At an elevation of about one hundred seventy-five meters, in a heritage district on the east end of Thorold is the ten acre, four hundred forty-meter-long Battle of Beaverdams Park created in 1976. Located directly off Sullivan Ave, and within walking distance to downtown Thorold the park is in a very central location of the city attributed to its history as a shipping and transport route. Despite the name it is not the location of the battle of Beaverdams but it does however commemorate Laura Secord and the fallen soldiers from the area decisive battle of the war of 1812. The park features plaques to remember the famous story of Laura Secord helping to secure the region of Niagara as well as lives lost in the battle. A bandstand as well as a playground equipment and paths are in place for public use. There is also an excavated lock from the land's past as the second Welland canal. The canal system enabled invasive species to enter the great lakes such as lamprey and alewife which killed off a large population of fish and demanded the new predators of trout and salmon to be introduced which are now a recreational fishing industry and there is no chance of a native only population. The Canal was filled in during the 1960s to create the park for recreation purposes which destroyed the habitat that the canal was providing as well as water access and irrigation to the land around it. The first landscape was a common Canadian densely forested area. Once the canal was dug and built an artificial river was created. The canal brought people to the area who slowly cleared and industrialized the area. After it was filled, made into a park and then preserved as a national historic site which induced a growth of less industrial and more residential style landscapes. The Battle of Beaverdams Park is worthy of further study because of the role humans played in the large-scale changes that the landscape has gone through shaping the area as well as the surrounding landscapes

Municipality: Thorold

Local area name: Battle of Beaverdams Park

Other identifying names or descriptions Public Park

Latitude and longitude: 43°07'19.4"N 79°12'02.5"W

Physical Dimensions

Length: 440 m

Width: 91.9 m

Surface Area: 40468.6 sq m

Elevation:

Highest / lowest point 178m / 172 m

Google Earth will tell you the elevation for any point in your local landscape

Battle of Beaverdams park is a national historic site that commemorates the decisive battle of Beaverdams in the war of 1812. It can be found in the heart of Thorold near the downtown core off of Sullivan ave. and Ormond st. It is a public park that is taken care of by the municipality and is open to the public for free access during open hours. Its physical dimensions are 440m long and 91.9m wide for a surface area of 40468.6 square meters. Its coordinates are 43°07'19.4"N 79°12'02.5"W and has a lowest point of 172m and highest point of 178m.[ Write a brief introductory paragraph which describes your local landscape in general terms, and the boundaries you have defined for it.

Map 1:

Over time many changes have occurred to the landscape and the biota including the plant and animal species.The original biom of the area was described as "the virgin forests of Thorold are not surpassed by any others in the province. These include beech, maple, oak, chestnut, walnut, elm, hickory, pine, ash, and linden (basswood), besides many smaller species."(Thompson, 1898) Over time however with multiple changes to the landscape that changed drastically to the current state of plant species which includes only the basics of grass, and a very sparse density of oak, sugar maple, and spruce trees. The animal species of the landscape also had large changes over time. Currently all that can be found in the park are squirrels, rabbits, crows, pigeons, sparrows, cardinals and other common residential animals. This was not always the case though as the animal species reduced with the plant life. The original forest environment provided habitat for an endless amount of wildlife and plant life such as deer, moose, foxes etc. but when the forest was cleared for the canal to be built the habitat was lost. This process continued as after the canal was built there was the industrialization of the area which meant more clearing of habitat. Slowly over time as the area became more urbanised and there was less habitat available wild animals cleared out until the point currently where one would be very lucky to find any wild animals not found in every typical suburban landscape in Ontario like small birds, rabbits, squirrels, skunks and raccoons. Over time the landscape of the park has evolved a lot, and with that there has been a major loss to plant and animal life.

