Description

Located in Niagara Falls, the Willoughby Clay Plain supports one of the more extensive forest complexes in the eastern section of the Niagara Peninsula. The site includes swamp forests with Silver Maple, White Elm, and Swamp White Oak, and scrublands with Willow, Elderberry, and Meadowsweet. Gently rolling plains are dotted with slough ponds (heavy clay soils impede drainage) and forests dominated by Red Maple, Red Oak, Pin Oak, Bur Oak, and Shagbark Hickory. In the Willoughby Marsh -- much of it protected by the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority -- many Carolinian trees can be found, including Swamp White Oak and the provincially rare Pin Oak and Pignut Hickory. In the forest, a number of tree cavities in snags (standing dead trees) provide unique habitat for Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, among other animals. The marsh is feeding and breeding habitat for several provincially or regionally significant species: Prothonotary Warbler, Upland Sandpiper, and Pickerel Frog. The area also serves a significant hydrological function s the water source fo the Tee, Usshers, and Black Creeks (taken from the Carolinian Canada Signature Sites Guide by Lorraine Johnson 2005).

Vegetation

Willoughby Clay Plain Muck Basin Forest (MacDonald, 1980 in Eagles & Beechey, 1985):
The southern half of the area contains a series of broad wet basins that support a variety of swamp forest, scrub and marsh communities.

The swamp forests tend to be dominated by very wet willow, ash, or by wet silver maple, white elm, swamp white oak, while the scrublands tend to have meadowsweet, arrowwood, elderberry, and willow, often forming a mosaic with the forest patterns or wetland forb patterns. Adjacent to these basins and extending elsewhere through the area are gently rolling heavy clay plains which have well developed slough pond landforms and associated community patterns, and a series of clay plain maple, oak forests dominated by red maple, red oak, pin oak, bur oak, and shagbark hickory.

Willoughby Marsh (Brady, 1980 in Eagles & Beechey, 1985):
The dominant vegetation species include: maple, beech and oak. The most common vegetation species are red, white, swamp white, black oak; sugar, black, silver and red maple; white, slippery elm; American beech; shagbark hickory; red and white ash; black cherry; basswood; blue-beech and serviceberry.

Landform

Willoughby Clay Plain Muck Basin Forest (MacDonald, 1980 in Eagles & Beechey, 1985):
This area presents a small organic basin associated with the stream course of Ushers Creek and adjacent gently rolling, slough patterned heavy clay plain which supports one of the more extensive forest complexes in the eastern section of the Niagara Peninsula.

Willoughby Marsh (Brady, 1980 in Eagles & Beechey, 1985):
The marshy wetland areas, especially those in the northern section, are isolated but most are connected by natural or manmade drainage networks. The area provides a headwater for Tee and Usher Creeks and tributaries of the Welland River.

References

* Allen, G.M., P.F.J. Eagles and S.D. Price (eds.) 1990. Conserving Carolinian Canada: Conservation Biology in the Deciduous Forest Region. University of Waterloo Press, Waterloo. 346 pp.

* Brady, R.F. (ed.) 1980. Willoughby Marsh Site Summary. In, Regional Municipality of Niagara Environmentally Sensitive Areas. Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines. viii + 392 pp.

* Eagles, P.F.J. and T.J. Beechey (eds.) 1985. Critical Unprotected Natural Areas in the Carolinian Life Zone of Canada. Final Report, Identification Subcommittee, Carolinian Canada. The Nature Conservancy of Canada, The Ontario Heritage Foundation and World Wildlife Fund (Canada). 400 pp.

* Macdonald, I.D. 1980. Life Science Features of the Haldimand Clay Plain Physiographic Region. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Section, Central Region, Richmond Hill, Ontario. SR OFER 8001. vii + 266 pp. + map.

© Natural Heritage Information Centre, 1998

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