The Oak Ridges Moraine lies in Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the headwaters of sixty-five rivers and streams. It has a wide diversity of woodlands, wetlands, watercourses, kettle lakes, kettle bogs, and significant flora and fauna. It is one of the few remaining continuous green corridors in southern Ontario: it remains thirty percent forested and is one of the last refuges for forest birds in all of southern Ontario.
The moraine provides habitat for a wide variety of plant and animal species, over seventy of which are threatened or endangered in Canada, including the West Virginia white butterfly, Jefferson salamander, red-shouldered hawk, and American ginseng. The moraine's rare wetlands support plants and insects more typical of northern Ontario. The remnants of tallgrass prairie and oak-pine savanna in the eastern portion are globally threatened ecosystems.
Happy Valley Forests
Happy Valley Forests is a 648-hectare upland forest with wooded swamps and minor wetland areas. It supports a diverse wildlife population, including over 100 species of birds, some of which are endangered or threatened in Canada. The forests are characterized by the dominant sugar maple in most areas, and red maple on its eastern edges. It is a provincial ANSI Life Science ecological zone.
Provincially significant ecological areas A number of provincially significant ecological areas are located in the Oak Ridges Moraine, among them forty-eight wetlands, and twenty-eight earth and life science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI-ES and ANSI-LS).
The table below lists the ecological zones by municipal jurisdiction; for zones that overlap multiple jurisdictions, the zone is listed in the jurisdiction which contains the greatest portion of that zone. Moreover, some of the zones listed may only have some portion of their complex on the Oak Ridges Moraine; for example, a small southern component of the Ansnorveldt Wetland Complex lies on the northern edge of the Oak Ridges Moraine.
+ Provincially significant ecological areas on the Oak Ridges Moraine; size is in hectares (100 hectares = 1 km2)CaledonLittle Credit River Wetland Complex270.6WetlandCredit Forks Wetland29.4WetlandGibson Lake Wetland27.9WetlandCentreville Creek Wetland Complex12.5WetlandBolton Wetland Complex5.7WetlandKing TownshipPottageville Swamp658.0ANSI Life ScienceHappy Valley Forests648.0ANSI Life SciencePottageville Southeast Upland90.0ANSI Life ScienceCold Creek Conservation Area81.7ANSI Life ScienceGlenville Hills Kames345.0ANSI Earth ScienceLinton—Kelly Lake Channels588.0ANSI Earth ScienceKettleby and Newmarket Tills0.2ANSI Earth SciencePottageville Wetland Complex779.3WetlandEaton Hall—Mary—Hackett Lakes Wetland Complex259.0WetlandAnsnorveldt Wetland Complex200.6WetlandKennifick Wetland Complex79.1WetlandEaton Hall Lake Wetland51.5WetlandKing—Vaughan Wetland Complex39.1WetlandNobleton Wetland Complex43.3WetlandNew Scotland Wetland Complex23.7WetlandKing Creek Marsh4.2WetlandEast GwillimburyMount Albert Wetlands539.3WetlandAuroraWilcox—St. George Wetland Complex102.0WetlandEast Aurora Wetland Complex28.0WetlandAurora Marsh (McKenzie Marsh)10.0WetlandRichmond HillRouge River Headwater Wetland Complex175.0WetlandPhilips—Bond —Thompson Lakes Wetland Complex61.0WetlandSnively Street Wetland Complex21.5WetlandPhilips Lake Wetland Complex24.8WetlandWhitchurch-StouffvilleVivian Infiltration Area (also in Uxbridge)6346.0Hydrological ESAMusselman Lake Kettle Complex258.0ANSI Earth ScienceWhite Rose Spillway25.0ANSI Earth ScienceMusselman Lake Complex100.0ANSI Life ScienceVandorf Bog Complex57.0ANSI Life ScienceBlack River Wetland Complex #11378.8WetlandWhite Rose—Preston Lake Wetland Complex137.6WetlandMusselman Lake Wetland49.4WetlandEast Musselman Wetland Complex8.8WetlandUxbridge TownshipLittle Rouge Creek Section 0.8ANSI Earth ScienceTyrone River Valley140.0ANSI Life ScienceUxbridge Pine—Maple Uplands93.0ANSI Life ScienceUxbridge Forest Kames644.0ANSI Earth ScienceGoodwood Formation0.2ANSI Earth ScienceUxbridge Brook Headwater Wetland Complex159.6WetlandGoodwood/Glasgow Wetland Complex70.6WetlandNorth Goodwood Wetland Complex22.4WetlandScugog TownshipLake Scugog #37 Wetland192.6WetlandCity of PickeringClarke Summit Swamp118.0ANSI Life ScienceNorthumberland CountyGarden Hill Pitted Outwash1003.0ANSI Earth ScienceMillvalley Hills Forests320.0ANSI Life ScienceShelter Valley312.0ANSI Life SciencePeter's Woods Provincial Nature Reserve (Settler's Woods)33.43ANSI Life ScienceEast Cross Creek #15 - Wetland 2340.4WetlandKawartha LakesFleetwood Kames939.0ANSI Earth SciencePeterboroughOmemee Esker South366.0ANSI Earth Science
References
More precise measurements were found in