An Enduring Wilderness

The City of Toronto, together with prominent landscape photographer Robert Burley, has embarked on an innovative legacy project to raise public awareness about the often hidden and remote wilderness spaces within Toronto's parkland system. These natural parklands are primarily located along the waterfront or deep within the valley systems that thread throughout the city. The long term future of these natural parklands is at a critical juncture. As the urban population continues to grow and more people seek out nature in the city, the protection of these fragile natural places will be paramount. This project aims to respond to growing public interest in the value of natural parklands in an urban context through a book and photographic exhibition.

In 2011, landscape photographer Robert Burley was commissioned by the City of Toronto to produce photographic documentation of the wilderness spaces along the shoreline and throughout the ravine system. This photographic record is intended to illustrate how, despite increasing intensification and use, wild places, woven into the urban fabric continue to endure.

The book will present a selection of photographs, together with experiential essays by accomplished writers such as George Elliott Clarke, Anne Michaels, Michael Mitchell and Alissa York, and a historical essay on the evolution of Toronto's natural parklands. The purpose of the essays is to provide original, thoughtful material that expands readers' understanding and appreciation of these natural spaces and resonates with the experience of people using the natural parklands.

The book will be released to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Canada in 2017. This will be the first official City publication to fully document and celebrate Toronto's natural parklands. A photographic exhibition is planned to coincide with the release of the book and will draw and build upon the photographic and written content of the book.