Naturally, Hamilton! A Guide To the Green Spaces of Hamilton and Area
Naturally Hamilton: Our Home, Our Future
Since 1919, members of the Hamilton Naturalists' Club have enjoyed the rich diversity of plants and animals around Hamilton, Ontario, nestled in the shadow of the Niagara Escarpment at the head of Lake Ontario.
As residents of Hamilton and area, we share our home with hundreds of other creatures. We live at the head of Lake Ontario, the last link in the chain of Great Lakes, among life-giving wetlands, verdant Carolinian forests, the bountiful waters of Hamilton Harbour, picturesque creek valleys, and the rocky protective presence of the Niagara Escarpment.
Sam Lawrence Park (Photo: Margaret Walton)
The times we feel most alive are those moments spent in nature: standing in an early April drizzle watching Spotted Salamanders wiggling down muddy banks into the vernal breeding pools of the Dundas Valley; listening to the melodious calls of hundreds of songbirds in June just before a fiery orange sunrise over Beverly Swamp; sitting in a meadow brilliant with the asters and goldenrods of autumn as late season butterflies flutter around us; and equipped with parkas, toques, and snow boots, participating in the century-old tradition of the Christmas Bird Count, each year with another chance to experience winter as the Eastern Bluebirds, American Tree Sparrows, White-winged Scoters, and gregarious chickadees do. At times like these we fully understand that we are simply one species among many others — neither more nor less important than the Spring Peeper, Green-winged Teal, Banded Hairstreak, Round-leaved Sundew, or Three-spined Sticklemack.
Fossils in Escarpment (Photo: Madeleine Ernst)
Our home pre-dates memory, and contains in its landscape a particular human and natural history. Hamilton has the signature of the glaciers written on its landscape, from the glacial Lake Iroquois gravel bars at Burlington Heights and the Hamilton Beach Strip, to the high drumlin fields amid the wetlands of Flamborough. The Red Hill Valley in east Hamilton holds traces of the first human inhabitants from around 9,000 B.C. Archeological evidence includes villages, fishing stations and campsites showing that First Nations peoples made use of the Hamilton area continually over a period of 11,000 years. In the days before European contact, the Timber Rattlesnake, Eastern Spiny Softshell, Black Bear, Elk, Pine Marten, and hundreds of thousands of Passenger Pigeons shared this land.
The past three hundred years have not been kind to Hamilton. As you would expect from the effects of industrialization, hundreds of hectares of wetlands, forests, and almost all of the original 3,200 hectares of prairie/oak savanna habitat have been destroyed. Where Atlantic Salmon and Brook Trout once swam, European Carp and Goldfish dominate. Where fourteen natural streams once rushed over the escarpment on their way to the bay, only one exists today. Where hundreds of hectares of wetlands on the south shore of the bay once played a key part in making that body of water one of the most productive fisheries in the Great Lakes, the industrial port of Hamilton now stands. But a naturalist's vision dwells on what we have lost for two main reasons: to make the case for a commitment to prevent any further loss of habitat; and to develop a blueprint to be used in replacing the pieces of the original landscape. This restoration is moving forward with the implementation of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan.
In producing Naturally, Hamilton!, our intention is to share the beauty of our bioregion with fellow citizens and people from around the world who value nature. We hope you enjoy this publication and visit many of the sites described here. Having shared with you the wonder of Hamilton's natural areas, we invite you to join us in our efforts to protect these natural spaces for present and future generations of plants and animals. Enjoy your visit!
Copyright © 2006 - 2010 Hamilton Naturalists' Club ... Protecting Nature Since 1919
