside the Greater Golden Horseshoe, but gets better with every kilometre—the further away from the city the better.

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Over the last year, I have explored the shorelines of four Great Lakes; ventured north to the French River and Killarney, crisscrossed the area around Sudbury and Elliot Lake, heading as far as Wawa, along the north shore of Lake Superior, and returning via points east through the Ottawa Valley and Algonquin region. I have chased wild winter storms on Lake Erie, lingered over sunsets among the sand dunes of Lake Huron, looked for flocks of migrating birds at Long Point, and hiked magnificent stretches of the Bruce Trail. I’ve watched moose grazing in Algonquin Park and floated past architectural rock formations along the ancient Voyageur routes of the distant past. Close to home, yet a world away. Covid stopped us all in our tracks. At first, people were reluctant to leave their homes, apart from a quick walk around the neighbourhood, or an early morning trip to a food store. Pretty soon restlessness took over, and I started to venture further—walk the dog in areas that were new to me, explore conservation areas, provincial parks, drive

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Ilze Andzans

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Saplings in the mist: plant nursery in Niagara.

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Ilze Andzans

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Storm clouds over Lake Ontario, near Grimsby.

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Ilze Andzans

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Early morning silence, Algoma Country.

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Ilze Andzans

scenic back roads, find overgrown access points along the Lake Ontario shoreline to previously unseen views of open water. As the lockdown wore on, even that was not enough: I pored over road maps, thinking about venturing further afield, heading toward destinations that sparked my imagination. I Followed roads I had never taken and planning routes that were purposefully indirect, that meandered and traversed new territory. Through the camera lens, I began to see details I had not noticed before: subtle signs of changing seasons, flowering trees, cascading waterfalls, delicate woodland flowers, interesting bark, dramatic skies. For the first time in a long time, I was taking the time to really

Rarely still: Katherine Cove, north shore of Lake Superior.

explore my surroundings and think about what attracted me to a certain location or vista. Where did I feel most at home? Or was I already home in the constant motion of exploration? Each place I saw made me want to venture further, seek out more remote places, and to follow my thoughts and ideas and explore new territory. In the coldest winter months, I found myself setting off in early morning darkness to capture the sunrise over Niagara Falls. Less than half an hour from my home, the power of the thundering cascade and subtle changes of light as the suns rays broke directly over the brink of the falls, were a constant draw. Springtime inspired aimless 09

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wandering along the shoreline of Lake Erie, toward the bird migration hotspot of Long Point. Not a birder myself, it was the journey that gave me the greatest pleasure. Water levels were high, causing road closures and flooding, but flowering woodland plants emerged, creating swaths of colour with no regard for the devastation. Having spent my summers in cottage country near Algonquin, the Carolinian forest zone and Erie shoreline were new to me—dozens of port towns with their long piers extending into the lake, speaking to an industrial past of which I had only passing knowledge. Wide expanses of agricultural land end abruptly at the Erie shore. The horizontal layers of earth and sky are reminiscent of large-scale, abstract paintings, with the shells of old tobacco drying sheds dotting the landscape— ghosts of agricultural practices long gone.

The shoreline itself was not familiar to me. Limestone shelves or alvars were extending out into the shallow lake, with lone wildflowers clinging to a precarious existence in the tiniest of cracks in the rock face—and all the more beautiful for it. The vast horizon reminded me of the dramatic seascapes of the East Coast. While it was the natural landscape that attracted me initially, I could not help but notice the ever-expanding footprints of urban development cropping up on the periphery of almost every small town I visited: there were groups of row houses and low-slung bungalows, and signs for golf courses and high rise condo dwellings promising a relaxed waterfront lifestyle. Who were the people moving to these small communities, so far from any major urban centre? Were they all retirees, or urban refugees seeking a quieter, less frenzied lifestyle?

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Autumn morning at High Falls, Bracebridge, Ontario.

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Ilze Andzans

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Highway 60 corridor, Algonquin Park.

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Ilze Andzans

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Evening light in Algoma Country.

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Ilze Andzans

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Waterfall detail, Muskoka, Ontario.

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Ilze Andzans

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Vanishing point, Port Dalhousie Pier, Lake Ontario.

