RESTORE COOTES

What do all these people have in common? They've taken the guided tour of west campus with Restore Cootes! Be like them and come out Friday at 12:30 PM to tour the remnants of Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary, McMaster Parking Lot M depaved, Ancaster/Coldwater Creek, and other sites of historical and research interest. Register here:  http://bit.ly/waterweekwalk2017

Guest Blogger: Carly Stephens  S ince its inception, Parking to Paradise has been a platform for interdisciplinary collaboration. Many readers are familiar with the Ancaster Creek riparian buffer and restoration work along the Northwest border of the parking lot. Interested parties across many faculties and disciplines have worked together to restore this ecosystem and raise awareness about the impacts urbanization on the natural environment. Nurtured by the time, commitment and hard work donated by volunteers and students, the land has grown into a site of green infrastructure, ecosystem restoration, and sustainable development. Read about Reyna Matties' Master’s work on retrofitting storm water management systems on the lot in the December 7, 2015 post below . Now, it’s the social sciences turn to learn where green infrastructure developments - as with the case of Lot M - fits into our social world. Students build turtle habitat on buffer My research involves exploring...

Guest blogger: Reyna Matties  Urbanization displaces and degrades ecosystems that are critical for humans, animals, and plants. Sustainable urban development has become a priority in the challenge to re-design our ageing infrastructure. Working to coexist peacefully with the surrounding environment will increase sustainability. As a graduate student of Biology at McMaster University, I am studying the applied ecology and hydrology of a parking lot system (Lot M). Ancaster Creek, a rare cold-water ecosystem, runs along Lot M and is part of an essential wildlife corridor for native species such as salmon, turtle, and deer. Together with Dr. Susan Dudley, I am working to retrofit the stormwater management of the system to minimize the impact of contaminants and runoff into the creek. One method of achieving this goal is through increasing and restoring the land next to the creek. This is called a riparian buffer, which protects the system by providing habitat for animals, incre...

Well, the mystery of Binkley's Pond has been well solved, which is what happens when history gets a hand from Geography and Earth Science expert in hydrology Dr. Mike Waddington of McMaster. Here (above) is his mapping using a 2014 aerial photo and showing the original stream channel of Ancaster Creek in blue, the current channel in pink, and in green, the location of Binkley's pond. McMaster students in Dr. Waddington's class will be doing hands-on research in this area to gather more data about the hydrological history of this rare cold-water creek/habitat. The larger goal is to rescue and rehabilitate sections of the parking lot to recreate cold water marsh, adding to the overall health of the Cootes Paradise region, in a project known as McMarsh. We consider the case of Binkley's Pond a mystery officially solved, case closed! Remnant Binkley's Pond, December 2014

Real signs of life in Lot M this July, as work proceeds on creating the naturalized 30 metre buffer to protect Ancaster Creek from McMaster's parking lot. The pavement was ripped up and fill was placed behind a new concrete curb 30 metres away from the creek. More detailed info to come, but the pictures help to show the new landscape as it takes shape. Hints of the lost natural landscape suggest themselves, but the area remains a filled-in floodplain. It would need a lot more work to ever return to floodplain function, but the McMarsh initiative could be a step in that direction if the University decides to commit fully to the project.

Post by Cars or Cootes? Parking or Paradise? Restore Cootes.

Not sure about the resolution on these scans, but if you look closely you can see the former creek bed east (to the right) of the re-aligned Cold Spring Creek (Ancaster Creek), in preparation for McMaster paving the former Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary for parking lots. The survey is from 1963, the year McMaster managed to buy the valued property from the reluctant Royal Botanical Gardens.

Is this the only info available on the 30 metre naturalized buffer we are waiting for? City of Hamilton Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Tank Spring 2013 City of Hamilton Project Agreement with City of Hamilton has been finalized. Work to proceed in Spring 2013. http://www.mcmaster.ca/mufa/ProjectStatusReport.pdf Cars and Creek will soon be separated, for the betterment of the creek's health

Ancaster Creek, just north of McMaster parking, flowing toward a juncture with Spencer Creek before blending their waters and moving together into Cootes Paradise marsh. This creek has gone by various names over the years, including Red Creek, Coldwater Creek, Coldspring Creek and is usually referred to today as Ancaster Creek. The muddy shores reveal evidence of the creek overflowing it's banks already this spring, a natural and desirable action for specialized floodplain habitat.

Enlarging the Greenbelt along river valleys makes a lot of sense. This recent report from the Greenbelt Alliance includes a look at Hamilton's river valleys, including "Coldwater Creek" AKA Ancaster Creek, and historically Red Creek, and Coldspring Creek. Read their report here  http://greenbeltalliance.ca/sites/default/files/reports/GreenbeltReport2013_FINAL_0.pdf

McMaster student's weekly newspaper the Silhouette published this article on Lot M today: Paradise found: Mac creates an eco buffer zone . (click on link to read article) Coming soon to a riparian zone near you! One part of the otherwise good article stands to be corrected. I'm not sure if I misspoke or if the writer got it wrong, but whatever the case, let me amend this line (as it appeared in the SIL) “You’re kind of left in this one-way vacuum where you don’t get anything back. It goes into this black hole of administration,” he said of his early attempts to get the attention of the President’s Advisory Committee. “I could see that being a barrier, for citizens and other interested people around the campus to get involved.” The quote is correct, but I was referring to the University Planning Committee (UPC), not to the President's Advisory Committee (PAC) without whose help this battle would still be waging. The UPC does not acknowledge receipt of corresponden...

