Students, parks giving dead ash trees new life in Richmond Hill
It’s ‘cycle of life’ Waldorf teacher tells woodworking students

YorkRegion.com
Nov. 5, 2015
By Kim Zarzour  

Where some see death and destruction, high school teacher Leed Jackson sees beauty, potential and the circle of life.

Now, his students see it, too.

Most people who witnessed the loss of thousands of ash trees destroyed by the Emerald Ash Borer viewed it as a loss to the community.

But the woodworking teacher at the Toronto Waldorf School in Thornhill is turning lemons into lemonade, helping his students turn the dead wood into furniture and works of art.

You may see their work at the Oak Ridges Community Centre and other outdoor areas around Richmond Hill.

Thanks to a partnership with the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and Sawmill Sid Inc., the wood from Richmond Hill’s ash trees was milled and donated to the school.

Parks design staff with the town have also used ash logs as features in park reconstruction.

The nearly completed Oak Ridges Meadow, for example, includes a play feature made from the trunks of the trees removed from the park before it was reconstructed. Other upcoming trail and park designs will also incorporate the ash wood.

Town staff also used the logs to build benches at Phyllis Rawlinson Park and behind the Oak Ridges Community Centre, while participants in the town’s outdoor education programs learn how to build a campfire using ash as firewood.

At the same time, the town is chipping the wood and using it around trees and gardens in parks and natural areas for less weeding and watering. Residents can also bring the wood chips home for use in their own gardens.

Jackson, who is high school chairperson at the Waldorf school, encourages students to see the “big picture” as they use the wood in shop class.

Grade 12 students have made benches for the community, Grade 8 students are using the wood for stools and this week, Jackson is helping Grade 9 students build dovetail boxes.

“I feel very fortunate to be able to do this,” he said, adding that wood is usually very expensive.

“It’s making the best of a situation. I feel that we can honour the ash trees that have given so much shade to so many people for so many years ... Now people in the community are able to sit on the wood from the trees, be in their surroundings and enjoy the environment.”

The benches retain the trail markings left by the ash borer to lend an artistic value and to retain the legacy.

The markings convey a deeper, more philosophical message, he said.

“It reminds us where it comes from, and helps people to see that it’s possible to make a bad situation better.”

Jackson incorporates life lessons into the woodworking, teaching students about the value of diversity, for example.

Planting row upon row of one type of tree, in a monoculture, may look beautiful, but at the same time, it is vulnerable, he said.

“If we don’t have diversity in trees, we will lose them all. If we have diversity in our community, we are better off, too.”

He sees it as a lesson in the cycle of life. Older ash trees were more susceptible to the ash borer and by losing their higher leaf canopy, younger trees can now soak up the sun and grow strong, he said.

In the same way, he said, younger students can take hold of that wood, become artists, and let their own talents shine.

“I feel so blessed that we can do this... We can honour both the wood and the kids.”

SIDEBAR
GOOD TO KNOW
 To view the town’s video outlining the initiatives, visit: www.facebook.com/myrichmondhill/videos/vb.188281234616629/770334116411335/?type=2&theater.

 For more information on the ash tree strategy, go to www.RichmondHill.ca/EAB

Free wood chips are available for pick up (April through November) at Richmond Green, 1300 Elgin Mills Road East. The pile is located at the west end of the parking lot in front of Tom Graham Arena.