Don't Mess with the Don

About: We engage members of the community in our volunteer efforts to protect the Don River Valley. Our activities include cleanups, and other types of stewardship events. We are also vocal advocates for the environment engaging all three levels of government in our efforts.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities, outdoor education, and field trips for schools and corporations

Learn more: www.dontmesswiththedon.ca 

Contact: [email protected]

Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee

About: Thorncliffe Park Women's Committee is a grassroots organization led by local neighbourhood leaders. In 2008 our vision of transforming our underutilize local park, enriching the neighbourhood, and empowering women and youth to make a difference in the community, led to revitalizing a much -needed public space. Twelve years, our work has resulted in arts and fitness programming, community gardens, park beautification, community engagement, advocacy for park infrastructure, Friday community bazaars with local performances, park clean-ups, environmental education - 500 people are engaged weekly. Thorncliffe Park is a high-rise community adjacent to the Don River ravine system in the City of Toronto. Our ravine leaders program aims to engage residents to become environmental stewards.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events

Learn more:www.tpwomenscomm.org

Contact: [email protected]/ 647-203-2545

STEPS Public Art

About: STEPS is a Canada Revenue Agency–registered charity that fosters dynamic and inclusive communities through public art and creative placemaking. We transform urban spaces into vibrant places through cultural planning, community arts, and artist capacity building programs. In 2020, we built on our relationship with the Rexdale community, and launched From Weeds We Grow - an interdisciplinary public art project that strives to unearth Rexdale and Humber Summit’s relationship to the environment and accessible public space through virtual walking tours, workshops, storytelling and performances rooted in Rowntree Mills Park. This project is part of Arts in the Park 2020, and is supported by the Toronto Arts Council through their Animating Toronto Parks program.

Opportunities: Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities, Different public art services

Learn more: www.stepsinitiative.com/our-services/

Kids In The Woods Initiative - K.I.W.I.

About: K.I.W.I. is a nonprofit organization providing beneficial outdoor nature experience programs. Our goal is to reconnect kids to nature through adventure-play and mentoring in wild and natural outdoor spaces.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, programs for children 1 - 15 years old

Learn more:www.kidsinthewoodsinitiative.org

Contact: [email protected]

Toronto Field Naturalists

About: The Toronto Field Naturalists carry out community clean-ups, plantings, and invasive species removals with our partner organizations. We contribute to stewardship work across Toronto’s ravines and natural areas – often in the Don Valley, and especially focussed on our Cottonwood Flats Monitoring Program. TFN also owns and manages several nature reserves north of Toronto, near Uxbridge.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events

Learn more:https://torontofieldnaturalists.org/

Contact: [email protected]

Toronto Botanical Garden

About: Ecologist Katherine Baird conducts field surveys within Wilket Creek ravine’s natural areas in late summer 2020. Her research represents the first highly detailed natural cover inventories in TBG's upcoming expansion area and will be foundational for upcoming stewardship programs.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities

Learn more:https://torontobotanicalgarden.ca/

Contact: [email protected]

Friends of Dallington Park

About: The garden is situated within the Don River watershed in Dallington Park, Toronto. It lies within an area characterized by the former paths of the Don River tributaries, with inundation during heavy rain and snowmelt due to natural topography and site drainage patterns that remain in place. The garden was started by community members to build a community hub, engage residents in stewardship of land, address issues of food security and stormwater management using sustainable urban agriculture methods.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Events

Learn more: www.dallingtonpollinators.com/

Contact: [email protected]

High Park Nature Centre

About: Operating in High Park, we promote awareness and respect for nature through year-round, hands-on outdoor nature education and park stewardship. We offer school field trips, camps, nature clubs for people ages 6 months to age 99, corporate and community team building programs, naturalist courses, nature walks, special events and Indigenous-led events in partnership with Taiaiako'n Historical Preservation Society. Volunteers support our clubs and camps as well as maintaining our Black Oak Savannah restoration garden.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities

Learn more: www.highparknaturecentre.com/

Contact: [email protected]

Parks Canada

About: A rich assembly of natural, cultural, and agricultural landscapes, Rouge National Urban Park is home to amazing biodiversity, some of the last remaining working farms in the Greater Toronto Area, Carolinian ecosystems, Toronto’s only campground, one of the region’s largest marshes, a beach at Lake Ontario, amazing hiking opportunities, and human history dating back over 10,000 years, including some of Canada's oldest known Indigenous sites.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities

Learn more: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/on/rouge/activ/vol2-ben2

Contact: [email protected]

Green Toronto:  Join us at one of our planting and stewardship events and help grow Toronto’s urban forest.

