Last month’s ice storm inflicted little damage on the park. Most of the recently planted trees in the park suffered no damage while some of the older ones lost dead wood. Siberian elms at the entrance to the park seem to have suffered the most damage and as ‘Guest’ pointed out, these along with Norway maples are not natives and aren’t in their natural environment. Surprisingly, the park wasn’t planted with a lot of trees after its creation in the 1950s. If that had been done, Raymore Park would be a mature forest by now and helping to reduce flooding along the Humber. On the other hand, the trees chosen for planting may have been non-natives or even species under threat such as elm or ash.

Looking south – Siberian elms have dropped many branches near the park entrance.

Siberian elms are a particularly damaging tree in Ontario because they are so prolific and also because they are partly resistant to the Dutch elm beetle allowing it to remain a threat. No doubt the park will be low on the list for clean-up of the debris (which is not entirely a bad thing).