Draft:Baker's Woods
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| Baker's Woods | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Baker's Woods | |
| Location | Vaughan, Ontario, Canada |
| Nearest city | Thornhill |
| Coordinates | 43°49′44″N 79°27′47″W / 43.829°N 79.463°W |
| Area | 31 ha (77 acres) |
| Established | 2011 (opened to the public) |
| Governing body | City of Vaughan |
Baker's Woods is a 31-hectare (76-acre) old-growth forest in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, at the northwest corner of Bathurst Street and Highway 7 in the Thornhill area.[1] Managed for generations as a sugar bush by the Baker family, who the Ontario Heritage Trust describes as maple syrup pioneers among Vaughan's early settlers, the woodlot was acquired by public agencies in 2000 and opened to the public in 2011 as part of the city-owned Sugarbush Heritage Park.[1][2] It is among the largest and most mature remaining forests in the city.[1]
Description
[edit]Baker's Woods is an upland hardwood forest composed mainly of sugar maple, with a smaller proportion of beech and white ash and scattered basswood, oak, hickory, elm, ironwood, pine, hemlock and spruce.[1] Its long management as a sugar bush favoured sugar maple at the expense of other species.[1]
The forest contains 85 maple trees more than a century old, the oldest of which is approximately 250 years old, and includes about 11 hectares of interior habitat.[1] The forest floor supports trillium, wild leek, trout lily, yellow violet, blue cohosh, meadow rue, Virginia waterleaf, Jack-in-the-pulpit and sedges.[1]
History
[edit]The Baker family maintained one of the largest hardwood bushes in Vaughan, tapping the woodlot's maples for maple syrup, maple sugar and maple taffy.[2]
The Jonathan Baker House, built in 1853 and notable for its uncommon horizontal plank construction, stands on the adjoining property and is protected by the Ontario Heritage Trust. It forms part of Sugarbush Heritage Park and has been opened to visitors during the Trust's Doors Open Ontario programme.[2] The property remained in private hands and closed to the public until the turn of the twenty-first century.[1]
In 2000 the woodlot was purchased jointly by the City of Vaughan, the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority and the Regional Municipality of York, with additional funding for the purchase provided by the province of Ontario.[1]
Baker's Woods was opened to the public in 2011. The opening was marked by a ceremony at which mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua spoke, alongside representatives of the Richmond Hill Naturalists and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, local MPP Greg Sorbara and city councillors.[1]
References
[edit]External links
[edit]- Sugarbush Nature Walk – City of Vaughan
Category:Forests of Ontario Category:Parks in the Regional Municipality of York Category:Old-growth forests Category:Protected areas of the Regional Municipality of York