Gravel pit goes green, wins top award
Roger Varley, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
On a roadside hill south of the Uxbridge urban area, overlooking a lush green valley filled with tidy rows of growing corn, Miller Paving received the 2023 Rehabilitation Award from the Ontario Stone, Sand and Gravel Association last Wednesday.
The valley, which covers 30 hectares, is part of Miller's Boyington Pit 3, is on Conc. 8, just south of Wagg Road. The pit operation covers 200 hectares, of which approximately 50 per cent is now in agricultural use.
A section of a former Miller Paving gravel pit has been rehabilitated into an award-winning agricultural space. Corn now grows on 30 hectares of previously arid land.
Photo by Lisha Van Nieuwenhove
Work on turning the aggregate land into agriculturally viable land began three years ago, when Miller decided that the space was ready for rehabilitation. Todd Brothers, a civic construction company based in Stouffville, worked on excavating and reconfiguring the landscape of the site. Top soil was recovered from berms that had been randomly placed around the property, and vast amounts of manure, mostly procured from local horse farms, were spread on the site. Four ponds were also created on the site. A field of wheat, which stands to the left of the corn field, is still undisturbed land. More than 7,200 newly planted trees fill in the landscape.
Highview Holsteins, a family-owned farm located in Epsom, has rented almost 80 hectares of land from Miller for several decades, and was approached to work on the land rehabilitation project, which adds another 30 hectares to the land it works. The farm will focus on putting organic matter back into the soil. Highview farmer Carl Evans says it will take another five to seven years of working with the soil to get the yields for the crops up to standard. Evans added that he expects the yield from the current crop of corn to be about one third what it will eventually be.
Crop rotation will also figure prominently into how Highview manages the land - it will alternate corn planting with planting wheat and soybean.
Councillor Willie Popp observed that "other pits should see what can be done." There are more than 40 aggregate pits in the Township of Uxbridge.
Ken Zimmerman, director of land assets for Miller, said the aggregate industry must highlight its rehabilitation efforts. Scott Boyle, vice president of aggregates for the Miller group, said the company decided years ago to concentrate on rehabilitation.
"We can't leave our sites sitting dormant," he said.
The pit operation began in 1951 and rehabilitation of the east side, on Reid Road, began in 2021.
After the award presentation, the attendees moved just around the corner to a community garden that has been created at the edge of the pit to see the work being done by a group of volunteers. Several large growing beds containing all manner of produce are maintained by volunteers, with a lot of the material needed for the garden provided by Miller and Uxbridge Tree Service. All produce grown there is donated to the Loaves and Fishes food bank.That same day, the food bank received a load of snow peas, kale, Swiss chard, zucchini and lettuce.
The garden also houses a number of bee hives.