COLUMN: Nature finds a way – even in business parks

The city of Orillia has a plethora of parks: a couple on the shores of Lake Couchiching, while others are scattered as tiny green spaces dotted around residential areas. Growing up in Orillia, I had the opportunity to visit most of these tree-lined refuges, either to enjoy the playground or to sit under the large shade trees.

A few days ago, I took the time to explore a park that I had overlooked because I felt it didn’t have much to offer in the way of nature: Progress Park. (Spoiler alert: If you’re an Orillian reading this, I can see you smiling sadly.)

Progress Park is located in the southern part of Orillia, and although many people visit it daily, it is not a recreational destination. This piece of land is a light industrial park with numerous auto repair shops, manufacturing plants, wholesale and retail stores, fitness and dance studios, and the best chainsaw sharpening shop I know.

While this park lacks beaches and an ice cream stand, it does have some manicured lawns and horticulturally enhanced landscape accents. On the day of my visit, at least two lawn care companies were out and about. In short, it’s a business park, not the kind of place one would go to look for natural wonders.

So why was I here? Car service. An anti-rust layer is applied. The pleasant young man at the counter advised that the process would take between 30 and 40 minutes – I could wait or visit the nearby cafe. Since the sun was shining and I wasn’t drinking coffee, a walk seemed to be the only viable option.

Although there are no sidewalks in this park, there is ample room to wander along the edge of the sidewalk (provided you stay very alert when entering and exiting delivery trucks).

Being a well-trained naturalist, the notebook and pen on my back came into play as I passed each property, surreptitiously scanned by my botanical eyes. (Note: standing in front of a business, looking at its premises, taking photos and making notes in a black notebook has a way of attracting the attention of those looking out the office window.)

The list of blooming wildflowers began with the usual urban suspects: black doctor, ox-eye daisy, bluegrass, water lily and, oh yes, dandelion. These were busy flourishing in the ditches and wild borders between the settlements; apparently lawn care people are very careful about whose property line they stop at.

A handful of shrubs could be seen on some of these borders, and the dogwood and dogwood were already in their flowering cycle. Any trees, and there were a few, tended to be horticultural varieties, including the infamous Crimson King maple and the invasive Manitoba maple, but the robins and starlings used them anyway.

My random route took me around the corner from Ontario Street and along Progress Drive, where small patches of flowers emerged from ditches, with the bright yellow mouse-eared bird dominating short stretches. Alsike clover (also called Dutch clover) grew in lovely colonies, as did purple-flowered thyme.

There is a dead end from Progress Drive that takes one to a substantial footbridge that crosses a drainage ditch and then connects with the Hurtubise Drive cul-de-sac. I find it strange that such a well made structure was installed in the “middle of nowhere”. Either way, it provides an opportunity to see a large wetland.

Water was constantly flowing, making its way from this large catchment area downstream to Ben’s Ditch and finally to Lake Simcoe. The wetland is mainly composed of canary reeds and Phragmites, but has a variety of other wetland plants along the moat itself.

Broad-leaved coda, water plantain and a few species of rushes dominate the sun-soaked riverbanks. A beaver recently built a dam right next to the bridge and has restricted the water flow somewhat, but allows oxygen to mix as the water pours over the weak spots.

As they watched a red-winged blackbird and a pair of loons foraging for insects on a half-submerged log, a muskrat emerged from the shelter of a fallen tree and swam like a harbor captain’s tug down the waterway.

Just as I turned to go back to my car (they sure did by now), a rough-winged swallow flew in and landed on the phone line to check the area for aerial snacks. After the briefest of pauses, he dropped down and flew downstream in search of dragonflies.

By the time I completed the loop of roads, the notebook list had 23 species of flowers in bloom, six species of birds observed, and two species of mammals encountered. Not too shabby, provided I overlook that 95% of the list contains alien species (not here, naturally).

As I got back into traffic (thanks to whoever decided to install traffic lights on Memorial Avenue), I reflected that this park has many qualities found in any park, and that nature is where you find it – if you go looking for it.