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Oct 23 to 26: Cherry Hill Gate parking lot and trailhead access temporarily closed for the Great Pumpkin Trail event. Partial trail access available via Valley Inn trailhead. The South Bridle Trail and Eastern Grindstone Marsh Trail will be temporarily closed to allow for event setup.

Blog

Midsummer Meadows: Pollinator Monitoring at Princess Point

August 27, 2025

By Mallory Peirce, Senior Terrestrial Ecologist, Royal Botanical Gardens In the heat of a Southern Ontario summer, meadows become a daydream filled with vivid colour. The ...

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Grindstone Marsh Then and Now

August 7, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Grindstone Marsh refers to the marsh at the mouth of Grindstone creek within Royal ...

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Lower Chedoke Remediation: Community Participation

July 9, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Water quality challenges in the southeast corner of Cootes Paradise Marsh—where Chedoke Creek enters—remain ...

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Protecting Our Hemlocks: Slowing the Spread of Hemlock Woolly Adelgid

June 26, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy As the invasive Hemlock Wooly Adelgid (HWA) continues its spread through the region, RBG ...

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Cootes Paradise Marsh Recovery: 2025 Milestone

June 19, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Cootes Paradise Marsh continues its remarkable ecological recovery, taking another major leap forward this ...

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Tree Canopy and Forest Restoration Fund

June 5, 2025

Protecting High-Risk Forests at the Royal Botanical Gardens: How You Can Help As the weather warms, thousands of visitors will head to the Royal Botanical ...

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Spring Floods and Fish Migration and Populations

March 20, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Spring is the most intense month of activity at the Cootes Paradise Fishway as ...

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Invasive Plant Species at RBG and the Fight to Protect Biodiversity

February 25, 2025

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Invasive species are simply defined as any living organism—a worm (such as the Hammerhead ...

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Cootes Paradise: Rebuilding a River Channel with Christmas Trees

November 26, 2024

Cootes Paradise: Rebuilding a River Channel with Christmas Trees By Jennifer Bowman, Senior Ecologist, Aquatic Conservation Programs, Royal Botanical Gardens. If you’ve driven past Cootes ...

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The Importance of Water: Great Lakes Water Quality

September 25, 2024

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Senior Director of Ecosystem Stewardship Programs and Policy Efforts to restore and protect the Great Lakes are more critical now than ever. ...

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Protecting Species at Risk

September 13, 2024

By Tys Theysmeyer, Senior Director Ecosystems Stewardship Program As you walk through our lands, you’ll hear the symphony of nature reminding us of the incredible ...

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Fish Migration: Channel Catfish and a Freshwater Mussel

May 23, 2024

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens Removing barriers in migration routes is a global initiative and this weekend, May 25 is ...

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Keeping Nature Clean: The Impact of Litter at Royal Botanical Gardens

May 14, 2024

By Cassandra Doria, Communications Officer, Royal Botanical Gardens As the not-for-profit caretaker of 2,100 acres of land and ecosystems, Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) holds a ...

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Spring: A Time for Environmental Awareness and Tree Appreciation

April 22, 2024

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens As spring blooms, let's celebrate environmental awareness by hugging our favorite trees or planting one ...

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Spring Fish Migrations: A New Season of Hope

March 27, 2024

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens April is the most intense month of activity at the Cootes Paradise Fishway as it’s ...

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Botanical Monitoring with RBG: What can the plants tell us about the place?

February 28, 2024

By Kasia Zgurzynski, Botany Assistant , Royal Botanical Gardens Originally published on the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System Blog. To learn more about the EcoPark ...

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Impacts of Wildlife Feeding Along RBG Trails

February 27, 2024

By Jennifer Dick and Barb McKean, Royal Botanical Gardens. Wildlife in RBG’s nature sanctuaries have a problem — and the problem is overfeeding. A recent study ...

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Invasive Plants Within the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System

February 27, 2024

By Kasia Zgurzynski, Botany Assistant , Royal Botanical Gardens Originally published on the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System Blog. To learn more about the EcoPark ...

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Cootes Drive Roadside Wildlife Protection Upgrade

December 5, 2023

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens Along Cootes Drive existing roadside wildlife barriers are being replaced and upgraded in December 2023 ...

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Mussel Mania: A Rare Find Uncovered at Cootes Paradise

November 24, 2023

By Sarah Richer, Senior Ecologist, Species at Risk, Royal Botanical Gardens Exposed mud flats of Cootes Paradise aren’t just good for shoreline clean-ups; they are ...

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Ecological Integrity at Hendrie Valley Nature Sanctuary

November 9, 2023

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens The Cootes to Escarpment Ecological Corridors Pilot Project (Ecocorridors) provides Royal Botanical Gardens the opportunity ...

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Tackling Invasive Species at Royal Botanical Gardens

November 2, 2023

By Joanne Hamilton, Eco-corridors Wildlife Technician, Royal Botanical Gardens A walk in the forest at Royal Botanical Gardens (RBG) showcases more than just ‘nature’. If ...

