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The Board of the Walden Club has responsibility to nurture the forest that is a major component of the Walden spinney.

In 2007 we engaged a draftsman to make a site plan showing all the trees greater than 6inch diameter. This was followed up by an inspection by an arborist who tagged all the trees with the stainless steel tags [sequentially numbered] that you see today, and the findings were summarised on a spreadsheet. The forest plan is quite interesting and if you would like to look at it, there is a copy in the office of Walden Club.

We have a over 160 large trees in our forest, with several species, White Ash predominates (54 of the 165 total) the bulk of remainder are oak and maple, and very interestingly the many of the very large oak trees are twin trees. There are also many Saplings, mostly Sugar Maple, Norway Maple and Buckthorn.

For some time now the City of Toronto has made several initiatives with regard to their urban forests and currently the City of Mississauga has also heightened awareness of the value of our forests and is making an inventory of all the "heritage" trees within the City. The City of Victoria has put all trees greater than 3 ft diameter on a "protected' list, our spinney has lots of trees of this size. Look at a few of the magnificent oak's that are around the clubhouse and I'm sure you'd have no doubt in believing that we own several heritage / specimen oak trees.

The board is continuing to monitor the health of the forest and there will be was a second inspection conducted by a certified arborist in late March of this year 2009. The arborist identified by several trees which need some trimming and failing, and noted because so many invasive non native species.

Based on the arborist's report your Board will be taking action as required. Bearing in mind that we have 54 Ash trees, a major concern has to be the impact of the Emerald Ash Borer [EAB]. EAB was first found near Detroit Michigan in June, 2002 and this invasive destructive insect has not been found throughout the GTA including Mississauga. Throughout the whole region White Ash in general is declining from diseases and our wood lot is no exception. Many of our ash trees are already showing signs of stress and we will be carefully monitoring the trees throughout May, to see if there is any evidence that the EAB is active. Unlike the similar pest [the Asian Longhorn Beetle] EAB is much more difficult if not impossible to contain.

The photograph by shows the damage that the EAB grubs do to the living tree just below the surface of the bark, which causes the tree to decline and eventually die.

Forest Weed Report

Invasive Weeds  By V H Aiken August 2009 [with lots of advice from CVC ]  Our forest has been invaded by Giant Burdock, Motherwort, and Garlic Mustard, all of which are invasive “foreign” species, and easily capable of over whelming the native species on the forest floor, which will take several years to eradicate.  We also have many Common Buckthorns which invade the forest understory, and overwhelm the native trees.  As a first step, we have to ensure that our landscaping contractor mows carefully and thoroughly on all the foot path edges, as there are some existing native species close to the footpaths which we have to be careful not to destroy.  In particular we have to be careful not to damage the Milk Weed [food for Monarch Butterflies], May Apples, and some remaining Trilliums along the footpath edges.  Jack-in-the-pulpit is rare but we do have some, it is hard to see but is definitely not to be mowed. Jack-in-the-pulpit usually occurs in moist woods, and sometimes floodplains which is why we do not have many of them in the Walden Spinney area which appears to be drier.  May Apples, Trout Lilies, and Trilliums are spring ephemeral plants. They pop up soon after the warm weather arrives and before the buds on the trees overhead break their dormancy. By August they should be just about finished producing their fruits/seeds (you may still see an enlarged yellow-green ‘apple’ along the stem under the May Apple leaves).  Once they have fruited they start to die off like other spring plants, this is entirely normal.

Garlic Mustard [foreground]
May Apples and Trilliums

Jack-in the pulpit

In the spring we will be asking for volunteers to eradicate these invasive species. As noted it will take several years to eliminate them completely. The Burdock and Motherwort are generally confined to footpath edges. So it would be advantageous to firstly eradicate any populations of invasive species within the forest interior. There is both garlic mustard and common buckthorn in the woods and worthy of control as they can drastically alter the species composition of both the forest floor and shrub layer.
In a text below are some descriptions of the main culprits, garlic mustard is obvious from its photo. Unfortunately once it has seeded, the seeds will sprout on and off over a period of several years, so eradication is a lengthy process.

Garlic Mustard 1st year Garlic

Mustard about to overwhelm a Trout Lilley

Milkweed with Motherwort at rear

Motherwort Square Stem