BY KNOWING THE LAND IS RESISTANCE

Cootes Paradise is often described as the most valuable wild space in the Hamilton area, while nearby disturbed sites are widely dismissed as valueless. But what other forces have acted on Cootes and the surrounding area, and how does the land’s past relate to ideas of value?

Overnight, snow has covered the land. Since there are so many fun things to do in the winter that are harder to do other times, we set off towards the frozen marshes of Cootes Paradise.

WORDS AND PHOTOS BY KNOWING THE LAND IS RESISTANCE

There was once a time when the nuts of the American Chestnut tree fed the eastern half of this continent.
Each winter, millions of humans and other animals relied on them for survival. As time went on and settlers arrived here, even as they destroyed the forests, they planted the Chestnut in their fields. One such place was the Hamilton Psychiatric Hospital, now known as St. Joesph’s Centre for Mountain Health Services (CMHS). The gardens, food trees, and forested patches on the hospital grounds provided patients there with activity and refuge and, for a time, almost all of their food.

The forest at Iroquoia Heights has a unique composition and a strong diversity of plants, mammals, and birds. Forest fragmentation is a cause of this uniqueness but also makes the forest vulnerable.

 

KNOWING THE LAND IS RESISTANCE

The afternoon is full of sunshine, warming our cheeks into squinting smiles. Today there's a street festival on James Street North, and it's easy to get caught up in the joyful atmosphere. These festivals are a much-celebrated vision of the new downtown, but are they really increasing the health of our communities?

Hamilton is littered with the abandoned storefronts of former development enthusiasm – is the trend on James North any different? And what would building a healthy community even look like? With these questions rattling around inside us, we descend the hill along the West side of the James Street bridge to explore the meadow that grows by the traintracks there and seek some clarity.

We enter the Don River Valley at the end of three days of storms, and the river runs high and full. In most river systems, this new surge of water would be a re-energizing gift, full of nutrients swept in from the land. But the Don River’s watershed is 90% developed, making it the most urbanized river in Canada, and water that passes through an enormous city like Toronto is a whole different story.