Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System partners and neighbouring landowners are working together to identify and improve ecological corridors in one of Canada’s most biodiverse and urbanized regions.

This page is a knowledge hub for near-urban ecological connectivity. Learn about EcoPark System partner-led projects that are creating safe wildlife passages and habitats, understand how our efforts contribute to ecological connectivity across Southern Ontario, and explore resources and case studies from across the globe.

Ecological Connectivity

No one wants to see wildlife unable to cross a highway to get to a wetland or migrating birds with no trees to rest in along their flight.

Ecological corridors support the movement of species between a park and surrounding natural areas, allowing them to interact and find habitat. They also allow other natural processes, like pollination, to occur across the broader landscape while giving people the opportunity to responsibly develop liveable communities that co-exist with nature and give it the best chance to thrive. 

“A clearly defined geographical space where governance, management, and stewardship over the long term maintain or restore effective ecological connectivity while upholding Indigenous stewardship values”
— Parks Canada Agency

the Canadian Council on Ecological Areas published a policy brief and report on the governance models, legislative and policy contexts, capacity needs, and case studies for connectivity conservation programs in Canada

The Canadian Connectivity Toolbox contains resources (e.g., policies, guidance, best practices, case studies, analytical programs, etc.) to help all levels of government, land managers and landowners advance connectivity conservation throughout the country. This Toolbox focuses on resources that are relevant to Canada and provides links to other excellent sources of information.

Near-Urban Spaces in the Greater Golden Horseshoe
and the
Niagara Escarpment to Georgian Bay National
Priority Area for Ecological Corridors

Nature is not just in remote places. It is right here, all around us. The Greater Golden Horseshoe (GGH) region has some of the most ecologically important areas in Canada, which provide essential ecosystem services to 70% of Ontarians, several First Nation Communities, and 10 million residents. It includes large and fast-growing cities like Hamilton, Kitchener, Guelph and Barrie, and the west side of Toronto, the most densely populated urban area in Canada.

Supporting nature includes implementing policy and creating infrastructure in and around cities that allow animals and plants to thrive, instead of cutting them off from habitat. There are ecologically important areas within and around the roughly 30% of natural cover that remains in the GGH. This includes the 7,000 km2 Greenbelt, a legislative effort to conserve connectivity near urbanized areas. The Greenbelt protects natural heritage and water resource systems that stretch across public, private, and agricultural lands, and into cities through urban river valleys, including portions of the Niagara Escarpment. A UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the Niagara Escarpment is a long narrow geological feature that provides important pathways for species migrating with the changing climate.

Parks Canada has identified portions of the Escarpment and Greenbelt as being a part of the “Niagara Escarpment to Georgian Bay” National Priority Area for Ecological Corridors.  Starting at the western tip of Lake Ontario in the City of Hamilton, the priority area extends northwest to the town of Collingwood and wraps around Georgian Bay to Parry Sound.

Biodiversity within the “Niagara Escarpment to Georgian Bay” Priority Area has been subject to intense urban, recreational and agricultural development pressures. A network of transportation and utility corridors including railways, roads and highways bisect this area contributing to landscape fragmentation. Remaining habitats are at risk of further fragmentation and loss from continued development. Climate connectivity models indicate this priority area is a significant climate corridor for wildlife in southern Ontario due to the north-south alignment of the Escarpment. Wildlife shifting their ranges north to find suitable habitats because of climate change may rely on climate corridors in this priority area.

The Southern Ontario Nature Coalition published a report outlining how a near-urban nature network can address climate change and biodiversity loss in the GGH

Parks Canada launched a National Program for Ecological Corridors. The program identifies national priority areas for ecological corridors, criteria for ecological corridors, how Indigenous community leadership is supported though ecological corridors, and example projects

Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System

Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System partner owned and neighbouring private lands fall within the last area without major infrastructure between Lake Ontario coastal wetlands to the Niagara Escarpment. This checker board of publicly and privately owned lands fall within Dundas Valley to Cootes Paradise Key Biodiversity Area, with several nature heritage core areas and linkages identified in the City of Hamilton and Halton Region's Official Plans. Studies conducted between 2021 and 2024 reveal a connected landscape within and between partner owned lands.

