MOST PEOPLE have a special place, but who could have guessed there were so many in Toronto? Not us. But the three editors of Special Places: The Changing Ecosystems of the Toronto Region (including York geography Professor Conrad Heidenreich) obviously knew better. Places like the High Park savannah, Credit River, Humber Valley and Oak Ridges Moraine are just a few of the areas they celebrate.

The book was eight years in the making, and looks at Toronto's unique ecosystems through its geography, animals, insects, birds, fish and even weather patterns using leading researchers in physical, ecological and other histories.

The book tells how, in 1819, John Goldie, on a botanical exploration of North America, stumbled upon what he called "as good a Botanical Spot as any that ever I was in"...near the Humber river! In those days, apparently, the expansive dry sand plain was kept open by frequent fires.

The text is filled with out-of-the-way facts of the "did you know" variety. For instance, few of us probably realize you can find 32 different types of mushrooms growing on lawns at any time of the year in Toronto, six species of snakes and 50 different kinds of native tree species (threatened by the aggressive import of the Norway maple). What you won't find are elk or caribou (disappeared in the 1950s) or lynx or Arctic fox (last recorded siting during a 1960 study). Along the way readers will also discover just how much Toronto and the GTA has gained (and lost) in its conservation efforts during the last hundred years.

illustration: Julie Seregny-Mahoney

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