Unpaving paradise McMaster giving up 300 parking spaces for buffer zone near Ancaster Creek The Hamilton Spectator, November 27, 2012 (online version) A McMaster University parking lot will scale back more than 300 spaces to create a 30-metre buffer between the asphalt and a local creek. Parking lot M is located off Cootes Drive next to Ancaster Creek and at present, it can accommodate more than 1,300 vehicles. The move comes after a campus environmental group called Restore Cootes urged university officials to create a naturalized buffer at the lot, because a campus master plan calls for such buffers and the Hamilton Region Conservation Authority requires a 30-metre buffer when new parking lots are constructed. Gord Arbeau, McMaster’s director of public and community relations, says 200 spaces in the same area — previously out of use because of a construction project — will be put back in circulation, lessening the impact of the move. He said more than 1,400 staff and students...

November 26, 2012 MEDIA RELEASE RESTORE COOTES SCALED BACK PARKING MAKES ROOM FOR EXPANDED CREEK BUFFER AT McMASTER A grassroots campaign to enhance the natural habitat and protect the health of Ancaster Creek at McMaster University's west campus parking lot “M” has resulted in the University agreeing to remove parking to allow for the minimum standard of a 30 metre naturalized buffer zone between parking lots and this coldwater creek. While scaling back parking means 318 less parking spaces according to measurements taken by the Hamilton Conservation Authority, a surplus of available parking at peak demand of over 1,000 spaces means no drivers will lose the ability to park on campus. The news comes from a presentation given by university administration to the President's Advisory Committee on Cootes Paradise on Friday, November 9/12, at McMaster University. The 30m campaign began with a letter from Restore Cootes to the University Planning ...

Ancaster Creek, steps from its paved floodplain

Hamilton Conservation Foundation: "If we're going to continue to see storms like Sandy in the coming years we're going to need to increase the resiliency of the natural systems in our watershed."   Lot M is (was) the floodplain for Lower Ancaster Creek What a filled-in paved floodplain looks like (Lot M with Ancaster Creek in foreground) Restore Cootes' advocacy for restoring Lot M into a floodplain is exactly where we need to be going at this turning point in our ecological history. Demographic shifts in transportation away from private automobile use in favour of transit, cycling and walking, combine with the heavy costs to our water resources by damaging storms related to climate change to create the perfect opportunity to get a jump start on a new way of living on earth. Sustainably.

Coldspring Valley Nature Sanctuary trailhead C1960 Join some sleuthing Hamilton-area naturalists as they scour McMaster's west campus for evidence of the late Coldspring Valley. This cold (spring) case dates back to 1964 when the Royal Botanical Gardens nature sanctuary was purchased by McMaster University to feed a projected parking demand for asphalt. McMaster's parking needs were overblown, and instead of 7,000 spaces they thought required by 1980, today they have just over half that number of spaces,  1,000 of these spaces empty at peak demand! Intrepid Investigators will utilize historical records recounting the diverse plants species (written by the RBG's Conservationist in 1961), and utilize a 1959 trail map of system that existed there from 1958-1963. Tracking the difference from 1963 to 2012 will provide insight into ways the valley could be brought back to life, repurposing some of the 1,000 empty spaces into the first phase of a restoration project bei...

Map supplied by the Hamilton Conservation Area shows the entire Lot M parking lot is built on the floodplain of Ancaster Creek (light blue/turquoise colour). Functioning floodplains support a rich diversity of species and are an important part of a healthy ecosystem. McMaster's floodplain was filled in to raise the height of land, then paved for parking in 1969. Floodplains are important enough to us at Restore Cootes that we are actively encouraging McMaster University to develop a plan to reduce parking demand in the long term, while making better use of the 1,000 available spaces outside of Lot M during peak demand. The ultimate and achievable goal is to restore the area to its former function as a floodplain.

"Created in 2002, the ACT Office (All-modes Commuting & Transportation) existed to inspire McMaster faculty, staff and students to bike, hike, take transit and share the ride to campus. In November 2008, the ACT Office transformed into the Office of Sustainability where initiatives relating to sustainable transportation will continue to thrive". http://www.mcmaster.ca/sustainability/alternative_transportation.html  "The university also hired an external consulting firm....the results of which strongly suggested the development of a ...TDM [Transportation Demand Management] scheme. It is unclear whether or not such a scheme was ever created." "Improvements in access to alternative transit and facilities have not been met with the anticipated participation increase due to lack of management policy that discourages driving and rewards modal change"   Jessica S. Becker, "Understanding commuting decisions:  a case study of students and staff...

Ancaster Creek s een from the Binkley Bridge on the Hamilton-Brantford Rail Trail, as it passes through Ancaster/Dundas. A built-up area surrounds this valley with high rises on Main Street West visible in the background, and Dundas neighbourhoods and University Plaza/Osler Drive nearby. Now imagine this same river valley being filled-in to create a huge parking lot for 2,000 cars. It would look something like this: McMaster filled in a wetland for parking in 1969. This environmentally degraded legacy remains with us, but the vision of a restored wetland is very much alive. View one valley, two views in a larger map

“Creating a larger riparian buffer between Ancaster Creek in this area will provide great benefits to the health of Ancaster Creek, its fisheries and its natural ecosystems as well as the overall health of Cootes Paradise and Hamilton Harbour. It would also be an important step toward bringing the University into the process of providing wise and practical solutions to better natural resource management in Hamilton.” (April 2012) Anyone want to guess who we're quoting?