Glendon’s forest is dying – and being revived

Justin Ramdewar
Contributor
The degradation of York University’s Glendon forest affects all of us.
The Glendon forest occupies approximately 48 percent of the space at York’s Glendon campus, yet few people are trying to preserve its natural beauty and fight for its health, which is slowly deteriorating.
The majority of York students live near and study primarily at the Keele campus, but our Glendon neighbours should not be forgotten – this isn’t about the students at Glendon, but the beautiful space it occupies. Glendon is a part of York; in fact, it’s York’s original campus. As almost anyone who has ever visited us will tell you, Glendon is known for its heritage and its natural beauty.
Darnel Harris is co-president of Regenesis@York, a student-run organization attempting to restore the Glendon forest to its past glory. Harris, a fourth-year history student, said much work has to be done and there are in fact quite a few people dedicated to bringing about change, but resources are hard to attain and progress is slow.
Regenesis@York, though, prides themselves on results, and is interested as an organization in creating attainable, measurable and therefore practical projects that centre on sustainability.
Currently, they are organizing a farmer’s market where students can buy locally grown produce from local farmers. Regenesis@York also recently started a program that aims to teach elementary students how to be more eco-friendly; according to Harris, they’re also responsible for the bike shop that many students would like to see constructed on our Keele campus.
Furthermore, the organization is interested in making York a more bike-friendly school by fighting for a bike lane that runs right alongside our infamous bus loop along York Lanes. Specifically, Harris said Regenesis@York is talking with campus service business operations (CSBO) regarding funding and resources for their long-term project of restoring the forest.
The project is a lengthy one as many factors have to be considered: tree stumps will have to be torn up and large rocks removed among other things. The good news is that the CSBO does not have to foot the bill entirely.
Professor Jennifer Foster with the faculty of environmental studies at the Keele campus is one of hopefully many willing to incorporate work that relates to their courses directly into projects in the Glendon forest.
Once the park is restored, Harris said one aim is to have the environmental students play a large role in sustaining it. In this way, York’s efforts will not be
in vain.
Regenesis@York is also exploring outside partnerships, grants and funding in general to help further their cause. Whether it is green space at Glendon campus, Keele campus or at home, the hard part is mostly the initial getting dirty phase.
Corrections
The March 16 science article “Glendon’s forest is dying – and being revived” noted Regen- esis@York wants to establish
a bike lane parallel to the York commons bus loop. While the group is interested in more bike lanes on campus, a bus loop bike lane is not one of their initiatives.