What we have done

Working with volunteers, members of the community and in partnership with many agencies, the Task Force has helped to make the Don a valuable, healthy natural space in the heart of our city.

The Task Force has:

• helped Torontonians realise that the Don is a place that can be restored and is worthy of our investment;
• advocated for the Lower Don in various planning processes;
• helped educate about Don issues; and
• created partnerships directed at restoration of the Don and building awareness.

Key accomplishments include:

• An estimated 10,000 citizens have volunteered with the Task Force to date, and public involvement continues to grow.
• More than 35,000 trees and shrubs and thousands of wildflowers have been planted in the Lower Don River Valley.
• Regular clean-up days have cleaned up about four fifths of the West and Lower Don Rivers, including the ravines stretching west of the Lower Don Valley up to the Mount Pleasant Cemetery. (Volunteers have removed such items as tires, construction materials, automobile batteries, shopping carts, oil drums, a motorcycle and an old cigarette machine!)
• Chester Springs Marsh (just south of the Prince Edward Viaduct) was completed in 1996. The Marsh is larger than 3 hectares (about the size of 7 football fields) and created protected habitat for wetland wildlife.
• In 1998, the Riverdale Farm Ponds Naturalization Project restored two ponds with the assistance of approximately 800 schoolchildren and community members.
• The Queen Street Staircase and the stairs off the Riverdale Foot Bridge were built to provide public access to the path beside the Don on the west side of the river.
• The Lower Don Community Stewardship Program, created in 1997, matches volunteer groups to Don restoration sites.
• 40 restoration projects, including 12 small-scale wetlands have been completed or are currently underway.

Awards & Recognition

The Task Force to Bring Back the Don has won awards from around the world for its accomplishments, and is recognized in the field as a model for urban environmental regeneration.

Some of the awards include:

• 1991 - Award of Excellence from the Canadian Institute of Planners for the Task Force Report, Bringing Back the Don
• 1996 - The Canadian and United States Consuls General - Award for the Task Force's contribution to Great Lakes ecosystem improvement
• 1997 - City of Toronto Urban Design Awards of Excellence: Large Project Category, Chester Springs Marsh
• 1998 - Toronto and Region Remedial Action Plan Award of Excellence for the creation and enhancement of Chester Springs Marsh
• 2001 - Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Award for Service to the Environment