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Ilze Andzans

Exploring in Search of an Inner Landscape

Moving further west through the huge expanses of farmland between London and Lake Huron took me through a somewhat surreal landscape—one void of human scale. There were farms so enormous they took up whole counties; agro business, instead of family farms. Properties were consolidated, and farmhouses bulldozed to make way for contiguous fields of corn and soya beans. There are fewer and fewer century farmhouses remaining—whole chapters of settlement patterns erased. The Huron shore, reaching up into the Grey Peninsula, is yet another world with its aquamarine water, wide sandy beaches, and striking sunsets. The terminus of the Bruce Trail and some of the most spectacular scenery along the 900-kilometre trail overlooking Georgian Bay attracted scores of hikers during the pandemic, to the point of having shuttle buses and timed parking for the most popular spots. Completing the end-to-end hike has become a pilgrimage goal for many. Heading up Highway 400, the fork in the highway north of Barrie is an iconic symbol for anyone heading north. North, past

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Muskoka, past Parry Sound, to French River country, Sudbury, and then the true north of endless stretches of boreal forest, rock faces as high as cathedrals, scattered settlements, and the majesty of Lake Superior itself. If there was a pilgrimage goal in the back of my mind, I think that was it. Rumi, the mystic Persian poet who wrote 800 years ago, still speaks to us today when he says that travel brings power and love back unto your life and points out that there are two who are never satisfied: the lover of the world and the lover of knowledge. The Sufis, like all mystics, speak to us of a homesickness that is also a kind of hope. All of us are exiles in the world, they tell us, longing to get back to the place that is our rightful home.

BIO/ ILZE ANDZANS IS A GRADUATE OF GUELPH UNIVERSITY (MLA), AND HAS WORKED FOR OVER 40 YEARS AS A PLANNER AND LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR (CITY OF TORONTO, REGION OF NIAGARA, AND METROLINX). A COMMITTED ENVIRONMENTALIST, SHE SERVED ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS AT THE TORONTO BOTANICAL GARDEN AND THE NIAGARA PENINSULA CONSERVATION AUTHORITY, AND COLLABORATED WITH ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE TO BRING THE BLUE FLAG PROGRAM TO CANADA. PHOTOGRAPHY IS A LIFELONG PASSION SHE NOW HAS TIME TO PURSUE IN HER RETIREMENT.

“My soul is from elsewhere, I’m sure of that and I intend to end up there.” — Rumi

Book Corner

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REVIEW BY SARAH MANTEUFFEL

In Accessible Architecture: Beyond the Ramp, author Ron Wickman takes readers into a thorough examination of how designers can make spaces accessible by analyzing and critiquing buildings, spaces, and places across Canada, including his own work. Inspired by his own lived experience, Wickman has practiced in accessible architecture for decades, starting when accessibility in design was not a common consideration, and continuing now, when it is more incorporated into building codes and standards. In 2017, Statistics Canada noted that 22 per cent of the Canadian population over the age of 15 identify as having one or more disabilities. This amounts to approximately

6.2 million residents, where 50 per cent of those identifying have physical disabilities. Often, wheelchair users are the focus of disability conversations, but this makes up only a small percentage of the physically disabled. Wickman’s work is greatly inspired by his father’s wheelchair use, however, what makes this book unique is his expansion on what accessibility truly looks like in the built environment by providing insights into how to design for other disabilities including visual, hearing, and cognitive disabilities.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Landscape architects and designers can benefit from this work, as Ron outlines his “Nine Concepts of Accessible Architecture,” which can be applied to the design of any built environment:

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Accessible architecture accommodates as many people as possible. Accessible architecture is more than a code-compliance issue. Accessible architecture offers everyone choice. Accessible architecture should be invisible. Accessible architecture is sustainable, adaptable, and flexible. Accessible architecture is integral to the design process from inception. Accessible architecture reaps economic benefits. Accessible architecture is beautiful. Accessible architecture provides emotional benefits.

Book Corner

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Book Title: Accessible Architecture: Beyond the Ramp Author: Ron Wickman Editor: Sarah Yates Publisher: Gemma B. Publishing

Through images, illustration, and plan drawings, the book travels through buildings and built environments to explore the pros and cons of its accessible designs. What stood out was his “journey” through the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, a landscape designed by the late Cornelia Hahn Oberlander. While Wickman sings the praises of the integration of the slow and mindful ramp as an alternate entrance to the building, he concludes, “I wonder: are the stairs even needed?”

