The Rouge: Concept and Contiguity
by Bob Fisher, June 6, 2003
Photographs and Design by John Bush

A Rouge Primer

For those of you who might be new to this area, Markham Green golf course is a stunning and challenging nine-hole golf course located in the heart of Rouge Valley country in the south-east quadrant of Markham. If you are also relatively new to the Rouge Valley itself – or perhaps like me, you've not been fully cognizant of the beauty, diversity, and vulnerability of the Rouge – you might want to consider the following.

The Rouge Valley is an enormous watershed that will become the largest park ever created within an urban area in North America (over 12,000 acres). It is home to a myriad of indigenous and transplanted fauna and flora that provide ample proof of the "Wild in the City!" rallying cry of Rouge Alliance members. As such, it is an oasis of tranquillity in the cacophony of urban sprawl, and a living symbol of community and environmental activism. The subsequent governmental legislation that resulted from this activism affirmed the principles and practices of good land use and resource management. The Rouge is also an immense system of natural "corridors" stretching from the Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario.

The overwhelming majority of Canadians live in urban centres, and the GTA is Canada's largest. The simple math and the basic tenets of urban studies make it perfectly clear that in this area finding natural green spaces in which to decompress is becoming a greater and greater challenge; so much so that it becomes all too easy to miss the obvious even though prophets of all kinds warn us of what might still happen: I am reminded of Joni Mitchell's Big Yellow Taxi: "Don't it always seem to go / That you don't know what you've got / Till it's gone / They paved paradise / And put up a parking lot."

Think of the Rouge Valley as a large template for the non-parking lot. Along the Rouge there are many easy public access points to this reserve: Toogood Pond, Milne Park, Bruce's Mill, to mention a few well-known local ones, but also non-park resources such as the Toronto Zoo, the Glen Rouge Campground, and the Markham Green golf course.

You arrive at the first tee of Markham Green after a short preamble along an asphalted path through a hardwood forest that has been left in its natural state. Abundant, elegant ferns softly illuminated by the filtered sunlight

The challenge of the Rouge

But unlike other courses, water is not so much a hazard at Markham Green as a corollary element in the kind of golf that emphasizes a collaborative relationship as opposed to triumphal displays of prowess. And there is a lot of rough on the Markham Green course where a minimum of mowing takes place. Tall waving grasses, a profusion of insect and bird-attracting wildflowers, and diverse species of low bushes are a botanist's dream as well as secondary habitats on the course. They can also be the hiding places of errant golf balls.

Note the core 10-acre hardwood lot that is continuous throughout the course as well as the seven-acre cedar corridor on the south perimeter. Both receive minimal maintenance and thus provide a natural habitat for those species of plants and animals that thrive in them. In many cases deciduous trees overhang the river providing important shade areas that are beneficial to the fish populations in the Rouge, especially the salmon and trout that make their way north from Lake Ontario.

Using the Rouge Valley list of indigenous plant species, the staff of Markham Green has recently planted and is continuing to cultivate such species as alternate leafed and redosier dogwood, american elder, and river bank grape. When you are teeing up on the second hole, notice the abundance of mullein around the blue and white tees. Although not native to the area, the growth of this biannual (also know by a variety of names including Adams' Flannel, Beggar's Blanket, and Candlewick Plant) is encouraged at Markham Green as a food source for birds and is growing throughout the course. In its second year of growth the tall stalks are loaded with seed, a favourite of goldfinches especially. Not all species in this part of the Rouge, however, are indigenous nor particularly beneficial. Notice the Norway maples, an alien species that provide excessive shade thus reducing the ability for lower plant forms to flourish. The impressive and rugged sugar maples you see, however, provide the right kind of filtered light to encourage multiple plant forms to thrive. Although species like the Norway are not removed, Markham Green does carefully monitor the growth areas around these interlopers and measures are taken to assure that any hindrance to growth of other species is minimized. Another plant species that is posing concerns and being carefully monitored is the deceptive-sounding purple-stemmed angelica atropurpurea which occurs along moist streambanks.

Markham Green is committed to an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in which pesticides are used only as required, and the course's fertilizer program is based on regular soil tests. Phosphorous which is often used by golf courses as a fertilizer is not "mobile" in the soil (it does not leach out of the soil) and can be a contaminant in surface water causing algae growth in water bodies. When phosphorous was required on some of the grass at Markham Green a couple of years ago, care was taken that it was not applied near any surface water. In addition, when the soil tests indicated that the phosphorous levels were adequate, applications were discontinued.

It is important to note, however, that in a management plan that emphasizes moderation in all things, reasonable co-existence, and a comprehensive approach, Markham Green incorporates fundamental environmental practices that are also time-consuming, labour-intensive, and costly. (Undesirable weeds such as ragweed are removed by hand.) However, part of the Rouge concept is the principle of long-term thinking for long-term gain. As we now know, a natural environment can be degraded and reduced very quickly as a result of short-term thinking. But it is long-term thinking that in the end is cost-effective. A diverse and healthy eco-system, like a well-managed golf course, does indeed enhance lifestyle – this is the essence of the beauty of playing golf at Markham Green – and the real, long-term value is in its sustainable development. This is a principle that also is inherent in socially responsible, long-term marketing strategies.

Environmental integrity is a fundamental principle of the Rouge Alliance and as every golf aficionado knows, integrity is also at the heart of the game. Golf also is about the interplay of natural forces. It has a long and diverse history and has been played in some of the wildest and most beautiful environments on this planet. Although less manicured and fabricated than some golf courses, Markham Green is a beautiful place to golf; it is a very successful blend of a walk through the Rouge Valley and a challenging round of golf.

And because beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, to appreciate the true merits of Markham Green and the other areas of the Rouge where humans play, you need to be able to see the forest and the trees.

For more information, you may wish to access the following websites:

The Rouge Park website at: www.rougepark.com
Markham Green at www.markhamgreengolfclub.ca
Toronto and Region: Conservation for The Living City at www.trca.on.ca
The Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary System of Canada at www.acssc.ca

                                                                                                                                                                 
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