Celebrating the Champlain Oaks

Celebrating the

Champlain Oaks

A Heritage Forest

The Champlain Oaks Project, Daniel Buckles March 3, 2011

Champlain Park – A Treed CommunityLocation - Champlain Park

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A Living Link to the Era of Samuel de Champlain

• Oldest examples of native bur oaks in Ottawa (50 years older than the oldest at the Arboretum)

• Saplings from an oak forest standing in 1879

• Part of the oak forest referenced in 1686 by Pierre de Troyes, a captain in the French army (while portaging around the Des Chênes Rapids)

A Heritage Character Defining Element for

Champlain Park

• Prominent structures yet nameless (till now)

• Gnarly, cantankerous giants tolerated and protected

24 Preconfederation individuals

• 0.8 to 1.2 metre diameter trees

• Tall (20 meters)

• Estimated age 150-180 years

• Riparine and savannah native species on the northern edge of its range in Eastern Canada

Older than any others in Ottawa

Oldest specimen at Arboretum - 1897

Older than specimens of bur oak on NCC land

Undeveloped land between Ottawa and Skead’s Sawmill 1879

A living link to naming of the Des Chênes Rapids

“Then I returned to the oak portage, so called because of the number of these trees which are in the area, which is about a league and a half from the plunge of the Chaudière Falls. I climbed the many rapids which are encountered between the two on this road, and made the portage which is at nearly a league from that of the Chaudière, which is a quarter of a league as long as that of the oaks.” Pierre de Troyes, 1686

A Heritage Character Defining Element in

Champlain Park

Cottages and Residences between tunney’s

pasture and Island Park

A Heritage Character Defining Element in Champlain Park

A Champlain Oak shows its power (sorry garage!)

Prominent and hidden

Public and Private

Loved and Protected

Threatened and Neglected

A Heritage Forest?

• Historical Value: a living link to early French explorers

• Cultural Value: a heritage character defining element of Champlain Park

• Design Value: an unmatched plant genetic resource in the heart of Ottawa

Policy Supports

• Ontario Heritage Act Part IV allows several avenues for designation of a group of heritage trees, Part II for a conservation easement agreement held by the Ontario Heritage Trust

• Provincial Planning Statement (2005) policies enacted under the Planning Act speak to preserving cultural heritage landscapes

• Ottawa Official Plan policies seek to preserve natural features and the character of neighbourhoods

Action• Undertake the Statement of significance for the

group of pre-confederation bur oak trees in Champlain Park (approximately 24 trees 80 cm diameter and greater)

• Focus on willing landowners and land on which most of the trees are located

• Seek designation of the group of trees as a “heritage forest” under Part IV, Section 37, 34.5, 29 of the Ontario Heritage Act

• Seek designation of a Heritage Conservation District under Part V, Section 40 of the Ontario Heritage Act

Thank you!