Junior School students canoeing during a school trip.

York School News

S.T.E.M.

7/8/2020

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time to plant one is now.

“Oaks are wonderful team players in the forest, but they can be finicky,” York School

teacher and Eco-club coordinator Catherine Goldeye explains. “Their intricate root

system prevents erosion and they are the home and ‘dining establishment’ of choice for

many woodland creatures -- from birds to deer. They take a long time to establish and

get squeezed out by invasive species like the Norway Maple and the Japanese

Knotwood.”

Observing the city’s ravines in rapidly declining ecological health, Catherine knew

something needed to be done. She recruited the Eco club for help.

While pulling up invasive species at Tommy Thompson Park to make room for native

plants to grow and thrive, the club hatched a plan.

Teaming up with the Toronto and Regional Conservation Authority and the University of

Toronto Forestry Department, the club planted oak seedlings on the York campus. The

club will nurture them away from the bullying invasives and will replant them in the

ravines where they are badly needed.

With the School on urban Yonge St., it resides next to a massive fragile ecosystem, part

of more than 11,000 ravine hectares. “That’s more than 17 percent of Toronto,”

Catherine observes. “From food to water to fresh air….Walking on sidewalks all day

long, we quickly forget all the things that nature provides for us. It is our responsibility to

take good care of the forest. This is our community.”

Catherine laughs and says “Patience,” when asked what students learn from the

project. “It takes a few years for an oak to take root. Where instantaneous results are at

our fingertips, this will be a long-term project. Imagine, White Oaks can grow 35 metres

tall and live for several hundred years!” How does the saying go? “The true meaning of

life is to plant trees under whose shade you do not expect to sit.’”

What else might the students learn? “A nurturing spirit and a respect for nature and

biology,” Catherine adds. “In 1759 Voltaire proclaimed in Candide ‘we must cultivate our

garden.’ As humans, it is important to be part of something larger than our time and

place.”

With help from the York School Fund Catherine and the eco-club have started their seed-to-seedling programme in large planters at The York School. Their aim is to bring more native oaks back to Toronto’s ravines.

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About the York School

The York School is a gender-inclusive JK to Grade 12 independent school located in the heart of Toronto. The York School was founded in 1965 and is the first English speaking school in Canada accredited to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB) from junior kindergarten (JK) to university entrance. As an IB World School, The York School's motto is Experience Teaches.