Item - 2024.IE18.10

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee:

1. Forwarded this item to City Council without recommendations.

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee:

1. Requested the General Manager, Parks, Forestry and Recreation to report directly to the December 17, 18 and 19, 2024 meeting of City Council, by itemizing the measures needed, and the resources required in the 2025 Budget, to institute effective protections of the ecological functions of the Environmentally Sensitive Areas on the Toronto Islands in the year 2025.

Environmentally Significant Areas and Provincially Significant Wetlands are the highest quality ecological assets of Toronto's Natural Heritage System and on Toronto Island. Parks, Forestry and Recreation and Toronto and Region Conservation have a long history of investment in the natural environment of Toronto Island that continues today through ongoing investment in infrastructure to manage impacts of erosion and park use, as well as management of invasive plant species and planting of native species, within and adjacent to Environmentally Significant Areas and Provincially Significant Wetlands.

The Toronto Island Park Master Plan, adopted by City Council on July 24, 2024, has nature at its core and recognizes a need for continued and enhanced investment in these significant spaces. The Toronto Island Park Master Plan outlines a vision and identifies investment and programmatic priorities over the next 25 years and beyond. As part of the adoption of the Toronto Island Park Master Plan, City Council requested the relevant City divisions and agencies to report on a work program to develop management plans to protect and enhance the Islands’ wetlands and Environmentally Significant Areas and identify resources that would be required in the 2025 Budget to advance protection and naturalization efforts in the short term. The Toronto Island Park Master Plan is being implemented through a rolling workplan of ongoing and upcoming initiatives, including efforts to protect and restore the Island's Environmentally Significant Areas and Provincially Significant Wetlands.