The Bill Mason Centre is Classified as a Class 1 wetlands under the by Ministry of Natural Resources and a Special Features land by the City of Ottawa.
It is 31 hectares (77 acres) of land that emcompasses three different type of ecosystems, fresh water marshes, forest land and meadows. The Bill Mason centre is a basin type marsh land. In the spring the winter run off collects here creating a perfect ecosystem. The Bill Mason Centre Wetlands also acts as a natural water filtration for well systems for agricultural farming and household use in the nearby area of Constance Bay.
About 20,000 to 11,000 years ago, the Ottawa-Gatineau area was covered with a large ice sheet, better known as glaciers.
In the Bill Mason area, you may notice a couple of boulders, known as erratics that were left behind by glaciers.
The weight of the ice sheet left a depression in the land surface. The glaciers started retreating about 12,000 years ago. The Atlantic Ocean that once flooded the Otawa valley, formed the Champlain Sea. As the drepressed land rose, the sea receded, leaving what is now know as the Ottawa Valley about 10,000 years ago.
Today's Ottawa River evolved as area adjust to the retreat of the Champlain Sea. About 10,000 to 8000 years ago, the Ottawa River was much larger that the current day river as we know it. The Bill Mason Centre's wetland area was one of the depressions that the Ottawa River and Champlain sea receeded from and has been filled from winter meltoff and rain run off.
What is a wetland?
The definition of a wetland is a land that is saturated with water long enough to promote wetland of aquatic processes as indicated by poorly drained soils, hydrophytic vegetation (a plant that grows partly or wholly in water whether rooted in the mud, as a lotus, or floating without anchorage) and various kinds of biological activity which are adapted to a wet environment.
Wetlands have many different habitats, which include ponds, marshes, swamp and peatlands. These areas, where land and water meet, are wet for a significant part of the year. Temporally being flooded each day with tidal marshes or filled seasonally with winter from melting snow.
Plants and animals in a wetland are both types of habitats, land and water, making them highly productive environments. Ecotones is what a wetland is described as, transitions between different habitats, with characteristics of both aquatic and land ecosystems.
They are most commonly found along shorelines and as local depressions. The Bill Mason centre is located near the Ottawa River and is a depression in the land.
Natural wetlands come from tidal flows, lakes, flooding rivers or connections to groundwater. Water is at or near the surface and land is mostly covered with shallow water.
Wetlands filter out sediment and pollution from surround environment, resulting in cleaner water coming out of it. The water passes through several layers of sediments, for example silt &clay (aquifers, an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials), sand & gravel (aquitards, a bed of low permeability along an aquifer), bedrock and shale. Debris, toxins and other materials are filtered out of the water and can be usefully extracted to be used as well water for agricutural and rural purposes.
Flood Control
When rivers, lakes, ponds or oceans swell with either meltoff or tidal overflow, the excess water is gradually transferred to groundwater reserves in a wetland, instead of flowing overland. Development (construction of buildings, roads, etc.) of some areas has caused some wetlands to no long exist. When larger water sources (oceans, lake or rivers) rise and overflow, there is nowhere for the water to go, except into overland areas, causing damage to homes, roads, buildings and farmlands. Dams and dykes have been built in order to control flooding. However, communities are realizing the value of wetlands and are either trying to preserve or attempt to restore them to reduce damage from rising water levels.
Erosion Control
Plants reduce erosive forces and their roots trap sediments, preventing the loss of valuable land. Aquatic plants reduce the energy that is created by waves, currents and other forces. Tree roots are more in abundance and hold onto a larger amount of wetland sediment that aquatic plants. If these areas are developed by construction, the erosion can happen quicker and many properties may find it washed away after a storm.
Nutrient Retention and Export
Wetlands retain nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, the the accumulation in subsoil or storage in vegetation. The Wetlands remove nutrients from water, preventing nutrient overloading, eutrophication, therefore it improves water quality, and act as a source, returning nutrients to their surroundings. Nitrates are converted to nitrogen gas and returned to the atmosphere. Wetlands function as carbon sinks, which accumulate carbon as organic matter without releasing it as carbon dioxide.
Aesthetics Value
A wide array of vegetation and wildlife are found in wetlands which are one of the most beautiful environments. The Bill Mason centre wetland and wetlands in general have a natural beauty and diversity, which make them ideal for educational tools to enlighten people about the value of nature and wildlife. We must preserve these precious lands or else the organisms that live within them will disappear.
Human Threats
Unfortunately, to many, Wetlands are considered wastelands. For a long time, wetlands were considered as obstacles that impede residential development and reducing the amount of available land for agriculture. Their destruction has caused the near extinction of many plants, birds and other wildlife which thrive in these habitats. Wetlands that have been modified, tampered with, or had excessive development has threatened the lives of hundreds of thousands of humans, through increased flooding, droughts, and water contamination. Attempts at enhancing existing wetlands have failed. Wetlands are highly dynamic and a change in water level or rainfall can change plant and animal populations.