As a volunteer you will:

• Learn more about native trees, shrubs and invasive species

• Learn how to plant a tree

• Take part in environmental stewardship activities

• Meet people, make new friendships and network within the community

• Gain experience, leadership and interpersonal skills For volunteers interested in long-term opportunities there is the Community Stewardship Program and Tree Planting Captain Program.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events

Learn more: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/volunteer-with-the-city/tree-planting-stewardship/

Contact: [email protected]

Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)

About: With more than 60 years of experience, TRCA is one of 36 Conservation Authorities in Ontario. More than five million people live within TRCA-managed watersheds, and many others work in and visit destinations across the jurisdiction. These nine watersheds, plus their collective Lake Ontario waterfront shorelines, span six upper-tier and 15 lower-tier municipalities.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities, outdoor education, and field trips for schools.

Learn more:  trca.ca

Contact: [email protected]

Save the Maskinonge

About: The Maskinonge River flows into Lake Simcoe and has excess nutrients, low water flow and lack of natural cover and vegetation. Through a Multi year Federal grant they partnered with Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, East Gwillimbury, Town of Georgina, York Simcoe Naturalists and have completed over 20 restorations.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities

Contact: Debbie Gordon - 905 853 8340

EcoSpark

About: Through citizen science, EcoSpark leads students and community members on a journey to Discover the beauty of nature, Act through stewardship projects, and inspire Change by sharing information about the health of the world around us. EcoSpark has worked in over 30 watersheds across the GTA and beyond, connecting youth and community members to their local environments through hands-on citizen science. Results from our programs have provided local data for hundreds of research projects.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities, Teacher training and grade 6-12 student sessions

Learn more: www.ecospark.ca

Contact: [email protected], (647) 258-3280

Ontario Rivers Alliance

About: The Ontario Rivers Alliance is a grassroots not-for-profit volunteer organization with a mission to protect, conserve and restore riverine ecosystems, and to ensure that development affecting Ontario rivers is environmentally and socially sustainable. Healthy Rivers - Healthy Communities.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Action Campaigns

Learn more: http://ontarioriversalliance.ca

Join our E-news list to be part of the Action! https://www.ontarioriversalliance.ca/take-action/#join-our-newsletter

Contact: [email protected]

David Suzuki Foundation

About: Through the award-winning Butterflyway Project, the David Suzuki Foundation's network of keen volunteers have been planting patches of native wildflowers -- and canoe gardens -- along urban river valleys.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities

Learn more: www.davidsuzuki.org/butterflyway

Contact: [email protected]

CCR Concerned Citizens of Ramara

About: We are primarily a rural-based environmental group.

Opportunities: Educational opportunities

Learn more: https://www.facebook.com/OurRamara

Contact: [email protected]

Ontario Streams

About: Established in 1995, Ontario Streams is a non-profit environmental charity dedicated to the conservation and rehabilitation of streams and wetlands in Ontario through education and community involvement. Our work aims to restore sensitive species habitat throughout the Lake Ontario and Lake Simcoe watersheds, where increasing urbanization in the Greater Toronto Area has threatened the habitat of Atlantic Salmon, Brook Trout, and the endangered Redside Dace. While working alongside like-minded organizations and dedicated community volunteers, we hope to achieve our mission of healthy streams and wetlands in Ontario for today and tomorrow.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities

Learn more: www.ontariostreams.on.ca

Contact: [email protected]

Ontario Streams

About: Ontariogreen provides free environmental education in classrooms and communities throughout Southern Ontario. More than 30 different presentations are available for Kindergarten to Grade 8. Presentations are also available to community groups. During COVID, all presentations will be delivered through online meeting platforms.