The topography of the landscape can be described with the ordering of rock types, topography and soil types. The topography can be defined as mainly level with a slight slope at the south end of the park. There is a slight gully right in the middle of the park where the canal was not filled in and now is used for the stage. The multiple rock types of the landscape can be described with the city of Thorolds "The surface strata are alluvial deposits of the post glacial period, which vary in depth from twenty to eighty feet. Beneath the alluvial deposits is bedrock known as the Niagara limestone. It is a massive, dark blue rock of magnesian and siliceous character, filled with cavities containing calcspar and gypsum. Below the formation just described is the "Niagara shale," a bluish grey or nearly black laminated mass, which shows a marked tendency to decompose and crumble when exposed to the atmosphere. Next in order is a durable limestone of light grey color, and about sixteen feet in thickness. This rock furnishes excellent material for building purposes. Underlying the above is a formation of light green shale five feet in thickness, which soon turns to clay on being exposed to the atmosphere. The next in succession is known as the Medina sandstone, a greyish or brown mottled formation of fifteen feet in thickness. Below the former are alternations of sandstone and limestone sixty feet in thickness. Lower, we encounter a light grey quartzose sandstone of excellent quality, largely quarried from Queenston to Dundas. The soil is chiefly a heavy clay but there are numerous areas of sandy loam throughout the township."(Thompson, 1898) There have been multiple human forces that shaped the landscape such as plowing, digging, clear cutting, and excavating which all went into the process of creating the canal and then filling it in. All in all the geomorphology of the landscape can be described through the defined topography, rock orders and soil types.

Currently there are no hydrogeological features of the Battle of Beaverdams park, but in the past there was a man-made canal that ran right through the landscape. The canal was built in 1845 in order to connect Lake Ontario and Lake Erie for transportation purposes. This creation of an artificial waterway was a major feature of the area and was flowing until the year 1915 when it was filled in. The canal did not go through any natural changes over its lifespan but did have human induced changes. These included the changing of materials as well as upkeep of the infrastructure. The canal offered a place for rain water to wash away to avoid floods which is now lost with changes in land cover associated with urbanization that affect the hydrological cycle by altering precipitation, evaporation, evapotranspiration, and infiltration of the area.(Alberti, 2008) Not all of this function was lost though however as through the implementation of a green space the park serves as part of the Lake Ontario drainage basin. It allows water from the surrounding urbanized area to infiltrate into the soil and into the ground water as well as into plants that carry out multiple processes. The changes to the landscape hydrology can be tracked over time and can be described as the digging and filling in of a canal. The surrounding area is filled with impermeable surfaces associated with urbanization that the park offers a collection point of water that cannot infiltrate the built materials.

Human activities can have a profound influence on local climate and microclimate. City temperatures and climates are related to solar radiation and heat gain from built urban materials. This can be attributed to reduced evaporation, more storage and conductivity of heat, variations of wind around buildings, and production of airborne pollutants.(Hough, 2004) The original creation of the canal system itself may not have the most profound effect on the microclimate of the region but the industrialisation and urbanisation that it attracted contributed to changes in the climate. The built infrastructure around the park is made up of materials such as cement that attract and store more electromagnetic energy than natural surfaces such as grass. This creates a hotter climate as the energy stored cannot escape so it exists in the region warming it such as all the buildings around the park.(Hough, 2004) Wind is the most important natural way of creating a comfortable climate in a region. Low buildings such as the ones present around the park do not have a big enough impact on the presence of wind, but if there were taller ones then wind may be blocked from flowing through the region and thus helping to regulate temperature.(Hough, 2004) Water is also a factor that affects the climate of an area through evaporation. This can take two forms; through direct evaporation of water off of surfaces and evapotranspiration from plants. Both facilitate cooling of an area by effectively holding heat energy in water until it is removed from the region, similar to when one sweats. The built surfaces such as the ones around the park do not allow water to absorb and facilitate the cooling process because it is just washed away down roads and sewers. Plants create cooling through evapotranspiration as well as shading which controls humidity and temperature (Hough, 2004) and since the area around the park has been stripped of most of the plant life there is less control happening. Air quality being affected from pollutants also has a profound effect on the climate of a region. Because of the central location of the park there is emission creators surrounding it such as cars burning gas as well as buildings with heating and cooling which pollute the air and create more absorption of electromagnetic energy and thus heating of the area. (Hugh, 2004) The landscape of the park itself however has a positive effect on the sub-climate of the region. Water and plants are the important natural elements of climate control of the city. Like the Battle of Beaverdams park "On a small scale, experience tells us that a sheltered, well-treed environment is a cooler and more pleasant place on a hot day"(Hough, 2004) than urban heat islands. "Vegetation and water have a major effect on the maintenance of an equable microclimate within cities. Since the large areas of paved and hard surfaces in the city generate the greatest heat in summer, establishing canopy vegetation wherever possible will reduce the adverse effects of the urban heat island."(Hough, 2004) The park offers trees, shrubs and plant life that works as small scale green lungs for the region as it helps to reduce some of the issues mentioned above such as water storage, air pollutants and electromagnetic energy storage. Because of the large scale changes created by humans to the surrounding landscape the climate of the region has felt the effects. The landscape of the park itself though has the reverse effect of offering a green area that facilitates natural cooling systems to help regulate the climate of the area

