Abstract
Rotary park in St Catharines can be found along the Twelve Mile Creek Valley, or more precisely at 395 Pelham road, just down the road from Power Glen public school. Before this area was a park it was the local landfill. Rotary park is a 32-acre piece of land with different areas having different meanings. There is a 4-acre portion of the land designated as the 'tree park' where people are encouraged to plant a tree for a loved one. Another section of the park is a large circular garden where the rotary wheel is displayed in the flowerbed. The landfill was closed in 1980 and a small clay cap and topsoil were placed down then seeded. The park was officially opened in 1983 by the Rotary Club but closed soon after due to environmental reasons. In 2004, After twenty-one years of being closed the Rotary Club began discussions on reopening the park to the public. Although the park had been technically closed for over twenty years the communities around the park would still use the trails for walking dogs, hiking, biking, running, and in the winter cross country skiing and tobogganing. In 2006 the city made a commitment to fix all environmental concerns and bring the park up to present day standards and by the spring of 2010 the project was considered completed. The park officially opened about a year after that on September 15, 2011. There were three main attributes that they focused on while upgrading the park. The amazing view from the east side of the park, the accessibility to trails from the main park, and the regeneration of the friendship garden and celebration tree park. Other parts of the park include an open field along the southern portion, shrub gardens, and north and south pine areas.
Municipality: (e.g., St. Catharines)
Local area name: (e.g., Port Dalhousie)
Other identifying names or descriptions (e.g., Central Business District)
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Highest / lowest point
Google Earth will tell you the elevation for any point in your local landscape
Rotary park was first open in 1983 and funded by the Roatary club of St. Catharines, the city of St. Catharines and the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program . The park has a 790m path around the perimeter of the park for people to bike, walk their dogs or just to enjoy the parks natural atmosphere. Along the way of the path you will come along a few benches for people to rest during their journey to embrace the parks natural components. The park also contains two separate groups of rocks, along the eastside, that allow large groups to come and enjoy the scenery. While sitting on these rocks you will be able to enjoy the view from the twelve-mile creek. there are small places for shelter and restromm facilities located in the main part of the park.
Map 1:
This 13-hectare / 32-acre piece of land is divided up into sections. As we can see there is an oval path surrounding the entire park. There is a 4-acre part of the landscape that is dedicated to 'tree park' and 'friendship garden'. This is a place where the local community can plant a tree or shrub in honor of a loved one or really anybody you want. This section of the park might be kind of hard to spot on the map, but it is on the north-west side of the path. As we can see in the second photo the park has not always been the way it is seen today. Long before the path and the natural habitat the park was a landfill. We can somewhat see the finer details of the landfill through the change in color over time.
Rotary park in St. Catharines is a fairly popular park / trail that is extremely beautiful to the eye. Surrounded by lovely Carolinian plants and trees,this 32-acre piece of land is something you don't want to pass up on. Some of the local Carolinian plant species are sassafras, ash, silver maple, blue beech,chestnut, tulip tree, mockernut and pignut hickories, chinquapin, scarlet, pin oaks, black gum, blue ash, and magnolia just to name a few. There are around 20 different species of trees that the city of St. Catharines permits the public to plant, most notably the American beech. Some common animal species in the park are some of the normal animals one would see in an urbanized area. For example, you would see squirrels, skunks, racoons, deer, and of course lots of types of birds. Some of the birds one would see would be blue jays, American robins, crows, geese, ducks, and finches. The most notable and common species are Acadian flycatcher, hooded warbler, Louisiana waterthrush and Kentucky warbler. There are a lot of Carolinian species that are close to extinction and are getting fairly rare to find. With the planting of these species in private or even public areas we can try to prevent the extinction of these plants. The tree park and friendship garden are great examples of humans trying to prevent the loss of biodiversity. Every forest goes through a 5-stage cycle. The 5 parts of this cycle infancy, youth, maturity, old age, and rebirth. In some forests the process of succession is dependent on fire that reduces them into rubble. This would then make the cycle start from scratch at infancy. Parts of the forest die and are reborn but the forest as a whole remains.( page 87/131 in text) Forests grow in layers meaning that there will be a tree line on top shading which will help keep the temperature of the ground cooler and also aid wildlife. The canopy layer encompasses all the leaves and branches below the top tree line. Below this there are shrubs and larger plants that have their own impact on the animals and other plants in the environment. On the bottom layer there is the damp dark ground and grass. There are three urban plant communities, there is the cultivated plant group, the native plant communities and the naturalized urban plant community. The cultivated plant group is the breeding of plants to give the environment what it demands. The native plant group is a plant community that has remained relatively unaltered. The naturalized urban plant community are plants that have adapted to city conditions without human assistance. Out of all these communities I would say that Rotary park is the cultivated plant group. I say this because before it was a park and small forest it was a landfill so in order to give the environment what it needed, we needed to plant and develop plants that would survive and thrive there.
