Theory of park

Contem- plative bench at a lookout in Pippy Park in the City of St. John's, Newfound- land

In the late 1960's local entrepreneur Chesley A. Pippy donated a big piece of land towards the creation of a park within the city limits of St. John's. The park has hiking trails, a botanic garden, lakes to kayak in and a trailer park. Its a jewel. Within minutes you feel as if you're in the middle of a wilderness. We need parks today as a society because its often the only space where we can be free of civilization and we need to protect their integrity.

There has been some erosion of land in the park recently. A piece of ground was used for a french only school and recently land was given to the YMCA for a new building. Its worisome because its like a slippery slope. Once the people who make these decisions start to justify use of the land for other than park land, it gets easier every time after that to nibble away at the boundary. Like Joni Mitchell sang "they paved paradise, put up a parking lot". A little bit of that going on here.

Today, I planned on a short paddle but opted for a short cross-country outing in Pippy Park. The snow won't be around much longer so I took advantage of the snow and beautiful day. Why? Because you don't know what you got till its gone!

Tony :-)

View from the bench. Oxen Pond and the OP Botanic Garden in the foreground with O'Leary's Indusrial Park of St. John's in the distance.