In following his proposed concepts, accessible design should be for everyone and not a segregated option. Choice in built environments is only valid if all have the opportunity to choose. By incorporating accessibility into landscape architecture and design, we create spaces of opportunity for all. No longer should we focus on what is required by code and legislation, but instead ask, what is right?

Images from Ron Wickman’s Accessible Architecture: Beyond the Ramp.

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Courtesy of Gemma B. Publishing

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BIO/ SARAH MANTEUFFEL IS A GROUND EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, AND ACCESSIBILITY ADVOCATE, WORKING ON HER MASTERS DEGREE IN CITY PLANNING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA. SHE WAS THE COORDINATOR AT THE OALA FOR 4.5 YEARS BEFORE LEAVING IN JULY 2020 FOR HER STUDIES. AS A PERSON WITH DWARFISM, AS WELL AS HAVING AN UNDERGRADUATE DEGREE IN INTERIOR DESIGN, SARAH HAS ALWAYS VIEWED THE WORLD FROM A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE: FOCUSING ON HOW SPACES PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY AFFECT PEOPLE BEYOND INCLUSIVE DESIGN. HER MASTER’S DEGREE CAPSTONE IS FOCUSING ON INCORPORATING ACCESSIBILITY LANGUAGE INTO PLANNING CODES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT.

Notes

Notes: A Miscellany of News and Events conferences The OALA and the Ontario Professional Planners Institute will be hosting a joint conference in London, Ontario and hybrid (online), on September 21st and 22nd. The goal of the conference is a chance for planners and landscape architects to “explore the important role that professional planners and landscape architects play in the natural and built environments, including the ongoing climate crisis, racial and social injustice, the inherent rights and title of Indigenous Peoples, and other relevant topics impacting Ontario communities.” For more information, check out: oala.ca And the “Grey to Green” virtual conference is back for 2022, with a focus on “future proofing our communities with green infrastructure.” This event will take place online June 22nd and 23rd from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm EST. The conference is presented by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, who expects roughly over 300 attendees. There will be technical presentations, panel Q&As, an expert round table, and more. For more information, check out: greytogreenconference.org

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summit The International Landscape Collaborative (ILC) has organized an “interdisciplinary summit, bringing together professionals, academics, policy makers, and community organizations who work at the intersection of ecology, infrastructure, and urban development to share knowledge and experiences from across the world to spark change in planning policy and city-building practices.” “Bridging Scales and Disciplines: an Ecological Approach to City Building” will take place June 3-4, in person, at the University of Toronto John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. The event will feature a variety of keynotes, conversations, and presentations, as well as optional site tours of ecological infrastructure and conservation across the Toronto metropolitan area. For more information, check out: landscape-collaborative.org/summit

new members The Ontario Association of Landscape Architects is proud to recognize and welcome the following new members to the Association: Kathleen Alexander *

Emily Mueller de Celis

Emily Bowerman

R. Sean Nailer *

José Castillo-Pilcol

Ammar Nasir

Marc Cote

Adam Nordfors

Mackenzie Fantini *

Stephen O’Neill *

Nicole Huculiak

Matt Perotto

Sarah Ko *

Margot Shafran *

Wenting Li

Laura Solano

Zhiyu (Jerry) Liu *

Shane Ursprung

Candice Micucci

W.A. Jesse Williamson *

Reesha Morar *

Irene Wong *

Pauline Moskal

Asterisk (*) denotes Full Members without the use of professional seal.

in memoriam Charles Lanktree, BLA, OALA, CSLA The OALA is saddened to announce the passing of Charles William Lanktree on November 28th, 2021. Charles had been a full member of the OALA since January 1988. Charles William Lanktree died at home in Toronto at 68 years old, after a brave struggle with melanoma cancer. He is survived by his wife Ruth, son Graham (Avalon), daughter Marion (Ryan), and grand-daughter Iris. He also leaves his mother Phyllis Schneidmiller, brother Ed (Sue), sisters Rosemary (Gerry) and Carol (Steve), and numerous nieces, nephews, extended family and friends. Friends and colleagues of Charles kindly prepared condolence information. Charles earned his first degree in Urban Design at Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. He married Ruth Bice in 1976, and the couple then moved to Toronto. There Charles worked for the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) before earning a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Toronto in 1980. He took up his practice as an urban planner in Halifax, where he and Ruth welcomed two children, Graham Charles and Marion Clare. Charles received a scholarship from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), graduating in 1986 with a master’s degree in Urban and Rural Planning from Dalhousie University. In the same year, the family moved to Peterborough, Ontario, where Charles