b) Geomorphology:
After the park was a landfill, the city placed a small clay cap and topsoil over the landfill to make it a livable landscape for plants and animals alike and leveled it. If the park wasn't properly soiled, then it could lead to unbalanced or improper water runoff or seepage from the landfill. The park today is essentially a massive field with a walkway around the park. In the middle of the track there are small beige colored plants that resemble bullrushes. Over time the park has been modified by human activity. It started out as a natural habitat before we converted it to a landfill. After the landfill we converted it back to a natural site in hopes of bettering the ecosystem. The location of the park was perfect considering its proximity to water. On the east side of the park there is a view of twelve-mile creek which has significant natural changes. This was created by debris that was left behind from glaciers over 12000 years ago. As we saw from the time-lapse of the park it has been getting consistently greener since the early 2000's around 2004. At this point in time discussions were only being started about making this location the park it is today. Over the next 14 years we can see the development of the park, especially the track around the park. The dark green that is still expanding to this day can be credited to tree park and small forest environment that is still developing.
c) Hydrogeology:
The only major hydrogeological feature around Rotary park is Twelve-mile creek. This is a 19-kilometer (12 miles) cold water river located on the east side of the park. The river was formed through the melting of glaciers more than twelve thousand years ago. thanks to this we now have the ability to create an ecosystem around the river "Water is a key factor in determining the productivity of ecosystems, species composition, and biodiversity" (Alberti 133). The urbanization around the park and river could create problems for the environment's cycles "Urbanization influences the cycling of water by changing microclimate and precipitation in and around cities. Evidence is increasing that rainfall patterns and daily precipitation trends have changed in urban areas over the last few decades, but the complex mechanisms that link urbanization to local and regional climate changes are not fully understood" (Alberti 136). The urban runoff could harm the quality of the water and there is always concern that there could be leechate from the old landfill under the park "Urban runoff also leads to changes in water quality. Runoff transports a variety of contaminants to streams and other water bodies. Urban land use and activities add a large amount of sediments, metals, hydrocarbons, pesticides, nutrients, toxics, and bacteria to runoff"(Alberti 136). Humans have used the river as a power source as we have many power generating stations such as the two DeCew falls stations (Morningstar mill), and the Heywood generating station (which has an installed capacity of 5.75 MW).
d) Climate / microclimate
The parks location could pose some problems in the future in consideration to urbanization. When looking from a satellite image we can see that to the south and west of the park there is still little to no development but across twelve-mile creek to the north and east its fairly urbanized since its Brock university and downtown St. Catharine's. If development of these natural areas is not reduced or properly planned it could affect the area around it "It is predicted that the energy and resource requirements of cities will, in the foreseeable future, affect not only local but regional and macro climates" (Hough 190). The heating up of these urban environments can cause significant environmental issues "The impervious surfaces of city streets and paved spaces, and the stone and concrete of building surfaces store and conduct heat much faster than do soil or vegetated surfaces. In addition, urban structures are multi-faceted. Roofs, walls, and streets act as multiple reflectors, absorbing heat energy and reflecting it back to other surfaces, so the entire city accepts and stores heat" (Hough 190). If the area surrounding the park gets overly developed then the park and natural environment around it could be affected.
Through my research I could not find any evidence of what the land was used for before European settlement. From what we know about its previous use, what it looks like now, and the features surrounding it we can make some fair assumptions. Before it was a landfill it must have been an open field or small forest like environment as we can see from its surroundings. The Niagara escarpment and Twelve-mile creek are the main features around the park which would have been around in the days of Laura Secord and earlier. They would have been very resourceful to natives andother settlers because it could be used as a sense of direction, a way of travel, and a source of food and water. Given the useful features of the area, the natives would have been likely to live in this area and not harm the environment aside from making trails.
