Cavan-Monaghan is a gateway to the Ganaraska watershed, where Oak Ridges Moraine headwaters, wetlands, and forests shape downstream water quality and flow. Once nearly desertified into shifting sand dunes by early deforestation and settlement pressures, major restoration projects rebuilt one of the ORM’s most ecologically rich landscapes. It has also been a front line for debates over large wind-generation projects on the ORM, and now faces rising pressure from estate-style rural development as wealthy Torontonians look further east for lower property values.