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Local EcoCorridors and Turtle Populations in the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System

October 12, 2023

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Sr. Director Ecosystem Stewardship, Royal Botanical Gardens Header photo courtesy of Jeff Leader. While a long list of wildlife species inhabit the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System, those who ...

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Paradise for Pollinators at Princess Point

October 4, 2023

By Mallory Peirce, Terrestrial Ecologist; Ashley Cramer, Terrestrial Ecologist Intern; and Lindsay Barr, Senior Terrestrial Ecologist, Royal Botanical Gardens In June 2022, a special project ...

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Preserving Biodiversity: Habitat Restoration and Conservation

August 31, 2023

Habitat Restoration and Conservation  We all know that it is all about the location when finding a new home. That’s why RBG was thrilled to ...

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Green Grass Desert

August 25, 2023

By Joanne Hamilton, Eco-corridors Lead, Royal Botanical Gardens Turf Grass and the Threat of Biodiversity Loss Non-native turf grasses are ubiquitous in urban landscapes, almost ...

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Monitoring an Invasive Species: Spotted Lanternfly

July 19, 2023

By Abbie McHardy, Student Entomologist, Royal Botanical Gardens Be on the lookout for the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), or ‘SLF’! This insect is native to ...

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Cootes Paradise Marsh: Big Steps Towards Recovery

June 29, 2023

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Areas, Royal Botanical Gardens This spring aquatic plants have undergone large scale regeneration and are widespread across the marsh. ...

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American Crabapple and Hamilton’s Draft Biodiversity Action Plan

May 18, 2023

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Areas, Royal Botanical Gardens Hamilton's Draft Biodiversity Action Plan represents an approach intended to engage all of us from choices ...

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Hemlock Woolly Adelgid: A New Forest Invader at RBG

March 14, 2023

By Mallory Peirce, Assistant Ecologist, Royal Botanical Gardens Early in March 2023, while conducting routine trail inspections, RBG staff discovered a new invasive forest pest on ...

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Low Waters and Ecological Implications

November 10, 2022

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Areas, Royal Botanical Gardens A truly dry summer and fall has led to challenging conditions for fish and wildlife.  ...

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Invasive Jumping Worms: How to Identify & What to Do

September 27, 2022

By Karin Davidson-Taylor, Education Program Officer, Royal Botanical Gardens Jumping worms are a new group of non-native invasive earthworms that threaten gardens and natural ecosystems. According ...

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All About Sunflowers: Native Species & Beloved Cultivars

September 8, 2022

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Areas, Royal Botanical Gardens Few plant species bring a smile to peoples face like sunflowers. The smiles can get ...

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The Ups and Downs of Lake Ontario – And the Marsh Drains Away Again

August 22, 2022

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Lands, Royal Botanical Gardens. Paddling in Cootes Paradise Marsh will be a challenge throughout this fall as a dry ...

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Welcome Niigaanii: Cootes Paradise’s Newest Blandings Turtle

August 17, 2022

On Friday August 12, RBG's intrepid turtle team released Niigaanii, an endangered Blanding's turtle, marking the inaugural return of the first group of Blanding’s sent ...

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Giant Hogweed? It may be a look alike!

June 24, 2022

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Areas, Royal Botanical Gardens The Invasive ornamental plant Giant Hogweed has several look-alike species flowering at similar times creating identification confusion.  ...

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Turtles on the Move

June 15, 2022

By Christie Brodie, Interpretation Projects Coordinator, Royal Botanical Gardens. With eight species, Ontario has the highest diversity of turtles in all of Canada. Sadly, they ...

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New Technology & Grassland Restoration

May 25, 2022

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Lands, Royal Botanical Gardens. The team from the Unmanned and Remote Sensing Innovation Centre at Mohawk College had another great day ...

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Spongy Moth Management

May 6, 2022

About Spongy Moths Lymantria dispar dispar (formerly known as Gypsy Moth or LDD) is a non-native invasive pest that was introduced in the late 19th century. ...

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The Future of Trees

October 7, 2021

By Tys Theijsmeijer, Head of Natural Lands, Royal Botanical Gardens. Fall is defined by the changing colour of deciduous trees and made deeply special to each ...

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What’s in the Water at Cootes Paradise Marsh

April 23, 2021

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Lands, Royal Botanical Gardens. What’s in the water? The answer is an ever-changing array of things. That said, most ...

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Trail Running Impacts

April 1, 2021

By Jennifer Dick, Manager of Interpretation, Royal Botanical Gardens. I’ve been a hiker since I could walk. Exploring new trails to see different landscapes, learn to ...

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The Rise and Fall of our Wetlands

March 29, 2021

By Tys Theysmeyer, Head of Natural Lands, Royal Botanical Gardens. Lots of people are wondering what happened to all the water in Cootes Paradise Marsh this ...

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You Otter Hear About This!

November 3, 2020

By Jackson Hudecki, Special Programs Coordinator, Royal Botanical Gardens. Out getting her nature fix and looking for birds this weekend, one of our staff came ...

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