In his speech to the large gathering of OPA members, Ontario Parks Association Past President Vic Hergott gave the following address before he presented the award to KARA. The award was accepted by our Association President Ken Schwenger, and Vice-President, Bob Klein. “The Spirit” has excerpted Mr. Hergott’s speech below for its readers:
“Sometimes financial goals can be mated with environmental desires. Through 20 years of continuous efforts of the Kleinburg and Area Ratepayers’ Association, the vision of a 40 acre forest has been created by the community, for the community and defining the community. It is now a wildlife refuge where once herbicides maintained an annual crop of corn. It is a passive recreation resource that has been under siege for twenty years, threatening to be developed for housing, a fire hall, parking lot and a dog park. It stands as an educational resource that partners KARA with Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) and the City of Vaughan.
KARA was intent to ensure the sanctity of their vision. By offering monetary awards of thousands of dollars, KARA partnered with the University of Guelph Landscape Architecture department to provide the land as a competition and learning site. Through a public forum a design was selected as the guiding master plan. For ten years thereafter, annual and sometimes biannual community planting days were organized, funded by Binder Twine Festival proceeds. Hundreds of volunteers were assembled for events that ran rain or shine. They were events that created memories for the youth of the community. Now adults, those children return to their roots to discover a treed legacy that they helped to create. Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow!
Other community groups can learn from the actions of KARA to protect what is dear to the community and important to the environment. Their work is not complete. The latest threat to the evolution of the 40 acres into a forest has rekindled the fires of KARA. In 2008, KARA presented the legacy of Kleinburg New Forest to City of Vaughan Council to reinforce their commitment to this community space.
KARA has learned that urban pressures will continue to menace the community’s desires for a greenbelt that distinguishes the Village of Kleinburg from other communities of the City of Vaughan. New planting and maintenance events will continue to be planned. The notoriety of events will further the education of those who imagine this open space as something other than the Vision of Kleinburg New Forest.
Draft Kleinburg Nashville Focus Area Study Consultant's Report (Background / Design Options / Preferred Plan) - click here 
