| The Rouge: Concept and Contiguity by Bob Fisher Photographs and Design by John Bush |
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 Ferns grace the floor of the Markham Green hardwood forest. |
I have never really accepted the implied
criticism in the statement that so and so "can't see the forest for the
trees." Something about that comment has always bothered me. But after a
recent early morning golf game at Markham Green golf course, it dawned on
me that it isn't really a question of not seeing the forest for trees –
being oblivious to the essential message because of a deluge of details
– it is instead a question of being the kind of mindful person who sees
the forest and the trees. |
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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. |
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The Rouge is more than "a good idea"; it is a complex concept that embodies wisdom, vision, science, prediction, pragmatism, enormous planning structures, and contemporary social values that are the underpinnings of the concept itself. A precious natural asset that has been recognized by the World Wildlife Fund as "a nationally important wildlife treasure," the Rouge Valley System has also been an endangered natural milieu. But through the unflagging efforts of thousands of ordinary citizens who collectively were able to "think it through" and thus understand the full implications, ramifications, and rewards of preserving this watershed area, the concept has been actualized. But like all concepts with universal implications – like art, justice, and liberty – the Rouge is a concept that is constantly in progress. Emulating life cycles, the Rouge is a process, not an event. |
 The Rouge river as seen from the second fairway |
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| Experiential Rouge
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. |
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 Golfers enjoying spring at Markham Green |
And this is where the concept of contiguity comes into play. Some problematic concerns about the realization of this environmental dream need to be considered. Can parks, zoos, and golf courses really be integrated or blended with natural spaces like the Rouge? Are urban areas and farmland really compatible with authentic natural environments? Are they not in fact contradictions? How do you achieve a healthy interplay of the natural world and that which is fabricated by humans? Are conservation areas fabrications themselves? Is it really possible to achieve the principles of integration, interconnectedness, and inter-relationships, or is this just a nice idea? Is the real challenge the juxtaposition of fundamentally different spheres – side by side, and yet separate and different? If so, where is the fine line between the two? Where is the demarcation point? How is it even possible? |
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Playing Through the Rouge 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 proliferate among the trees. As you tee up at the first hole, you just might notice on your left a pile of twigs, branches, logs and other detritus from a tree that has been removed in order to permit sunlight to fall on the tee box. This minor management has been necessary, as it is elsewhere on the course, because all plant life requires sufficient light suited to its specific biological purpose. This includes bent grass, that fine-textured turf that is commonly used on golf course tees, fairways, and greens. However, the pile of debris that I have passed a number of times and never really noticed is actually a "critter house." Instead of being cleared up and carted away it has been left where it is as a mini-environment for insects, small animals, butterflies, and birds. |
 A critter house by the first tee |
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And those other large trees behind us that have been partially removed, leaving only tall trunks with flat tops, will soon support bird and bat houses. With West Nile Virus now in our midst, this is a good example of natural pest control given that they will attract purple martins and bats – both voracious mosquito-eaters. The diseased elm in the wooded area to the left of the fairway, about a hundred yards from the tee (where my ball too frequently ends up) has been cut down and left as it is because this too is part of the eons-old process of a truly natural habitat. It is also a magnet for woodpeckers. Playing Markham Green is also a collateral experience. Both the course and the river follow the same natural path; on this golf course you are constantly crossing the free-flowing Rouge. The Rouge is in fact the course; it defines it, shapes it, and requires that those who come to golf well alongside its banks do so with precision, control, and careful consideration – equivalent skills to those required in maintaining this course which emulates so successfully the topography created by the last ice age. |
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 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. |
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In a kind of natural diplomacy, Markham Green acts as a buffer of relatively light and passive recreation between the Rouge and nearby residential areas; not to mention being a David to the Goliath of the 407 that thunders by to the north. Like a park, the course preserves permeable surfaces; the kind of water-conserving terrain that quickly disappears when housing and commercial development overtakes non-urban space. In recognition of its achievements of minimal use of pesticides, of bio-engineering that uses natural methods and natural materials to maintain the course design, in 2002 Markham Green was awarded the Rouge River Keeper Award for outstanding Environmental Stewardship and Best Practices implementation. It is also well on its way to winning certification as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary. The latter acknowledgment denotes a high level of competence in five key areas: integrated pest management, outreach and education, water conservation, water quality management, and wildlife habitat management. |
 Highway 407 overpass |
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 Paul Morrell, Golf Operations Manager and Don Crymble, Property Manager |
The success of the course is due in no small part to Don Crymble, Markham Green's property manager. Don is in many ways a self-taught and self-motivated environmentalist and has been with Markham Green for 14 years. A skilled and pragmatic person, he is an excellent resource person to have along during a round of golf. His knowledge of the environmental issues of the course is impressive, although when golfing with Don it can be a bit difficult concentrating on the game while absorbing the nature lessons he offers as you proceed throughout the course. Like all those who understand and appreciate the importance of good land use practices in the Rouge Valley, Don is deeply committed to protecting the integrity of this particular area of the Rouge. In his quiet manner he is very adept at raising awareness of the relationships of organisms to one another in these unique physical surroundings. |
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What You Should Look For At Markham Green 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. |
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 The rough is left untrimmed to protect the river banks. |
Water of course is the central theme of Markham Green and what the Rouge is all about. As you play through the course note the buffer zones of non-mowed vegetation between the fairways and the river. Note especially the aerated storm water pond near the fourth hole and the clubhouse, which is also protected by a natural buffer zone. The buffer zones receive minimal maintenance and are subjected to minimal human intervention in general. Leaving these areas undisturbed increases exponentially the diversity of species present. While looking for that ball that has ended up in the water, don't overlook the turtles, frogs, and toads you may encounter; they are true indicators of the health of the terrain you are sharing. Turtles lay their eggs in sand and therefore sometimes in sandtraps. In September when the eggs hatch, these areas are posted so that golfers can avoid them. (Perhaps as a general rule you could just avoid the bunkers.) And in the spring there is nothing more emblematic of the indigenous Ontario hardwood forest than the trilliums in the woods at Markham Green. |
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 A beaver lodge on the Rouge across from the second fairway |
The property is home to many mammals including deer, fox, and beaver. Note the beaver lodge on the edge of the river on the fairway of the second hole. Near the yellow tee you will also see an oak and an ash that have been partially gnawed by a beaver and beside it another ash with a wire cage around the base protecting it from the beaver. Beavers usually chew softwood trees like poplars and willows. Markham Green is protecting the hardwood trees by actually planting or promoting in some other way the growth of softwood trees as food for beavers. The course is also home to many chipmunks who have been displaced by the more aggressive squirrel populations in nearby suburban areas. Despite the desire to keep the environment as "natural" as possible, some extra human intervention is necessary here and there. Nature will take its own course, and sometimes this will be at odds with areas of the Rouge designed for the kind of human activity that is as non-invasive as possible. Needless to say, to intervene or not to intervene is the conundrum. |
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 Beaver damage |
 A wire cage protects this tree from the beavers |
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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 leaved 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. |
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 Cruising the Rouge |
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. |
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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 |
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 View from the Markham Green clubhouse |
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. |
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For more information, you may wish to access the following websites: The Rouge Park website at: www.rougepark.com
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