Breathing new life into St. James Park
New turfgrass will revive green space damaged by Occupy Toronto protest
TORONTO – After five weeks playing host to Occupy Toronto protesters, the lawn at Toronto’s St. James Park suffered severe damage, with the lawn trampled to death.
Local residents concerned about the condition of their communal gathering space were assured on Dece. 7 that it will be brought back to life. Landscape Ontario is partnering with the Nursery Sod Growers Association of Ontario, Project EverGreen and the community to restore some greenery in St. James Park with a new lawn. Turfgrass is an enormous environmental benefit that is so often underestimated with its incredible ability to keep Toronto clean, green and healthy.
Huge volunteer effort
“There is a huge volunteer effort happening here,” said Tony DiGiovanni, executive director of Landscape Ontario. “There will be more than 10,000 rolls of sod and at least 23 dump trucks of soil and an incredible number of people being very charitable.”
Volunteers from member Landscape Ontario and Nursery Sod-Growers Association firms were on site Wednesday to begin preparation work, with the noticeable difference on Thursday as an army of volunteers laid the new sod to replace that which was damaged during the Occupy Toronto protest.
Restoring the lawn at St. James Park is an effort on par with planting a forest of trees when it comes to cleaning our air and creating the best situation for a healthy environment.
“A green and healthy lawn is just as important as a tree,” says Kyle Tobin, owner of LawnSavers Plant Health Care and a co-manager of the St. James Park project. “We have a unique opportunity right now before winter to restore the lawn and take advantage of ideal conditions. We will get in there and it will go from brown to green immediately and flourish next spring.”
A lush, green lawn is more than just pleasing to the eye. Did you know:
• That 220 square feet of turfgrass produces enough oxygen for a family of four; that means restoring the turfgrass in St. James Park will produce enough clean air for 545 families
• North American Lawns store billions of tonnes of carbon, making turfgrass a leading contributor to offset carbon and reduce global warming
• The average front lawn has the cooling effect of 8.5 tonnes of air conditioning; Lawns will be 18°C (30°F) cooler than asphalt and 7°C (14°F) cooler than bare soil in the heat of summer
• Turf improves water quality by storing and filtering the water that would otherwise go into catch-basins and into the lake
• A 10,000 square foot lawn will contain six grass plants per square inch, 850 plants per square foot and 8.5 million plants total. Think of your lawn as a forest of grass plants.
Community members interested helping out with the transformation of St. James were invited to come to the park to support the massive volunteer effort.
“When you consider the immense environmental benefits of turf, we are going to make a huge impact with the revitalization of St. James Park,” says Alan White, owner of Turf Systems and a co-manager of the St. James Park project. “A new lawn in the park will have the equivalent impact of producing enough clean air for 2,180 people each day. It will help maintain a healthy temperature in our environment and work to keep our air and water clean.”