Opportunities: Educational opportunities

Learn more: www.ontariogreen.ca

Contact: [email protected]

Headwaters: The Ontario Headwaters Insititute

About: Ontariogreen provides free environmental education in classrooms and communities throughout Southern Ontario. More than 30 different presentations are available for Kindergarten to Grade 8. Presentations are also available to community groups. During COVID, all presentations will be delivered through online meeting platforms.

Opportunities: Policy researchers and advocates

Learn more: www.ontarioheadwaters.ca

Contact: [email protected]

Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust

About: The Land Trust works to ensure a healthy ecosystem and natural environment that thrives forever, on and near the Oak Ridges Moraine. We do this through protection of important ecological land and education programming. The Oak Ridges Moraine feeds 65 different rivers and streams flowing north and south into Georgian Bay, Lakes Simcoe, Scugog, Rice and Ontario. These include the Humber, Rouge, Credit, Holland, and Ganaraska Rivers, to name a few.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events, Corporate opportunities, Land securement and protection

Learn more: https://www.oakridgesmoraine.org/

Contact: Aileen Barclay [email protected] 905-853-3171x30

Trout Unlimited Canada - Niagara Chapter

About: TUC's Niagara Chapter was founded in 2011 for the purpose of protecting and restoring Niagara’s coldwater resources. Working with a broad network of partnerships, we created Healthy Twelve Mile Creek - a landowner stewardship initiative focused on expanding stream restoration and reforestation efforts in the headwaters of Twelve Mile Creek. Through this program, we educate our communities about the importance of restoring habitat for native Brook Trout, an indicator species of cold, clean water, and protecting the Region’s most significant cold water asset.

Opportunities: Volunteer opportunities, Educational opportunities, Events

Learn more: www.healthytwelvemilecreek.ca / www.tucniagara.com

Contact: [email protected]

Diversity defines the Greenbelt--from its wide range of habitats and landscapes to the incredible differences among the life forms within them. Biodiversity in Ontario’s Greenbelt, produced by the David Suzuki Foundation and Ontario Nature, showcases the significance of the Greenbelt for the diversity of life in Ontario and emphasizes the importance of systems-based planning. 

In 2012, the federal government committed to permanently protecting much of the Rouge area by establishing Canada's first urban National Park in the Rouge. Canada's Wealth of Natural Capital: Rouge National Park produced by the David Suzuki Foundation, uses valuation techniques from the field of natural capital economics to estimate the economic value of the ecosystem services and benefits produced by various types of ecosystems found within the Rouge area.

Royal Bank of Canada and the Pembina Institute’s Home Location Study released in 2012 found that over 80% of Greater Toronto Area (GTA) residents would give up a large home and yard to live in a "location-efficient" neighbourhood that is transit-friendly, walkable, and offers shorter commute times. However, more than 70% of residents in the GTA live where they do because of affordability rather than a preference. Households are choosing car-dependent neighbourhoods mostly because of prices rather than a preference for the location.

The Hidden Power of Healthy Soil: Saving Canadian Agriculture from Climate Crisis

New Research by Greenbelt Foundation and Équiterre Uncovers Barriers to Achieving Soil Health

Toronto, March 1st, 2021 – Greenbelt Foundation and Équiterre have released a new report—The Power of Soil – An Agenda for Change to Benefit Farmers and Climate Resilience—which illustrates how healthy soils will help the country’s farmers adapt to climate change and play an even larger role in addressing the climate crisis.

Local food is in high demand and delivers many benefits to consumers and the local economy. Yet despite the strong demand for local food and a robust season supply, the market is not yet delivering local food due to a variety of systemic barriers. Bringing Local Food Home, written and researched by the Canadian Institute for Environmental Law and Policy, focuses on legal, regulatory, and institutional barriers to local food and reviews examples of how other jurisdictions have developed laws, regulations, and policies to overcome barriers similar to those currently faced by producers in the Greenbelt.