Cootes Paradise facts for kids
Cootes Paradise is a special natural area at the western end of Lake Ontario. It's like a big, beautiful park owned and managed by the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG). This area includes the Cootes Paradise Marsh, a 4.5-kilometer-long wetland where a river meets the lake.
You can find Cootes Paradise in Hamilton, Canada, right next to Hamilton Harbour. It's a very important place for nature, so it has many special titles. It's a National Historic Site, an Important Bird Area (IBA), and an Important Amphibian and Reptile Area (IMPARA). Sometimes, people also call it the Dundas Marsh.
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History of Cootes Paradise
The area at the western end of Lake Ontario has always been a popular spot. People have used it for landing boats, carrying canoes between waterways, and gathering for a very long time.
The name Cootes Paradise comes from a British Army officer named Thomas Coote. He was stationed nearby in the 1780s and loved to visit this marsh to hunt and fish. So, early maps started calling it "Cootes Paradise" to show where it was. It was even mentioned in the diary of Elizabeth Simcoe in 1796. She was the wife of John Graves Simcoe, who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.
Changes Over Time
Cootes Paradise is a wetland with many different kinds of natural homes for animals. It's mostly a marsh that floods with water during different seasons. Many creeks flow into it, especially Spencer Creek. The marsh is surrounded by steep hills covered in oak trees. For centuries, this area has provided food for people and a home for many different plants and animals.
However, the marsh started to decline in the late 1800s. This happened because of dirty water, too many people using the area, digging canals, building highways, and the introduction of carp fish into Lake Ontario.
In 1927, a large area, including parts of Cootes Paradise, became a Crown Game Preserve. This helped protect some of the land. Then, in 1941, the Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) was formed. They took over managing these lands and have worked hard to get back more of the original preserve areas over the years.
Restoring the Marsh
By 1985, a lot of the marsh's natural plant cover was gone. Most of the remaining plants were not native to the area. Also, there were over 70,000 carp fish, which caused a lot of damage.
To fix these problems, RBG started "Project Paradise" in 1993. This project aimed to restore the marsh and finished in 2015. The main goals were to stop dirty water from flowing into the marsh, control the number of carp, and bring back native plants.
Many things have caused problems for the marsh. Dirty water from sewage and urban runoff (water flowing from city streets) makes the water cloudy and unhealthy. Too much sediment (dirt and sand) also builds up because of how land is used in the surrounding areas. Plus, the way water levels in Lake Ontario are controlled has changed the natural flooding patterns of the marsh.
RBG also does controlled burns in some areas. This helps restore parts of the marsh to their original Oak savanna ecosystem. This is a rare type of habitat with special plants and animals.
Canals and Trails
Cootes Paradise Marsh is connected to Hamilton Harbour by the Desjardins Canal. This canal was dug between 1826 and 1837 to connect Dundas, Ontario with shipping routes on the Great Lakes. Later, in 1851, the canal was made straighter to allow a railway to cross the marsh.
In 2000, the City of Hamilton built a 3-kilometer trail connecting the Royal Botanical Gardens to Pier 4 Park. This trail is also part of the larger Waterfront Trail system.
The trails at Royal Botanical Gardens are for quiet activities like walking. Because Cootes Paradise is a National Historic Site and an important area for birds, amphibians, and reptiles, activities like biking, jogging, and orienteering are not allowed on most trails. However, the Desjardins Trail, which opened in 2001, is a good path for walking and connects to the Cootes Paradise Fishway.
Birds of Cootes Paradise
Cootes Paradise is a nationally Important Bird Area (IBA) because it's in a great spot for birds. It's located along major bird migration routes, like the Central and Mississippi Flyways. This means hundreds of different bird species visit Cootes Paradise throughout the year. You can see many birds, especially during their spring and autumn migrations.
Some of the amazing birds you might spot include the least bittern, hooded warbler, white pelican, Caspian tern, black-crowned night-heron, osprey, pileated woodpecker, and the prothonotary warbler. In 2013, something very exciting happened: a pair of bald eagles built a nest in the marsh. This was the first bald eagle nest on Lake Ontario in over 40 years!
