October Lecture: The Leslie Street Spit – Toronto‘s Accidental Wilderness – NOT by Accident!

Date: Oct 07, 2025 at 19:00
Meeting Location: Zoom Meeting

Join us on Tuesday, October 7th at 7 pm via Zoom for our October Lecture. Zoom details below.

Since 1977, Friends of The Spit has been advocating that the entire Leslie Street Spit and Baselands, in Toronto, be preserved as a public urban wilderness, car-free , with no admission charges.

In the late 1970’s, the visionary founders of Friends of The Spit recognized the potential for this growing man-made spit of land, and since then, Friends of The Spit advocacy has been strong, consistent, constant and quite effective.

John and Garth, the current co-chairs of the organization, will detail the joys of this wonderful park space and nature reserve, and will stress the importance, and particular relevance these days, of citizen participation in all land use planning.

Co-Speakers:

John Carley, FRAIC

John Carley is a retired Architect. Since 1986, John has been co-chair of Friends of the Spit, a citizen advocacy group established in 1977, dedicated to preserving the entire Leslie Street Spit as a public urban wilderness. www.friendsofthespit.ca

As an architect and birder, John was a volunteer member of the City of Toronto committee which produced the Bird-Friendly Development Guidelines, mandatory since 2010 as part of the Toronto Green Standard. Currently, he is a Board member of FLAP Canada. In addition to his advocacy for The Spit, John initiated and coordinates the Toronto Centre Butterfly Count, an annual census now entering its 31st year.

Garth Riley, B.Sc., M.L.T.

Garth Riley is a retired Director from the Public Health Ontario, Laboratories. Since 2005, Garth has been co-chair of Friends of the Spit https://friendsofthespit.ca, a citizen advocacy group, established in 1977, dedicated to preserving the entire Leslie Street Spit as a public urban wilderness.

As a birder with a strong interest of all nature, Garth has been an active member of multiple birding and naturalist clubs in Ontario. He is currently a section lead for two squares as part of the Ontario Breeding Bird Atlas project and contributes to many other citizen science projects.

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Toronto Field Naturalists wishes to acknowledge this Land through which we walk. For thousands of years, the Land has been shared by the Wendat, the Haudenosaunee, and the Anishinaabe. Toronto is situated on the Land within the Toronto Purchase, Treaty 13, the traditional and treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. This territory is also part of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum, a covenant agreement between Anishinaabeg, Haudenosaunee, Wendat peoples and allied nations to peaceably share the land and all its resources. Today, the Land is home to peoples of numerous nations. We are all grateful to have the opportunity to continue to care for and share the beauty of this Land.