EPISODE 165 MARY FIX PARK…HOLD YOUR BREATHE…FEAR OR GRASP CHANGE
alan skeoch
Nov. 2020
Most parks are manicured. They are perfect places … trees are limbed, grass is mown, flower beds are edged, picnic benches are in place,
baseball fields are designated, etc. And that is all well and good. We need these parks.
But we also need wilderness parks. Places where trees grow, thrive, die, fall down and are allowed to disintegrate snd return to the earth. Wilderness
parks where wild animals can hide…dig holes to rear their young…patches so secluded that no human foot can tread. Our city, Mississauga, is well aware
of the need for both kinds of parks because we are fortunate to have a major river, the Credit River, weaving its wild way right through the centre of our city.
And that long piece of parkland is also all well and good.
But today I would like to make plea for another wilderness park. A fragment tucked into the southwest corner of Hurontario and the Queen Elizabeth Way…two
major transportation highways. Mary Fix Park was given to the City of Mississauga decades ago … willed to the City by Mary Fix, a lawyer, councillor, activist
and conservationist. The park has been untouched for more than half a century. As a result Mary Fix park allows my mind to slip back deep into he past
when the Mississauga First Nations walked the trails. A native grave was found somewhere near or in the park…dating back hundreds of years I was told.
Never confirmed.
The park has its own magic in other words.
The one sure thing in life is change. And change is coming to Mary Fix Park. I hope and pray the change is not too drastic. Mary Fix did not want
a manicured park as her legacy. The city of Mississauga is about to “improve” the park with a nature trail so that more people can enjoy the
part. And that also is all well and good. But please do not make the changes too drastic. Leave the fallen trees for little creatures to disintegrate.
Leave the remote corners hidden so larger creatures can raise their families.
Mary Fix Creek weaves its way through the park
Here is the way the park looks now. Nov. 12, 2020. Be true to the park’s wilderness
Windfalls have been deliberately allowed to disintegrate naturally. This has been policy of our parks managers. Let’s keep it that way.
There is one main pathway through the park. That will remain and ‘be improved’. New signage will also be put in place urging
the public to stay on the trail and not damage the wilderness. Hopefully those signs will be effective.
alan skeoch
Nov. 2020