Fish of Cootes Paradise
The wetlands in Cootes Paradise act like a seasonal nursery for fish from Lake Ontario. Even though the marsh has faced problems in the past, most of the fish species that used to live here can still be found. This area is a biodiversity hotspot for Canada, with over 60 different fish species.
Every spring, thousands of fish swim into the marsh from the bay and lake through a special "Fishway." They lay their eggs and then leave, allowing the marsh to act like a giant fish hatchery. Each year, between 5 million and 20 million fish are produced for the lake, depending on water levels and pollution.
The most common fish now is the gizzard shad. Other common fish include channel catfish and brown bullhead, along with invasive species like alewife and white perch. You might also find popular fishing species like pike, largemouth bass, and yellow perch, but large adult fish are only in the marsh during their spawning season, when fishing is not allowed. In spring and fall, salmon and trout also migrate into the marsh's main river.
Controlling Carp and Goldfish
In 2007 and 2012, when Lake Ontario had low water levels and a strong wind, almost all the water was pushed out of Cootes Paradise. This caused the carp fish to swim out into Hamilton Harbour. RBG staff then removed the special fish gates and guided the last of the carp out. After that, they put the gates back. Since then, the wetland has had very few carp. Without these large, destructive fish, native plant species are slowly returning. However, very high water levels in 2017 and 2019 allowed many carp to get back into the marsh.
In 2021, a report talked about many goldfish in Hamilton Harbour. These goldfish are believed to have come from people dumping their pet fish. Experts say that goldfish are very tough and can survive in difficult conditions. They can even eat harmful blue-green algae blooms that native fish cannot. These algae blooms are becoming more common in Hamilton Harbour.
Reptiles of Cootes Paradise
Cootes Paradise is home to several types of turtles, though their numbers are declining. These include Painted Turtles, Common Snapping Turtles, and Northern Map Turtles. You can also find several types of snakes in the area, such as Northern Water Snakes. To help protect these animals, projects are underway to build wildlife barriers along roads and causeways that cross the wetland.
Mammals of Cootes Paradise
Over 30 different mammal species live in Cootes Paradise. Some of the animals you might see include white-tailed deer, red fox, raccoon, beaver, cottontail rabbit, muskrat, mink, opossum, red squirrel, and coyote. There are also some interesting species like the water vole and both southern and northern flying squirrels.
Plants of Cootes Paradise
Cootes Paradise has an amazing variety of plants. It has the highest number of plant species in Canada, with over 750 native species! However, about 300 other plant species have been brought to the area since European settlers arrived. These new plants can sometimes make it harder for the native plants to thrive.
Among the trees in Cootes Paradise, you'll find different kinds of oak, maple, and pine trees. There are also less common trees like the sassafras tree, Kentucky coffee tree, and tulip tree. You can see examples of these trees along the native trees walk near the nature center.
In recent years, the health of the forest has declined, and some trees have been lost. This is due to ongoing problems caused by human activities in the region. In 2005, after a child was hurt during a wind storm, the RBG had to cut down many dead or dying trees that were a safety risk. They also changed some of the trail systems to protect sensitive habitats.
A recent study of all the plants in RBG's nature sanctuaries shows that these areas are some of the richest places in Canada for plant diversity. They contain 24% of all the plant types found in Canada and 38% of all the plant types found in Ontario! This amazing diversity includes many species that are endangered nationally and provincially.
West of Bull's Point is an island called Hickory Island. This island used to be covered in Hickory trees. However, nesting Double-crested cormorants killed the trees because their feces (poop) are very toxic to plants. Islands where colonial nesting birds can successfully nest are rare in the Great Lakes. Because of this, several artificial islands have been built in nearby Burlington Bay to help these birds nest as part of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan.
Southern wild rice, called Zizania aquatica, is an annual plant that grows from seeds each year. It's a traditional food plant that the Royal Botanical Gardens has successfully brought back to the marsh. However, it's still rare and can be easily damaged by water pollution.
Images for kids
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Cootes Paradise from a hill, painted in 1796 by Elizabeth Simcoe.