Notes

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worked for the City as an urban planner. He served there until 1990, when the family moved on to Ottawa, Ontario. There Charles began a successful twenty-fiveyear career as an urban planner for the City of Ottawa, retiring in 2015. Following retirement, Charles and Ruth resettled near their daughter and sonin-law in Toronto, where they welcomed the birth of their grand-daughter Iris Ruth MacLean in 2019. In October of 2021, Charles and Ruth celebrated 45 years of marriage. Charles was a member of the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects (OALA) where he served on the OPPI Task Force and volunteered for the Urban Forum. He also loved his planning profession and was honoured with a Member Service Award for his valued contributions to the Ontario Professional Planners Institute (OPPI) in 2018. Passionate about his community, Charles volunteered with the Danforth Planning Study and the Danforth-Main Laneway Connection. He served at various soup kitchens, community gardening organizations, choir and as a board member for the Neighbourhood Unitarian Universalist Congregation (NUUC). Charles was a deeply spiritual man who cherished his Unitarian Universalist faith. He found strength in his Tai Chi practice, meditation, and enjoyed cycling and cross-country skiing. His other hobbies included the Spiritual choir, gardening, playing his guitars, sketching, watercolour and photography. In lieu of flowers the Lanktree family would be grateful for any donations to one of two charities below, both of which were close to Charles’ heart: The Odette Cancer Centre, and the Toronto Environmental Alliance.

books Former Ground Editor Lorraine Johnson has a new book, co-authored with Sheila Colla, featuring illustrations by Ann Sanderson. It’s called A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators (Ontario and Great Lakes Edition), and explores the relationship between native plants and local pollinators such as bees, moths, butterflies, beetles, flies, wasps, and other insects. It shows you how to create and maintain healthy pollinator ecosystems in your own green space. As well, the book profiles more than 330 Ontario trees, shrubs, perennials, vines, and more. The book is already available for pre-order with online retailers and local book stores, and will hit the shelves on May 21, 2022. For more information, visit Lorraine’s website: lorrainejohnson.ca

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Charles Lanktree

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Jessica Eden

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A Garden for the Rusty-Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators book

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Courtesy of Lorraine Johnson

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The pared down, raw material look remains pretty popular in modern design. It’s a style that often includes stainless steel, due to its resistance to corrosion and rust, durability, and relative sustainability. This is fine, but can pose an issue in the case of handrails.

TEXT BY GLYN BOWERMAN

For most people, a handrail is a symbol of accessibility: ideally part of any staircase or ramp design, indoor or outdoor, for people with mobility issues, or just everyday safety. But accessibility and safety features, included with the best of intentions, have to be done right, or you risk jeopardizing some people’s safety.

The CNIB Foundation has a helpful resource for designing for people living with various visual impairments called clearingourpath.ca. Included in this resource is a guideline emphasizing the need for a high degree of colour contrast between handrails and the surrounding environment. Certain visual impairments require this colour contrast for handrails to be visible. Black and white or dark red and white are listed as examples of good contrast. Red and green or blue and green are to be avoided to accommodate people with colour blindness. Stainless steel, or another grey metal material, is unlikely to provide great contrast since it tends to reflect the colours from its surrounding environment.

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Pedestrian access to the Weston Road UP Express station.

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Helene Iardas

One retrofitting solution provided by Clearing Our Path is adding brightlycoloured decals to the top and bottom of a rail that doesn’t otherwise contrast properly with the background. You may also consider coating the handrail with a surface that will provide better contrast. With governments at every level trying to meet the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act guidelines, and with the Public Private Partnerships becoming more frequent, designers will be required to demonstrate their handrails provide the right amount of colour contrast to provide safety and accessibility. If you’re designing a handrail, make sure it pops. BIO/ GLYN BOWERMAN IS THE EDITOR OF GROUND, A TORONTO-BASED JOURNALIST, AND THE HOST OF THE SPACING RADIO PODCAST ON CANADIAN URBANISM.

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