The Frontenac Arch is the broad and ancient granite ridge that joins the Canadian Shield to the Adirondack Mountains. It is the billion year old backbone of the eastern continent, and a vital north-south migration route for plants and animals. The central section of the Arch, in the Biosphere Reserve, is crossed east-west by the St. Lawrence Valley, a migration route from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes heartland of the continent. This intersection of landforms and migration routes creates the greatest diversity of living things in eastern Canada. The Biosphere Reserve takes its name from this landform. (See Biosphere Reserve Map).

This Frontenac Arch has shaped the region’s history. The mosaic of lakes, rivers and tumbling streams were passageways for native peoples and settlers alike, and settlements sprang up where falls powered early mills. The lake and island-jeweled land drew, and continues to draw, summer visitors from around the nation, and around the world. The south half of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Rideau Canal, the Thousand Islands, and much of the Land ‘O Lakes are all outstanding regions within the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve.

The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve operates through a network of partnerships—the Biosphere Network. There are currently 45 partner – members and another 30 associated organizations, comprised of federal and provincial agencies, municipalities, chambers of commerce, and historical and conservation-based non-government organizations. The make-up of the Biosphere Network, and its non-jurisdictional framework, enable exceptional interaction and capacity sharing. The Biosphere Network has an elected Board of 19 members of the community of the partnership, and an Executive Director.

A fundamental aspect of the Biosphere Network is that it operates by consensus, with projects and programmes shared through networks of partners. Networks such as Local Flavours, Environmental Education Network, history and conservation have provided considerable benefit, integration and capacity-sharing in the Biosphere Reserve.

LAND USE HISTORY

“The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest encompasses the area of greatest human concentration in Canada . . . For this reason, samples of the original conditions that prevailed are almost impossible to find . . . These forests then are representative of various stages of 'succession' leading back to the original forest type which the land and climate naturally supported before European settlement.  The result is a mosaic over the entire region with plots of different sizes in earlier or later stages of regeneration, the very patchiness of which is he naturalist's greatest treasure:  variety and diversity." 

[Tim Fitzharris and John Livingston, Canada: A Natural History, p169.]

The Thousand Islands, the Frontenac Arch region, and the St. Lawrence River have a long history of human use.  Archeological sites found in the Thousand Islands indicate that people were visiting the area as early as 7000 years ago, and the region appears to have been a hunting and fishing ground for the Laurentian (5000-3000 BC) and Point Peninsula (3000-1000 BC) cultures.  Charleston Lake was a particularly attractive camp site with its natural rock shelters around the lake.  Early visitors left behind artifacts and pictographs.   Fishing and fish harvesting have been carried out here since prehistoric times when weirs were used for harvesting eel and lake sturgeon.  In the past century, when the area became a fashionable vacation spot, sport fishing for large and small mouth bass, northern pike and muskellunge lured sportsmen from around the world.

Following the American War of Independence (1776), decommissioned British soldiers and displaced American Loyalists and their families were granted lands in the area.  These settlers harvested and sold timber and established farms.  By the mid 1800s, the area was cleared of most of its stands of timber (primarily oak and pine) that were sent to Europe for ship building.  Mixed agriculture then cleared more land leaving fragmented wood lots and stands of maples amongst the pastures and cropland of the farm landscape.  Farms tended to be irregular in shape, interrupted by granite outcroppings, with poor quality soils.  Dairy farming and hay crops enjoyed some success.  By 1950, many family farms were abandoned as young people moved to urban centres to other occupations.  The old farm landscape began to grow over with shrubs.  Pioneering trees like red cedar and elm slowly replaced the mowed fields. The 1996 Census recorded 1493 farms (138 581 ha) in the United Counties of Leeds & Grenville.  Abandoned and marginal farm lands in the area continue a slow evolution back to forest.

The Thousand Islands and adjacent inlands host a variety of land uses: urban and suburban residential development, rural agricultural use, park and conservation lands and seasonal, recreation and tourism uses.  Land use changes over the years have created bands of degraded and fragmented habitat parallel to the St. Lawrence. Land use “threats” include recreation development/over-use, long range pollution and residential development/urban “sprawl”.  The challenges to the ecological integrity of the area are well recognized, and concerted action in response to these challenges is underway. 

The region’s cultural significance derives from the historical and economic forces that have shaped it through time:  hunting and gathering;  exploration and trade;  religious missions; military incentives and imperatives;  immigration and settlement;  natural resources ( fur, fish, timber, land); industry, infrastructure and wealth;  leisure and tourism.  Now, with an unprecedented quality of life in a science-based knowledge economy, it is significant that we appreciate how much that quality of life is dependent on a healthy environment and that we embrace the challenge of linking conservation and sustainable development. The Biosphere Reserve is a model for managing the “connection” between people and Nature.  It represents one of the few opportunities for an increasingly urbanized Canadian population to come into direct contact with and be inspired by the natural landscape.

The Biosphere Reserve facilitates natural and social science approaches to meeting conservation, development and logistic support challenges.  It also ensures that stakeholders have the opportunity to contribute local experience and naturalized (traditional) knowledge to these challenges.  This is particularly important in the Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve given the rich array of influences, historic and current, upon which the culture of the region is founded.  The historic influences of First Nations peoples, Nouvelle France, colonial Britain, pre and post-Revolutionary United States and now, our proximity to Québec and being on the international border with the United States all affect our cultural values.

Summering in the Islands during the “Gilded Age” at the turn of the century (1880-1910) was very fashionable and, for some, quite extravagant.  For example, George Boldt, the millionaire owner of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel built a 120 room “castle” on Heart Island near Alexandria Bay, New York and the family of the Singer sewing machine magnate rode the River “...in a gondola imported from Venice, with a boatman dressed as a gondolier...[and]...In Victorian style, the wealthy ladies living in the summer homes on the Islands went to tea in white gloves, driven by uniformed boatman.” [Shawn Thompson, A River Rat’s Guide to the Thousand Islands]

The Arthur Child Heritage Centre in Gananoque, located in a replica Victorian-era summer home has developed a range of exhibits illustrating the summer life of the Islands, particularly during the “Gilded Age".

In the 20th century, the area of the Biosphere Reserve was affected by two mammoth infrastructure projects - the construction of the Thousand Islands International Bridge (1937-38) and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959.  Both brought new interpretations of “the River as Highway” theme in this area.  With the change in transportation to automotive traffic, more was required than ferries to carry the stream of trucks and cars between Canada and the United States.  The Thousand Islands International Bridge crosses the River near the centre of the Frontenac Arch where the River channels are narrowest around Ivy Lea.  On the River itself, steamship traffic was as important as ever to the economy but was restricted to smaller ships due to water depth.  The joint international Seaway project led to the deepening of the south channel and improvements to the shipping channel from Montreal through the Great Lakes to allow ocean going ships to reach the furthest ports on Lake Superior via the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Many organizations have been formed out of the community’s desire to celebrate the River’s history and to participate in its conservation.  The Thousand Islands River Heritage Society of Mallorytown celebrates with an annual Gunboat Weekend complete with historical reenactment of River skirmishes.  Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committees help municipal officials in the Township of Leeds and the Thousand Islands and in Brockville. As its millennium project, the former Front of Escott Township decreed the Old River Road between Rockport and Larue Mills a Heritage Byway complete with signage and maps.  Once a trail used by First Nations, this route was used by settlers from the early 1800s.  It is now part of the Algonquin to Adirondack International Trail.  Historical societies are active in Brockville and Gananoque.  In the Brockville Museum, a St. Lawrence River skiff is on permanent display, recalling the days in the 19th century when this beautiful water craft was “everyman’s” boat.  Restoration of antique River boats is a popular hobby among island residents and cottagers.