Classifications
There is a wide variety of wetlands, ranging greatly in genesis, geographical location, water regime, chemistry and plant communities. The National Wetlands Working Group developed a classification system in 1988 to describe the Wetlands in Canada. This system classifies wetlands on the basis of their biotic (meaning of or related to life, are living factors. Plants, animals, fungi, protist and bacteria are all biotic or living factors) and abiotic (meaning not alive, are nonliving factors that affect living organisms. Environmental factors such habitat (pond, lake, ocean, desert, mountain) or weather such as temperature, cloud cover, rain, snow, hurricanes, etc. are abiotic factors) characteristics. It recognizes five main classes of wetlands in Canada: Bogs, Fens, Marches, Swamps and Shallow Open Waters. Each of these is further divided into wetland forms, based on surface morphology, landform drainage and proximity to water bodies. Each form is further broken down into different wetland types based upon vegetation morphology.
Bogs: The most common type of wetland in northern Canada. In the Arctic and Subarctic regions are where they are most in abundance. Bogs are actually most common in the northern hemisphere that was previously glacial areas. Peat accumulations in bogs are quite high, greater than 40 cm, with high water tables and plants/vegetation that are partial to acidity. The water in a bog is stagnant and unproductive environments, because there is no inflow or outflow of the water. Thirty-five percent of the world's peatlands are located in Canada. There is floating vegetation that looks like solid ground in a bog. However, if you walk on this surface, you would most likely break through and fall into a pit of water. More than 2000 years ago in a Danish bog, human sacrifice victims were buried there. In 1950, a victim was found with his clothes and hair intact. This would indicate that the process of decay is slowed in these environments.
Fens: A type of peatland that are similar to bogs as they contain the same height of peat. However, they support a marsh-like vegetation includes sedges and wildflowers. Fens are found throughout Canada and are also common in arctic and subarctic regions as well. The difference between a fen and a bog are the water chemistry, flora and hydrology (the movement and distribution of water through the earth)
Swamps: Mostly associated with bodies of fresh water (streams, rivers, lakes) that has water flowing through it. Often they are confused with marshes, but are have trees and shrubs. The soils are saturated and flooded for most, if not all of the growing season. In Canada, swamps are mainly found on Vancouver Island, the souther Pacific Coast and Great Lakes area.
Marshes: The most common type of wetland in North America. Frequently and/or continually flooded, characterized by emergent herbaceous vegetation (a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level) adapted to saturated soil conditions, water flows and the change and soils rich in minerals. Also contains shallow water that very from 15 to 90 cm in depth. Islands of vegetation are often present and stretches of open water are uncommon. They are separated into saltwater and freshwater types. Salt marshes are found along the coasts of North America, while freshwater types are mainly found inland. Main freshwater marsh areas in Canada are the prairie potholes and the Great Lakes marshes. Coastal salt marshes lie along Hudson and James Bay, as well as the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coastlines.
Shallow Open Waters: Small bodies of standing or gently flowing water that represent a transitional stage between lakes and marshes. Varying greatly in physical and chemical composition. Mid-Summer depth is less that 2mm and open expanses of water comprise at least 75% of the area. Different types of shallow open water wetlands include ponds, pools, oxbows and channels. The surface is usually free of any vegetation with the exception of aquatic macrophytes (an aquatic plant that grows in or near water and is either emergent, submergent, or floating). Unlike lakes, the water temperature in shallow open waters is uniform, lacking any formation or deposition of layers, as of rock or sediments.
Wetland Forms: A second classification level developed by the National Wetlands Working Group. Dependant upon the surface morphopology of the wetland (flast, raised, sloping), the presence of any patterns (ridges, nets, polygons), the position in the landscape (valley, delta, basin), the tidal effects and proximity to bodies of water. It reflects the differences caused by certain environmental factors, including where the water comes from (rain, groundwater flow and water bodies), different peat development and permafrost (palsas and polygons). Currently the five wetland classes have been separated into 70 types of forms, which includes 18 bog forms, 17 fen forms, 15 marsh forms, 7 swamp forms and 13 shallow open water forms.
I hope you enjoy your visit to the Bill Mason Centre, I know I have and will continue to do so in the future.
Take nothing, but pictures, leave nothing, but footsteps.
Please remember to practice Cache In Trash Out (CITO).
Your tasks for logging this earthcache, e-mail me the answer to the following questions:
1. Using the southern most boardwalk and your GPS, measure the distance of the water from land to land.
2. Estimate the length and width of the "Vanishing Pond" ( N 45° 26.202 W 076° 01.610)
3. Measure the distance between the two rocks (N 45° 26.354 W 076° 01.420)
3a. What is the primary colour of the rocks?
3b. What is growing on them?
4. Post a picture of yourself on one of the boardwalks with the bog behind you.
5. Post a picture of either wildlife or a single vegetation found in the area.
Cache is placed and maintained by a member of:
