The city finally gets serious about dangerous cow parsnip near pedestrian areas

Thestar.com
Sept. 16, 2021
Jack Lakey

The city is finally getting serious about a proliferation of dangerous cow parsnip near paths and trails at a busy park along the Scarborough Bluffs.

On June 18, I reported on a huge increase in cow parsnip, compared to a year earlier, near pedestrian areas at the Guild Inn Park and Gardens. For years I have regularly strolled the trails in that park and noticed many more cow parsnip plants than in previous years.

Cow parsnip emits a sap that can result in serious burns and blistering if it gets on skin that is exposed to sunlight, and can cause blindness in extreme cases. It’s part of the same family as wild parsnip and giant hogweed, which is even more dangerous.

I saw lots of cow parsnip within three metres or so of the trails and have also observed people wander off the paths and into the vegetation nearby. Most have no idea about the danger of cow parsnip.

The large white flowers at the top of the plants turn to seed by early July and are scattered by the wind. So if there’s more cow parsnip near the paths this year than previously, it figures there’ll be a lot more in 2022.

I thought a good solution would be to remove it within three metres of the trails. Anybody who ventures further into the adjacent woodlots can take their chances, but it would greatly reduce the risk to those who strayed a bit off the path, for whatever reason.

But the city said no. Its policy is to not remove native plants, even if they’re dangerous, unless absolutely necessary. And in those cases, it’ll only chop plants that are one metre or less from a pedestrian area.

I talked it over with city councillor Paul Ainslie (Ward 24 Scarborough-Guildwood), who is familiar with the steadily increasing number of visitors to the Guild Park and the peril to those who don’t know about cow parsnip.

Leave it with me, said Ainslie, and I’ll see what I can do. I didn’t know if anything would come of it, so I was surprised to get a note from Ainslie this week, saying he had succeeded in getting city council to approve a motion for a pilot project to remove cow parsnip from within three metres of trails.

A summary included in the motion notes that the Guild Park is “a popular location with a high level of daily pedestrian traffic.

“Recently, the wooded areas adjacent to the trails have seen an explosive growth of cow parsnip. This type of plant is a safety hazard for the public. The city of Toronto website lists it as an invasive species, ‘that is dangerous to human health and pets, as well as the plant ecosystem.’”

The motion does not identify a time frame for the pilot, but the removal will not likely begin before next spring, when growth of the plant really takes off.

After my original column, readers told me about cow parsnip near paths in other city parks. If the pilot is a success (and why wouldn’t it be?), hopefully it will become parks policy across the city.

Everyone will be better off for it, and the plant will continue to grow in areas that are less travelled.