The settlement and land use history of the Battle of Beaverdams park area has had a major influence over the landscape. The land use history can be described over time. From Indigenous people to European settlers and now Canadians the land uses have changed with the inhabitants. Indigenous people have inhabited Canada since time immemorial.(Parrot, 2007) The Indigenous people of the region of the landscape did not have any profound effect on the landscape itself aside from making camps and trails through the area that the European settlers showed up, used, and started to settle and change the area. The first Europeans were loyalists who fled from America to the Niagara region during the revolutionary war, which started a slow flow of European settlers into the area.(Thompson, 1898) Areas of Thorold where the park is located emerged at Beaverdams, DeCew Falls and St. Johns and, after the opening of the Welland Canal Thorold started to succeed. In 1846, the community had a population of about 1,000 people. Thorold soon became dominant and was incorporated as a village in 1850 and as a town in 1870.(Thorold, 2019) A major influence over the building up the city of Thorold was the Welland Canal as a transportation route which ran right through the area of the current park. This sparked the building up of the area including industrial land uses such as the JB cement factory and residential uses of housing. The land use of the landscape has changed over time though as time went on and the canal became too small and a new one was required to be built. The canal was filled in and converted to greenspace which eventually turned into the current use of a park. Once this happened the surrounding industrial land uses moved away to make way for more residential and commercial land uses which is how the surrounding area can be described as today. Overall the landscape has been shaped in dramatic ways over its history. Starting with Indigenous inhabitants with small impact, to European settlers who dug the Welland Canal which sparked the complete overhaul in land uses of the landscape and surrounding area and finally after a period of time the canal was filled in impacting the land uses of the surrounding area and creating the Battle of Beaverdams park.

Since the battle of Beaverdams park is in central location and holds important historical context there are many cultural features of the landscape. From educational resources on the area to preserved architectural heritage, and current recreational uses the area holds cultural value. The landscape itself has gone through dramatic changes over time, of which have had profound impacts on the area and hold historical and cultural value. There are many resources available to find information on the landscape from websites, archives and exhibits. Organisations such as the government of Canada, Brock University, Canadian Encyclopedia, and city of Thorold all have websites that cover the history of the park as well as the current state of the park. These resources are found on their institutions respective sites. Other than websites "the park contains three notable heritage features: Lock 25 of the Second Welland Canal, The "JB" Stone and the Battle of Beaverdams Monuments"(Brock, 2019) as well as the city of Thorold offers small free information booklets to offer physical resources of information about the cultural history. The Lock 25 is an excavated lock is a reminder of the canal system that ran through the landscape that worked as a force of economic development for the area. The lock has been preserved and is the centrepiece of the park because of the cultural and historical importance it represents. The JB stone is a relic of the cement factory that used to reside beside the canal and thus the park. The stone is preserved and visible in the park alongside a plaque to explain the significance that the cement factory had to the growth of the city of Thorold. Other plaques can be found describing why the site holds not only municipal value but national value including the story of Laura Secord, and the war of 1812. Recently a bandshell was built in the middle of the park in order to host public events to build up the community and now that holds cultural value as a building since it is an integral part of the city. All the historical artifacts, plaques, and buildings are protected by the municipality as they are either public facilities or national historic items. The landscape contains the recreational items walking paths, a bandshell and swings for public use. They are formal in that they are controlled, managed and maintained by the city of Thorold. In summary the Battle of Beaverdams park holds great cultural value. This is because of the architectural heritage and historical value of the landscape that one can be educated through various information sites as well as its community importance that is created through the recreational uses.

The organization responsible is the city of Thorold which is municipal ownership. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada is also partly responsible for managing the site as it is a national historic site. Public access is allowed in the park but only within the hours of operation which varies depending on the time of the year. The public ownership means that the park is cleaned and maintained regularly such as cutting the grass and collecting litter unlike the surrounding parking lots and streets which are not nearly as well maintained. There are also facilities such as washrooms and dog waste bins for public use. There are no agencies aside from the municipality that manage the landscape.

