An Analysis of Toronto’s Urban Ravine Policies and the Achievement of Ecological Integrity

Abstract

In order to protect ravines and native species, the City of Toronto requires strong, meaningful policies that will direct the ecological management of this ecosystem. Ecological integrity represents a sound principle for ecological management within urban forest areas, such as Toronto’s ravines. This project reviewed the critical policies of the current policy framework that guides the management of Toronto’s ravines to evaluate how well compositional, structural, and functional measures of ecological integrity were protected within this framework. These policies included the City of Toronto Official Plan, the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection By-law of the Municipal Code, and the Conservation Authorities Act. These policies were found to contain provisions which promoted the achievement of certain components of ecological integrity but were inhibited by the scope of their policy framework, lacking clear guidelines, and specific management restrictions. Further, it was found that the body of policy governing Toronto’s ravines contained no outright restriction on the planting of invasive species, directly compromising the compositional integrity of the ecosystem. To increase the degree to which Toronto’s policy framework protects for components of ecological integrity within the ravines, both short and long-term policy recommendation were made.