Petrie Island

Last updated

Petrie Island
Turtle Pond, Petrie Island Park.jpg
Turtle Pond
Location Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Coordinates 45°30′02″N75°29′39″W / 45.50056°N 75.49417°W / 45.50056; -75.49417 Coordinates: 45°30′02″N75°29′39″W / 45.50056°N 75.49417°W / 45.50056; -75.49417
Area323 ha (800 acres)
Governing body City of Ottawa

Petrie Island is an island of parkland and recreational areas situated in the Ottawa River in the eastern part of the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The island has several nearby islands and the general collection of islands is also called Petrie Island.

The islands were formed from clay and sand that was deposited following the end of the last ice age. The area incorporates provincially significant wetlands and wooded areas that provide habitat for plants, animals and birds, especially during spring and fall migration. Extensive flooding occurs during the spring. The size of the islands was reduced when water levels were raised by the hydroelectric dam at Carillon.

The island was named after a local landowner Captain Archibald Petrie, an early inhabitant of Cumberland Township. In 1955, Donat Grandmaître purchased the island and set up a sand and gravel extraction facility. The island is now owned by the City of Ottawa [1] and incorporates the Grandmaitre Ecological Reserve, the Bill Holland Trail, the Al Tweddle Picnic Area, the Friends of Petrie Island Interpretive Centre, and Stuemer Park. [2] [3] Stuemer Park was named after an Ottawa family who sailed from Petrie Island around the world, returning to Petrie to complete their voyage. [4]

The Petrie Island Park area is classified as Significant Wetlands by the province of Ontario, [5] which defines it as an Area of Natural and Scientific Interest. One of the last relatively natural environments on the Ontario side of the Ottawa River below the nation’s capital, the archipelago features a Carolinian deciduous swamp forest, possibly the only one in Eastern Canada north of Toronto. Seasonal flooding, extensive sand deposits, abundant water plants and thin but fertile soils have helped maintain a variety of life not found in many other places and its habitats are extremely rich. There are several species of turtles, some rare, and well over 130 species of birds have been identified at Petrie. There are also provincially rare plants, including stands of hackberry trees. There is a network of trails through a nature preserve, and a small interpretive center, both maintained by volunteers. There is also a restaurant which is open during the warmer seasons.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa River</span> River in Canada

The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border between these two provinces. It is a major tributary of the St. Lawrence River and the longest river in Quebec.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Pelee National Park</span> National park of Canada in Ontario

Point Pelee National Park is a national park in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, Canada where it extends into Lake Erie. The word pelée is French for 'bald'. Point Pelee consists of a peninsula of land, mainly of marsh and woodland habitats, that tapers to a sharp point as it extends into Lake Erie. Middle Island, also part of Point Pelee National Park, was acquired in 2000 and is just north of the Canada–United States border in Lake Erie. Point Pelee is the southernmost point of mainland Canada, and is located on a foundation of glacial sand, silt and gravel that bites into Lake Erie. This spit of land is slightly more than seven kilometres long by 4.5 kilometres (2.8 mi) wide at its northern base. Established in 1918, Point Pelee was the first national park in Canada to be established for conservation. It was designated as a Ramsar site on 27 May 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Point, Ontario</span> Community of Norfolk County, Ontario, Canada

Long Point is a sand spit and medium-sized hamlet on the north shore of Lake Erie, part of Norfolk County in the province of Ontario, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alvar</span> Limestone-based biological environment

An alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants. Most alvars occur either in northern Europe or around the Great Lakes in North America. This stressed habitat supports a community of rare plants and animals, including species more commonly found on prairie grasslands. Lichen and mosses are common species. Trees and bushes are absent or severely stunted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwick Beach State Park</span> State park in Jefferson County, New York

Southwick Beach State Park is a New York State park that lies along an unusual stretch of sandy beach on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario. The park is 464 acres (188 ha) in size with a 3,500 foot (1,100 m) length of beach, and is visited annually by about 100,000 people. Immediately to the south is the Lakeview Wildlife Management Area, which extends the publicly accessible beach by several miles. They are in the Town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County, New York south of the lakeside community of Jefferson Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Presqu'ile Provincial Park</span> Ontario park

Presqu'ile Provincial Park is a park in southeastern Northumberland County on the north shore of Lake Ontario near the town of Brighton in Ontario, Canada. The park occupies an area of 9.37 km2 (3.62 sq mi). The name of the park is the French word for peninsula, or literally "almost island", and was believed to be named by Samuel De Champlain on his second expedition. The peninsula was formed when a limestone island was connected to the mainland by a sand spit; this kind of formation is referred to as a tombolo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orleans, Ontario</span> Suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Orleans is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the east end of the city along the Ottawa River, about 16 km (10 mi) from Downtown Ottawa. The Canada 2021 Census determined that Orléans' population was 125,937. Prior to being amalgamated into Ottawa in 2001, the community of Orléans was spread over two municipal jurisdictions, the eastern portion being in the pre-amalgamation City of Cumberland, the western portion in the City of Gloucester. According to the 2021 census, 75,453 people lived in the Cumberland portion of Orleans, while 50,484 people lived in the Gloucester portion. Today, Orléans spans the municipal wards of Orléans, Innes, and Cumberland. Orléans contains a significant francophone population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mer Bleue Bog</span>

Mer Bleue Bog is a 33.43 km2 (12.91 sq mi) protected area in Gloucester, Ontario, an eastern suburb of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Canada. Its main feature is a sphagnum bog that is situated in an ancient channel of the Ottawa River and is a remarkable boreal-like ecosystem normally not found this far south. Stunted black spruce, tamarack, bog rosemary, blueberry, and cottongrass are some of the unusual species that have adapted to the acidic waters of the bog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rondeau Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario

Rondeau Provincial Park is the second oldest provincial park in Ontario, Canada, having been established with an order in council on 8 September 1894. The park is located in Southwestern Ontario, on an 8 km long crescentic sand spit extending into Lake Erie. Rondeau is home to the largest area of Carolinian forest in Canada, a long sand beach, a large marsh, approximately half of Rondeau Bay, campgrounds and a cottage community. The name of the park comes from the French words "ronde eau" or "round water" which describes the shape of the harbour sheltered by the peninsula.

Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) is headquartered in Burlington owning extensive environmental protection areas, historic sites and culturally relevant gardens in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the major tourist attractions between Niagara Falls and Toronto, as well as a significant local and regional horticultural, education, conservation, and scientific resource. The mandate is derived by a Provincial Act of 1941 centred on human interaction with the natural world and protection of environmentally significant lands that form the western tip of Lake Ontario. Royal Botanical Gardens spans an area of about 10 km by 4 km, dominated by two coastal wetlands, and glacial-carved landscapes that extend from the lake up to the Niagara Escarpment plateau. The various gardens and natural areas are accessed through nine public entrance locations. It is one of several Prescribed Public Bodies listed under the Ontario Heritage Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Awenda Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario, Canada

Awenda Provincial Park is a provincial park in Tiny Township, Simcoe County in Central Ontario, Canada, located on a peninsula jutting into Georgian Bay north of Penetanguishene. The park occupies an area of 2,915 hectares and was established in 1975. It is classified as a Natural Environment Park and therefore all land is protected.

Cootes Paradise is a property of the Royal Botanical Gardens at the western end of Lake Ontario, and a remnant of the larger 3700 acre Dundas Marsh Crown Game Preserve established by the Province of Ontario in 1927. It is a 600 hectare environmental protection and education area, dominated by a 4.5km 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rouge National Urban Park</span> National urban park in Ontario, Canada

Rouge National Urban Park is a national urban park in Ontario, Canada. The park is centred around the Rouge River and its tributaries in the Greater Toronto Area. The southern portion of the park is situated around the mouth of river in Toronto, and extends northwards into Markham, Pickering, Uxbridge, and Whitchurch-Stouffville.

Hay Swamp is a provincially significant wetland complex, 1839 hectares in size, located in parts of the central land areas of the municipalities of Bluewater and South Huron, in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Approximately 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) in length and 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) in width, at its widest point; it consists of 15 extensively forested individual wetlands, situated on either side, of sections of both the upper drainage of the Ausable River and its tributary, Black Creek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westmeath Provincial Park</span> Provincial Park in Westmeath, Ontario

Westmeath Provincial Park is a provincial park on the Ottawa River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located on the section of the river known as Bellows Bay, it features a long sandy beach and an active sandspit. It is one of the most pristine sand dune and wetland complexes along the southern Ottawa River.

The Truganina Coastal Parklands are located 15 km west of Melbourne CBD, on the shores of Port Phillip Bay, stretching from Altona to Altona Meadows and adjacent to the Cheetham Wetlands and the Point Cook Coastal Park. They were formed through the 'recycling' of more than 300 hectares of parks and former industrial land and are now the largest cluster of parks on Port Phillip Bay, interlinked by cycling and walking trails and featuring a surprisingly high diversity and abundance of landscapes, natural environment and recreational areas, including beachside recreation, picnic & barbecue facilities, grassfields and wildlife conservation areas. The wetlands form part of the Cheetham and Altona Important Bird Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burnt Lands alvar</span>

The Burnt Lands is an alvar between Almonte and Ottawa near Upper Huntley, Ontario, Canada. It probably obtained its name from one of the forest fires that swept the area during early European settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mixedwood Plains Ecozone (Canada)</span>

The Mixedwood Plains Ecozone is the Canadian ecozone with the most southern extent, covering all of southwestern Ontario, and parts of central and northeastern Ontario and southern Quebec along the Saint Lawrence River. It was originally dominated by temperate deciduous forest growing mostly on limestone covered by glacial till. It is the smallest ecozone in Canada, but it includes the country's most productive industrial and commercial region, and is home to nearly half of Canada's population, including its two largest cities, Toronto, Ontario and Montreal, Quebec. Hence, little of the original forest cover remains, making protection of the remaining forests a high conservation priority. This ecozone includes two regions described by J.S. Rowe in his classic Forest Regions of Canada: the entire Deciduous Forest Region, and the southern portions of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest Region. In the province of Ontario, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources maps this area as Site Regions 6E and 7E.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carp Hills</span> Landform in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The Carp Hills are a small range of rocky hills between the shallow valleys of the Carp River and Constance Creek, entirely within the West Carleton-March Ward of Canada's capital, Ottawa, Ontario. It runs roughly from Kinburn Side Road southeast to the village of Carp and the South March Highlands at March Road.

Sturgeon Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba, Canada. The park is considered to be a Class Ib protected area under the IUCN protected area management categories. It is 144.9 km2 (55.9 sq mi) in size.

References