Partner owned properties fall within the Greenbelt and include Provincial Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSIs) like Cootes Paradise Marsh, and other federally and provincially recognized critical habitat. Nationally significant populations of American Columbo, Bashful Clubrush, Jefferson Salamander, and Blanding’s turtle call these lands home.  

EcoPark System partners are using the Omniscape Impact tool to assess the impact of habitat restoration on future ecological connectivity

Collaborating for Success

Removing invasive species in critical habitats along the Niagara Escarpment
(Bruce Trail Conservancy, City of Burlington, Halton Region, and Conservation Halton)

Protecting Jefferson Salamander Migration
(Conservation Halton, City of Burlington)

Jefferson Salamanders, critically endangered species only found along the Niagara Escarpment, migrate between wetlands along the escarpment. The City of Burlington and Conservation Halton partner to close a major impediment to the Jefferson Salamander lifecycle – King Road. This road closure give the Jeferson Salamander an opportunity to find mates and partner have a full lifecycle.

  • RCGS story

  • https://www.burlington.ca/en/news/king-road-closed-to-protect-endangered-salamander-annual-migration.aspx

Installing wildlife barriers to reduce turtle road-mortality
(RBG, City of Burlington, City of Hamilton)

EcoPark System partner owned and managed wetlands are home to critically endangered species of turtles, like the Blanding’s Turtle. Since 2023, RBG has been installing fencing to reduce road mortality at key hotspots. These barriers along with already installed culverts are providing safe passage for not only turtles, but amphibians and others.

  • https://cootestoescarpmentpark.ca/blog/local-ecological-corridors-and-turtle-populations-in-the-cootes-to-escarpment-ecopark-system

Working with landowners to create Riparian corridors
(Conservation Halton)

Conservation Halton is leading efforts to build relationships with private landowners along Grindstone Creek. The Creek is a critical corridors that extends to the escarpment. Projects include invasive removal, native plantings along riparian corridors, and LID installations.

Researching conservation corridors
(McMaster University, Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, Hamilton Conservation Authority)

The McMaster Research and Conservation Corridor is made up of both land and creek connections (two major tributaries being, Ancaster Creek and Sulphur Springs Creek), with only 4 ecological barriers being present along the corridor. All four ecological barriers are roads and include Old Ancaster Road, Lower Lions Club Road, Osler Drive, and Cootes Drive. Other negative ecological impacts on the corridor include invasive species, land encroachment and dumping, water quality impairments, and watercourse obstructions to fish movement. There is currently residential development and roads bordering almost the entire perimeter of the corridor, which poses issues to animal migration/movement.

Permanently Protecting Lands in Pleasant View
(Hamilton Naturalists’ Club, RBG, Conservation Halton)

This is the last without major infrastructure between Lake Ontario headwaters that connects to the Escarpment. Since 2007, Conservation Halton, RBG, and the Hamilton Naturalists’ Club have secured XX hectares to support connectivity.

  • Story?

Traditional Ecological Knowledge Summit
(McMaster University, Six Nations)

D?dwasnyeha` Dwano:ha` Ohw?jade “We Will Take Care of Mother Earth” Traditional Ecological Knowledge Summit will guide and inform ecological restoration. The goal is to promote dialogue between conservationists and Indigenous people. We are developing ways Indigenous ecological knowledge can lead, inform and shape conservation policy and practice. Six Nations of the Grand River has been engaged in efforts to achieve health and well-being that is directly tied to healthy ecosystems that they are apart of. The environmental degradation is manifesting in Indigenous communities through proxies such as deteriorating the natural world. It is our goal to learn from leading local and international experts in the field of Indigenous conservation. The Hadenosaunee has always understood that humans and their environment are inextricably linked. By co-creating contemporary management systems, technologies, and bi-lateral governance structures that engage in cultural practices and worldviews are proven to be the most resilient (UN IPCC 2022). The Summit will highlight innovative approaches, develop a strategy that incorporates Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing and advance knowledge mobilization and engagement. By engaging with local Indigenous students, administrators, educators, knowledge holders and conservationists, we will initiate a new era of reconciliation through land restoration and sustainability that will benefit all involved

Partner Success Stories

Landowner Storymap