Cootes Paradise

Cootes Paradise is a property with many boundaries, but it is primarily a property of the Royal Botanical Gardens at the western end of Lake Ontario, but is also remnant of the larger 3700 acre Dundas Marsh Crown Game Preserve established by the province of Ontario in 1927.,[1] dominated by a 4.5 km long rivermouth wetland, representing the lake's western terminus.

Unusually, Royal Botanical Gardens is both the owner of the land under Cootes Paradise Marsh as well as regulator of activities on the water, despite it being an inlet of Lake Ontario.

The western end of Lake Ontario has been a traditional landing place, portage route, and gathering area since the glaciers retreated.

It is a surrounded by steep oak forested hills with multiple low areas, associated with the main river deltas providing landings and access to the water.

The habitat went into decline beginning in the late 19th century as a result of water pollution, human overuse, canal dredging, highway building, and the introduction of carp into Lake Ontario.

[3] By 1985, 85% of the wetland plant cover was lost, 90% of the remainder was non-native species retained in the swamp habitat areas, and the carp population numbered over 70,000 fish.

The continuing restoration efforts must focus on removing sources of stress to the marsh for inflowing water pollution, minimizing the number of spawning carp, and re-establishing native plants through reintroduction projects.

Poor water clarity is a result of extremely high nutrient and sediment levels derived from sewage and urban runoff.

Controlled burns have been conducted in an effort to restore some of the old field areas to their original oak savanna ecosystem, a rare grouping of Carolinian plants and animals.

Cootes Paradise Marsh is connected to Hamilton Harbour via a modified outflow channel dominated by the waters of Spencer Creek.

Cootes Paradise is designated a nationally Important Bird Area (IBA) due to its strategic location at the tip of Lake Ontario and with the Central and Mississippi Flyways.

One expert stated that the goldfish "is the ultimate survivor of difficult conditions ... it can feed on blue-green algae blooms that native species cannot—blooms that appear with increasing frequency in Hamilton Harbour".

there has been a noticeable decline in forest health and loss of trees due to ongoing anthropogenic stresses in the region, including surrounding Cootes Paradise.

In 2005, following the death of a child participating on a nature hike during a wind storm, the RBG was forced to cut down numerous dead and dying trees that posed a public-safety concern, and alter the trail system to ensure some of the sensitive habitat could remain undisturbed by these activities.

The island was dominated by hickory trees, but these were killed by nesting double-crested cormorants, due to their feces altering soil chemistry.

Multiple artificial islands have been constructed in adjacent Burlington Bay to facilitate this activity as part of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan.