Көтес Парадайсы: Онтарио көлінің батыс бөлігіндегі табиғат қорғау аймағы

Property of the Royal Botanical Gardens at the western end of Lake Ontario

Cootes Paradise is a property with many boundaries, but 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., dominated by a 4.5 km long rivermouth wetland, representing the lake's western terminus. It is found on the west side of Hamilton Harbour and is located in the municipality of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Cootes Paradise Environmentally Sensitive Area is larger "core area" within the City of Hamilton's Natural Heritage System and has a very similar boundary to the original Dundas Crown Game Preserve. The Cootes Paradise Nature Sanctuary area is a 600 hectare environmental protection and education area within the core natural heritage area, owned and managed by Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG), a charitable organization established in 1941 by the Government of Ontario. The wetland/marsh is also often referred to as Cootes Paradise but is part of the Cootes Paradise Nature Reserve and core area, with these lands representing 99% of the unaltered lands along the local Lake Ontario shoreline (~25 km). The site carries multiple designations, including a National Historic Site, a Nationally Important Bird Area (IBA), and is also central to inspiring the local principles for the World World Biosphere program. Within the regions local Niagara Escarpment World Biosphere, it is unique as the only point of physical connection with Lake Ontario. The marsh has also been referred to as the Dundas Marsh, a product of its surveyed location largely within the boundary of the former town of Dundas, and highlighted in conservation efforts initiated in the 1860s. 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. Water area activity regulation was formerly under the Hamilton Harbour Commission (now Hamilton Oshawa Port Authority) as part of the area's historical federal port regulation. In the late 1970s, the Harbour Commission and Royal Botanical Gardens made an agreement transferring regulation of use of the water/ice area to the Gardens' in support of the environmental protection mandate. However, Royal Botanical Gardens has no regulatory ability for the condition of water quality flowing into the marsh.

The western end of Lake Ontario has been a traditional landing place, portage route, and gathering area since the glaciers retreated. The name Cootes Paradise results from its association with Thomas Coote, a British Army officer stationed in the Niagara area during the American Revolutionary War. He hunted and fished in the marsh during the 1780s, and as a result this was recorded in early maps as a means of reference. It also appears in the diary of Elizabeth Simcoe, wife of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada in 1796. Indigenous peoples' name for the marsh has not been ascertained, a result of the multiple groups who have used the area over the past centuries. The 1784 version of the Between the Lakes Purchase from the Mississauga references the outflow channel as part of the definition of the treaties boundaries Washquarter. The wetland contains diverse habitats, but is largely a seasonally flooded river mouth marsh feed by multiple creeks, dominated by Spencer Creek. 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. It has provided food for people and habitat to a wide variety of lifeforms that span international borders. 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. The first petition for habitat projection for the marsh portion was in 1866. Habitat protection for the broader landscape is tied to the Hamilton Bird Protection society, and a developer that settled with the city of Hamilton for owed taxes for a large block on the south side of Cootes Paradise. This formed the foundation of public property, that was set aside as part of a much larger large Crown Game Preserve in 1927 (~2900 acres). The remnants of the 1927 crown game preserve were placed under the control of the Royal Botanical Gardens for management with its formation in 1941, with the Gardens reacquiring many of the original crown game preserve lands over the decades. 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. As part of ongoing efforts to reverse this ecological decline, RBG introduced Project Paradise in 1993, part of the Hamilton Harbour Remedial Action Plan, with this ending in 2015. Projects to restore the marsh date back to the late 1940s. 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. A number of identified anthropogenic stresses continue to create the unbalanced populations of carp and Canada geese. These are water quality and quantity based. Poor water clarity is a result of extremely high nutrient and sediment levels derived from sewage and urban runoff. Rapid sediment accumulation is the result of unmanaged land use patterns in the watersheds, while the regulated water level in Lake Ontario has dramatically altered the flooding pattern. 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. The Desjardins Canal, modified the natural channels, dug through the wetland between 1826 and 1837 to connect Dundas, Ontario, with shipping on the Great Lakes. The canal was later straightened by an excavation through the Burlington Heights in 1851 to accommodate the railway across the eastern end of the marsh, with the natural outflow sealed off by a berm supporting the railway. In 2000, the City of Hamilton constructed a 3 km recreational trail connecting Royal Botanical Gardens to Pier 4 Park; creating a Waterfront Trail system. Royal Botanical Gardens' trails are open to passive recreation only as the area is a National Historic site, Nationally Important Bird Area (IBA), Important Amphibian and Reptile Area (IMPARA), containing numerous endangered species. As such, activities such as biking, jogging and orienteering are against the by laws other than on the Desjardins Trail. The Desjardin Trail opened in 2001 and is a repurposing of the Gardens' service road to the Cootes Paradise Fishway.

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. As a result, hundreds of species of birds use Cootes Paradise at some point during the year, most notably during the spring and autumn migratory periods. Notable species include the least bittern, hooded warbler, white pelican, Caspian tern, black crowned night heron, osprey, pileated woodpecker, and the prothonotary warbler. In 2013 a nesting pair of bald eagles recolonized the marsh on the north shore of Cootes Paradise. This was the first such nest on Lake Ontario in more than 40 years.