The ‘Friends of the Richmond Street Forest’ are ringing the alarm bell because the once-bulldozed frog pond is looking worse than ever.
The plot of land on the corner of Richmond Street and Decew Road is filled with dead trees surrounded by puddles of bubbling algae water.
The lack of care for the natural site have the ‘Friends’ group concerned that the pond is once again being abandoned by the city.
“Without somebody overseeing it, things are just going bad,” the group’s founder Carla Carlson tells ThoroldToday.
Back in November, the city celebrated the restoration of the pond with a tree planting ceremony — but in the months since, half of the planted trees have died.
A few weeks ago, a few Thorold residents notified Carlson of the state of the pond.
“All they were saying is that trees were dying and things don’t look good,” Carlson says. “I drove out and it looked awful. It just looked sick.”
It was especially painful for Carlson to see that the flowering dogwood, which was planted in memory of her late sister Laurianne, had not made it.
To get a better understanding of the situation, Carlson got in touch with Anne Yagi, the ecologist who oversaw the restoration of the pond.
“She actually went out on her own dime and made a survey of everything,” says Carlson.
According to Yagi’s findings, a considerable amount of the planted trees did not make it, but not all hope is lost.
50 percent of the planted white pine survived, as did 40 percent of the white spruce, and the planted white cedar made it in its entirety.
While there is a considerable amount of algae in the water, this is not a cause for concern.
“Because the canopy was ripped away so dramatically and completely the pond is in a state that is normal for a pond that has no shade,” Carlson says. “Until we get a canopy it’ll just be that kind of a pond. It just doesn’t look nice.”
Luckily, in spite of its condition, frogs are still using the pond.
What Carlson doesn’t understand is how the city didn’t realize that the trees had died.
“I guess it’s just going to take us to push some of these points and get things to happen,” she says.
The situation has prompted the ‘Friends’ group to appeal the city to get them involved in the project again.
“We have offered our help,” group member Rachael Haynes tells ThoroldToday. “We just haven’t really heard back.”
The group also reached out to Councillor Tim O’Hare who raised the issue during last week’s city council meeting.
“The pond itself has suffered immensely,” he told fellow councillors. “I would just like an update on not only the condition but what has brought us to this point.”
The matter is set to be further discussed during the next city council meeting on Aug. 1.
The 'Friends' group hopes that the city will rehire Yagi to watch over the pond and make sure the restoration process is seen all the way through.
In the meantime, they're doing what they can to monitor the situation.
“Losing those trees is definitely not a good start but when you look closer to the pond it does look more promising — there is life in there,” Haynes says. “We just don’t want to see the project dropped. We want to be part of it and we don’t know where it sits right now.”