Land use history:
After the arrival of the European settlers the land started to slowly be used for development. Since the park is in such an ideal placement in comparison to the river, the settlers would have used it for travel. Whether that travel be canoeing to get place to place or even the movement of logs for logging. The rushing water provides the perfect place to put a watermill "European Settlers were also attracted to the area for its landscape which became the foundation of the milling industry. United Empire Loyalists were the first permanent European settlers of the area and established two communities of what is now Short Hills Provincial Park; St. John's West and Decew Town. These settlers cleared much of the land for orchards and built many of the historic buildings in the area."
Education / Interpretation:
Located at the entrance of the park is the Rotary wheel which contains information about the park "At the park entrance (off Pelham Rd.), a panel that describes Rotary will be present. John described the virtues of the site's location, noting that it has two levels with different terrain in each, from rolling hills to wetlands that support much wildlife. Thus, the park would be able to focus on education, support for local wildlife, as well as support for the Carolinian Canada species" (https://portal.clubrunner.ca/302/stories/program-rotary-park). The Rotary club of St. Catharines has information about them, the park and a brief description of the landscape and its history on their website.
Architectural Heritage:
The park and its surroundings remain relatively undeveloped with the park having a small restroom facility and shelter. The area will remain this way since the park has a large portion of property (32 achres) and is adjacent to twelve-mile creek. To the west of the park are large farmers' fields that will likely remain but north of the park has been steadily developing over the last 15 years with the addition of neighbourhoods. Across the river is very developed since its Brock university and its facilities. There are no cultural landmarks on my location aside from the Rotary wheel
Recreational Uses:
In 1980 when the landfill was covered with clay and the land the surrounding areas began to become neighborhoods. The area was not yet officially a park but when a person from Finland donated a tree to be planted there the idea for a park came to be. It was opened in 1983 but closed soon after. Even when the park had been technically closed for over twenty years the communities around the park would still use the trails for walking dogs, hiking, biking, running, and in the winter cross country skiing and tobogganing. In 2004 when they officially reopened people kept using the park in similar fashion but now there was a dirt track around the park that had been installed. With recent renovations and upgrades to the park there are larger pull factors drawing people who want to exercise or take in its natural beauty.
Ownership, jurisdiction, access, and management
The park is owned by the Rotary club of St. Catharines and the city of St. Catharines. The Park had a donation of $50,000 from the Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program and $25,000 from the Rotary club and the city each. Since the Park was reopened in 2004 the public has had full access to the park and have been encouraged to use its natural elements. The park has been upgraded in recent years with the addition of bathroom facilities, benches and small shelters.The park itself is not covered by the Greenbelt protection plan but Twelve-mile creek which is adjacent to the park was added.The park is maintained by the city of St. Catharines. They do snow removal and maintenanceand cut the grass.
The park is connected to many trails that can take you to different parts around the city like to the university and downtown. Its location adjacent to the Niagara Escarpment and Twelve-mile creek make it a popular destination for people who like to get out into nature. This has made it, so the city has had to cater to the needs of the people who enjoy and utilize this space by adding restroom facilities and a shelter. As of right now the area around the park is developing fairly quickly which could pose some problems in the future for the natural environment "Describing human-induced disturbances associated with urbanization, however, is a much more complex undertaking. We cannot always place landscape states on a simple continuum of population and/or built up densities because humans affect the landscape through multiple stressors operating at multiple scales, causing both habitat loss and habitat modification. To address this issue, McIntyre and Hobbs (1999) propose a conceptual model linking land use and landscape alteration that takes both factors into account. They categorize the degree of alteration as ranging from relictual to fragmented to variegated to intact; they also identify two levels of landscape alteration. The first level defines the landscape's status, based on the level of habitat loss (i.e., fragmentation). The second level of analysis evaluates the patterns of habitat modification imposed on the remaining habitat (i.e., degradation)" (Advances in urban ecology 97). The city can't let the landscape be altered too much because the surrounding environments and their natural cycles would be disrupted of destroyed.
Rotary Club of St. Catharines
-271 Ridley Road St. Catharines , ON
-L2S 0B3 Canada
-Phone: (289)-434-0433
City of St. Catharines
-50 Church Street St. Catharines, ON
-L2R 7C2
- Phone: (905)-688-5600
-City Hall Hours: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
- Phone & Email Service: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5 p.m
This Local Landscape Report was prepared by Ryan Bowie for the Brock University course TMGT 2P94: Human Dominated Ecosystems on December 13th, 2019.
All copyrights for cited material rest with the original copyright owners.
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