There exists within the Biosphere Reserve an acute awareness of how history and culture have defined life here.  Residents have a strong sense of identity, aware of their roots, and sensitive to the rhythms of the landscape they inhabit.  The various efforts to create National Historic Sites, to designate buildings for heritage conservation, to declare the Rideau a Heritage River, to establish cultural festivals, to found conservation land trusts - all of these endeavours have sprung from the efforts of local citizens and their fervent commitment to protect and share the unique cultural and natural resources of the region with future generations.  

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS

The topography of the Biosphere Reserve is rugged: steep, rocky slopes and ridges, typical of the Precambrian Shield.  Situated on the Frontenac Arch, part of the Grenville Structural Province, the topography contains characteristic intrusive granites and metamorphic gneisses which are highly deformed.  The Ontario Soils Survey defines over 95% of the planning area as rock (“rock” includes areas with less than 0.3 m of soil cover).

The Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve is within the Grenville Geological Province of the Precambrian Shield.  The bedrock is mostly composed of erosion resistant igneous and metamorphic rock, exposed at the surface, or covered in a thin layer of glacial drift.  There is also some more easily erodible marble bedrock, and the arrangement of tilted and alternating layers of erosion-resistant and erodible rocks has created the ridge and valley topography of the area.

To the east and west of the Biosphere Reserve, sedimentary rock bumps up against and overlays Precambrian bedrock.  The dominant surface rock to the west is limestone, and to the east, sandstone.  On the edges of the Frontenac Arch, the flat sedimentary rock is pierced in places by outcrops of Precambrian stone.  The most significant landscape feature of the area is the Frontenac Arch – a thin arm of granite that links the Precambrian bedrock of the Canadian Shield to the north with that of the Adirondack Dome to the south.

The Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch area is characterised by a ‘knobs and flats’ topography, where the predominant landforms consist of shallow till, dome-shaped rock ridges, organic deposits, escarpments, and clay plains.  The rock ridges are remnants of the Canadian Shield.  They alternate with moist forest or wetland valleys inland, and in the St. Lawrence River, the ‘knobs’ are the Thousand Islands.

The major waterways of the region are:  St. Lawrence River; Rideau River Waterway; Charleston Lake; Gananoque River. Drainage is mainly from the Frontenac Arch southwest along the sedimentary limestone rock to Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River, or northeast along the sedimentary sandstone to the Ottawa River or lower St. Lawrence River.  Drainage across the region is generally poor, and there are many marshes and wetlands, including McDonnel Bay Wetland, Willowbank Marsh, Halsteads Bay Marsh, Landons Bay Marsh, Ivy Lea Wetland Complex, and Jones Creek Marsh.

GEOLOGICAL HISTORY

The landforms of the Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve owe their origins mainly to events that took place a billion years ago.  The geological story of the region began more than one billion years ago along the southeastern margin of an ancient continent known as Laurentia.  Laurentia then lay at about the present position of the equator and eventually became the core of the North American continent.  Between about 1.3 and one billion years ago, another continental mass moved northwesterly against the southeast margin of Laurentia, crushing it like a giant vice.  As a result of this collision the ancient Precambrian rocks that formed the edge of  Laurentia were depressed into the crust, deformed by heat, pressure and partial melting and then thrust up to form the northeasterly-trending Laurentian Mountain Belt.  The roots of this former mountain belt, known geologically as the Grenville Province extend from the Atlantic coast of Labrador southwesterly across Quebec, southern Ontario and northern New York and then disappear beneath younger rocks of central U.S.A.

Mission

To facilitate co-operative action towards a more sustainable way of life.

• Services to partners and others (website development and hosting, newsletters, computer expertise, funding applications, funding partnerships and payroll and accounting services)
• HRDC and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Job creaion partnership programmes, (we train and provide experience for E.I. recipients, youth, disabled and others)
• Grants from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Richard Ivey Envt'l fund, Shell Environmental Fund, Regional Community Development Corporations etc..
• Commercial operations such as websites like "www.paddle1000.com"

Membership

"A healthy and prosperous community celebrating a rich heritage while developing and using knowledge for conservation and sustainable development.

Functions