I was here to celebrate the late Jim Tovey's dream of creating a 26-hectare park and marsh on Mississauga's Lake Ontario shore that will connect the Waterfront Trail with Lake Ontario's shorefront for the public. Several dozen photographs that documented the annual and seasonal changes of the developing marsh occupied the spacious hall. The glow of evening sunlight streamed through, touching large photographs that hung from the high ceilings or were mounted on walls. Some photographs spanned over 2 by 3 metres.
The Morphology 2019 Photography Exhibit is the third year of celebrating this morphing natural landscape through the photography of eleven creative photo artists. The opening day of Morphology 2019 was celebrated with a blessing by Cathie Jamieson, Councillor Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation. Lee Tovey spoke as did members of the contributing partners and Mayor Bonnie Crombie of the City of Mississauga.
The shores of Lake Ontario were once quilted in rich wetlands: shingle bar marshes at stream and river mouths (e.g. Rattray Marsh); fringing and broad wetlands such as lacustrine open shoreline wetlands; unrestricted bay marshes and connected channel marshes. Marshes, bogs, fens, and swamps lined the lake in a network of biodiverse ecotones that provided functional buffers between the open lake and the terrestrial ecosystem.
Restoration and protection of wetlands on the shores of the lake has begun and is ongoing (e.g., the 26-hectare Jim Tovey Lakeview Conservation Area; 22-hectare swamp/marsh of the Don River mouth). The trend of wetland loss, however, continues. Ducks Unlimited reports that, prior to a 1987, information on Lake Ontario's wetlands has been fragmented and inconsistent. No one really knew what was there and in what condition. Prior to European settlement (c. 1800), over two million hectares of wetland was thought to exist in Southern Ontario; by 2002, only 560,000 ha remained—a reduction of over two-thirds. Not surprisingly, the greatest loss occurred in the Niagara and Toronto areas, where over 85% of the original wetlands were destroyed and replaced by built-up land and impervious surfaces.
"Wetlands located in coastal areas of the Great Lakes are especially at risk due to high development pressure in urban areas, and stresses such as lake-wide water level regulation. Conservation policies and initiatives now exist throughout the Great Lakes basin to limit further wetland losses, and restore lost area and functions. However, conservation remains an uphill battle as losses continue," says the Great Lakes Fact Sheet. Many species of marsh birds and amphibians are experiencing declines throughout the Great Lakes basin. There are many reasons for the declines – the most ongoing and detrimental is loss of habitat. For amphibians and many birds, a loss of wetlands is a loss of their food and shelter, as well as vital sites for nesting and hibernation. Draining and filling of wetlands and removal of shoreline vegetation and tree cover poses a major threat to wetland integrity and the wildlife that depend on them.
Marshes are the most common type of coastal wetlands. Marshes are periodically or continually flooded wetlands characterized by non-woody emergent vegetation that is adapted to living in shallow water or moisture-saturated soils. They were the most prevalent wetland along the Lake Ontario shore since their vegetation tolerates—in fact requires—the large short- and long-term fluctuations in water levels that occur in the Great Lakes.
Rattray Marsh is a rare gem on the Lake Ontario shoreline. One of the last natural 'shingle-bar' (baymouth bar coastal) marshes along Lake Ontario and the last remaining lakefront marsh between Toronto and Burlington, Rattray Marsh is a Credit Valley Conservation (CVC) park of pristine 94-acre protected cobble beach, wetland and associated field and woodland. The marsh connects to The Great Lakes Waterfront Trail, which extends 325 km along Lake Ontario's shoreline from Trenton to Hamilton.
A 1996 report on coastal wetlands of the Great Lakes provides a comprehensive background to the ecology and impacts to existing wetlands along the Great Lakes. The report determined that major impacts imposed by human interference include: drainage (via ditches and dikes) for agriculture, urban and industrial land use; filling and dredging in urban areas (most of Toronto area) to convert wetland into housing, commercial and industrial use; dredging and channeling for boats, marinas and harbours; shoreline modification to prevent flooding (and erosion) through groins, dikes, revetments and breakwalls along the shore; road crossings; water level regulation; increased sediment loads; nutrient enrichment; toxic chemicals; introduction of non-native species; and climate change.
Engineers and city infrastructure planners are only now realizing the important functions of coastal wetlands in flood protection, shoreline stabilization, groundwater recharge and stream flow maintenance, water storage, and water purification. But wetlands do far more than this. Wetlands shelter and feed thousands of different plants and animals, including many that are threatened and endangered—this is no surprise, given that most endangered species have this designation because of habitat destruction. Lake Ontario marshes are potential hot spots for migratory birds and butterflies that travel up and down the North American continent between Canada and Mexico.
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