General Information

The Willoughby Marsh is located on the outskirts of the city of Niagara Falls and is 232 hectares of protected land. This is a provincially significant wetland containing swamp and marsh communities. This conservation area is home to red, silver and black maple, white, slippery and rock elm. The area provides habitat for a variety of birds, mammals, snakes, frogs, toads and salamanders. The site helps protect the water source of Black, Usher, and Tee Creeks.

Directions

From St. Catharines:

QEW south on the Queen Elizabeth Way towards Fort Erie

Sodom Road exit 16, Niagara Falls

Right on Sodom Road

Right on Sauer Road

Cross Ort and King Roads to arrive at the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority sign designating the Willoughby Marsh Conservation Area

Historical

Willoughby Marsh has historically been located in a rural area where population growth has been low. This area was not developed commercially or residentially however was used for agricultural purposes.

Ecological

The Willoughby Marsh contains self-sustaining blocks of habitat which have distinctive biotic and landform characteristics. It is unique and fragile natural area in the Peninsula and it provides important habitat for a wide variety of wildlife and plant species. It includes a natural hardwood forest (being within the Deciduous forest region of Canada), along with several Carolinian species. The Carolinian forest region is characterized by the abundance of broad-leafed species which represent the northern limit for many trees in the province of Ontario.

Willoughby marsh includes the following species: red oak, white oak, swamp, white oak, black oak, pin oak, sugar maple, black maple, silver maple, red maple, white elm, slippery elm, rock elm, Americam beech, blue beech, hop-hornbeam, shagbark hickory, pignut hickory, red ash, white ash, black cherry, basswood, serviceberry, witch-hazel, yellow birch, speckled alder, domestic apple, black willow, peach-leaf willow, hawthorne, common alder, grey-stemmed dogwood, alternate-leaved dogwood, staghorn sumac, elderberry, arrowhead, tremling aspen, buttonbush, duckweed, potamogeton, cattail, herbs, grasses and sedges.

recreational Uses

Hiking

Hunting

  This page was prepared by Megan Scott in December 2009