The Battle of Beaverdams park does not exist in isolation. It is surrounded by adjacent land uses such as the Welland canal, Prince of Wales school, and downtown Thorold. Although ecological impacts of urban development often seem to be local, urbanization also causes environmental changes at larger scales (Marzluff et al. 2008) These land uses have major connections to the park and have influenced the landscape and area currently and over time. The Welland canal is a major water transportation route that sits adjacent to the park. It is used to travel between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario for transportation of goods and resources. In the past the canal ran through the park and was the location of one of the locks. The effects of this can be seen on the landscape and surrounding area. The landscape changes produced by land conversion and pollution loads associated with patterns of urbanization have differential impacts on ecological conditions (Alberti, 2008) The major changes to the landscape of digging a canal has had impacts on the ecology of the park. The density of fauna, and diversity of wildlife are much lower levels than the original landscape and that is due to the conversions created by humans as the land was cleared and forced to restart to build a canal. Currently the park is long and narrow which is a direct impact of the canal as it is on the only land that was not developed on while the canal was in place. A development directly alongside the park is the Prince of Wales Public School. This school backs onto the park and is a human dominated ecosystem directly connected to the park. In a human-dominated ecosystem, landscape connectivity may either facilitate or impede the flow of resources and organisms (Alberti, 2008) With the school being spatially attached to the park it creates a barrier to the natural ecosystem of the landscape. Without large spaces to roam and inhabit separate from human activity, wildlife usually fails to establish any real population. This idea is visible in the park as the only animals that can be found in the park are typical residential dwelling species such as skunks, squirrels, small birds, racoons, etc. This is because the school impedes the natural flow of biology of the greenspace. Another barrier to the establishment of wildlife in the landscape is downtown Thorold which is an urbanised node of economic activity. While urban development enhances the connectivity of human activities, it fragments and isolates habitat patches, thus decreasing the chances of species survival and increasing species extinction (Alberti, 2008) The area of downtown has a big impact on the ecology of the park as acts as a barrier to which wildlife cannot exist by replacing natural elements with built ones. This means that any species that resides in the park or seeks to find habitat cannot because it isolates the park making it a very unsustainable habitat. It is visible that the landscape of the Battle of Beaverdams park is not an isolated location. Surrounding land uses such as the Welland canal, Prince of Wales school and downtown area have strong ecological impacts on the park that have been influenced over time as well as in its current state.

Administration

City of Thorold

Dave Akrigg

Operations Supervisor, Parks

City of Thorold

3540 Schmon Parkway

Thorold, Ontario

L2V 4A7

Tel (905) 227-1148

Email betty@thorold.com

Website http://thoroldtourism.ca/

2nd Welland Canal - 1845 - 1915. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://wellandcanals.ca/2ndWellandCanal.html.

Alberti, M. (2009). Advances in urban ecology: integrating humans and ecological processes in urban ecosystems. New York: Springer.

Battle of Beaverdams Park. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://brocku.niagaragreenbelt.com/listings/55-his....

Farina, A. (2006). Principles and Methods in Landscape Ecology Towards a Science of the Landscape. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

History. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://web.archive.org/web/20180116004440/http://www.thorold.com/content/history.

Hough, M. (2004). Cities and natural process. London: Routledge.

Marzluff, J. M. (2008). Urban ecology: an international perspective on the interaction between humans and nature. New York: Springer.

Thompson, J. H. (1898). Jubilee history of Thorold: township and town, from the time of the red man to the present. Thorold: Thorold Post Printing and Publishing.

Map References

Government of Canada. (n.d.). Government of Canada. Retrieved from https://www.ec.gc.ca/grandslacs-greatlakes/default...

Information Systems and Cartography Unit, Land Resource Research Centre, Research Branch, Agriculture Canada. (1989). Generalized soil map, Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario. Generalized soil map, Regional Municipality of Niagara, Ontario. Ottawa.(list the maps you consulted in the preparation of this report, including digital maps, Google Earth/ Google Maps URLs, Niagara Navigator, satellite imagery, and other conventional and online map sources)]

This Local Landscape Report was prepared by Calvin Dickens for the Brock University course TMGT 2P94: Human Dominated Ecosystems on November 7, 2019.

All copyrights for cited material rest with the original copyright owners.