Central Welland River Watershed Plan - Niagara Peninsula ...

CENTRAL WELLAND RIVER WATERSHED PLANponds are lined with Green Ash dominated Deciduous Swamp communities. Theprovincially rare Black Gum grows on the margins of the Green Ash swamps. Patchesof similar habitat also occurs throughout this study site in other low lying areas.The higher knolls adjacent to the sloughs support Deciduous Forest communitiescharacterized by Red Oak and Sugar Maple. The canopy is generally very high.More open areas with deeper standing water supported Rice Cut-grass MeadowMarshes and the deepest pockets, or middle of some slough ponds supportedDuckweed Shallow Aquatic pools with deep organic accumulations.Moist sections in the shade of the forest canopy without much standing water werecommonly Spotted Touch-me-not dominated communities. Disturbed areas are beingovertaken with Purple Loosestrife and Moneywort. There are a total of 128 recorded taxafor this study site.Name: Atlas Swamp / WetlandsSite ID: WE-03-00-00-00-00Municipality: City of WellandSize: 42 hectaresSubwatershed: Welland River between CanalsGeneral Summary: The study site is bound on the north and west by a rail line thatruns north east to south west. The southern boundary is East Main Street and theeastern boundary is the Welland Canal.Summary: The Deciduous Swamp communities noted for this study site weredominated by Red Maple, Pin Oak or Green Ash, with White Elm and/or Swamp WhiteOak. The understory was generally a mix of the above plus Blue Beech with SpottedTouch-me-nots, Canada Enchanter‟s Nightshade, White Avens, Rough Avens, Asters,and Goldenrods. The drier knolls or, suite of small moraine ridges (Menzies J., 2001)separated by slough ponds or wet depressions, supported high quality Oak-Mapleforests.Between the small moraine ridges, slight slough depressions supported wet areas ofRed Maple Swamp co-dominated by Pin Oak, and occasionally Red Oak, rooted onareas with slightly raised microtopography. Other deeper sloughs and youngerregenerating forested swamp/successional areas supported swamps of Pin Oak.The deepest slough ponds, too wet to sustain tree species, most commonly supportedThicket Swamps dominated by Buttonbush with open water pockets ringed withButtonbush, Rice Cut Grass, Star Duckweed and Bladderwort sp. or Pondweed.Buttonbush in some areas reached heights of 3-5m and looked almost tree-like. BlackGum was present in places around the rich and diverse Buttonbush thicket swamps.There are a total of 236 recorded taxa for this study site.Name: Welland River / Merrit IslandSite ID: WE-04-00-00-00-00Municipality: City of WellandSize: 73 hectaresSubwatershed: Welland River between CanalsGeneral Summary: This study site is located within Welland between the old and newWelland Canal; south of where the two merge and dissected by the Welland River. Itincludes a property owned by the City of Welland known locally as Merritt Island.55