The Land's Inlet Nature Project: Restoring Nature in Hamilton's North End

How this Project Came to Be

The Hamilton Naturalist's Club identified nature restoration work in the urban core of Hamilton as one of the priorities for our Head-of-the-Lake Land Trust Program in 2001. When the Hamilton Community Foundation announced funding for environmental projects that involved local neighbourhoods, we developed a proposal to identify potential nature restoration sites in the urban core of Hamilton and work with local residents and landowners to naturalize the most suitable site. Our main objective is to contribute to the establishment of healthy open spaces that will provide local residents with opportunities to access and appreciate the natural environment.

Using air photography, mapping landownership data and site inspections we identified one corridor that appeared to have the greatest potential. This is the former location of Land's Inlet - one of the many inlets that once lined the shoreline of the Bay, before industrial and residential development filled most of them.

The City of Hamilton has two blocks of undeveloped parkland in the central part of the corridor that have little natural vegetation. This seemed like a natural location for the first phase of the project. We approached city staff and Councilor Bratina. At the City's request we undertook a survey of the existing flora at the site and analysed reports on the remediation work that has been done to address contamination at the site. We also let North End Neighbours know about the project and got local residents involved in helping guide the project. With this input and feedback from local community groups and schools we developed a preliminary design concept.

Land's Inlet - A Brief History

Hamilton's Inlets were stream valleys that had cut down below current lake levels during periods of lower lake levels in the last glaciation 8,000 to 12,000 years ago. Once Lake Ontario's level rose again the inlets filled with lake water and many were navigable by small craft a considerable distance inland. Land's Inlet, named after Robert Land one of the first settlers in the area east of the Inlet, extended from near what is now the intersection of Wellington Street and Burlington Street to at least as far as Beasley Park on Wilson Street - a distance of over 1.7 km, with a number of side channels branching off along the way.

Before the development of this part of the city, Hamilton's Inlets were rich wildlife areas with vegetation lining their banks. By 1874 rail lines ran adjacent to and crossed over Land's Inlet. The inlet was filled in gradually in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but a valley representing the route of the inlet remained with active rail lines present. The presence of the railway and city planning for a perimeter road that would follow part of the Land's Inlet corridor (an idea recently dropped) helped keep much of the corridor free from intensive development, creating an opportunity to restore natural vegetation in the corridor and share the history and geography of this unique part of the city.

Past Use of the Project Site

Parts of the project site were used for industrial purposes in the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century.

In particular a clay pigeon factory was located at the end of Ferrie Street, west of the rail line. Over many years tar spoils from this factory were dumped in the area.

In 1999, after the Plastimet fire, the Ministry of the Environment conducted soil testing at the project site and discovered high levels of Poly-aromatic Hydrocarbons, associated with the tar spoils from the former factory. In some locations these chemicals were present in well above the Ministry's maximum allowable levels (the most contaminated areas are outside our proposed project areas). As a result the City of Hamilton undertook further studies and developed a remediation plan to make the area safe for public use.

In 2002, the city undertook environmental remediation work including capping contaminated areas with clean soil. To date all work has taken place outside the contaminated areas. As part of our project planning detailed safety protocols have been developed to ensure that the soil cap is not penetrated and the safety of project participants is safeguarded when work is undertaken in areas where contaminants are present under the protective soil cap.

(Map & drawing from Hamilton Harbour 1826 - 1901 by Ivan S. Brooks)

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