KAWARTHA TRAILS FEATURES

1) Trans-Canada Trail
Natural Features – mixed forest and agriculture, large wetland just east
of Atkinson Road, Jackson Park, Little Lake, Otonabee River,
Ecology Park Plants – marsh marigold and anemones are
common in Jackson Park, large white pines in Jackson Park
Creatures – by wetland: turtles, beaver, rosebreasted
grosbeak, migrant species, warblers (redstart, black-throated green,
blackburnian, parula), white-throated and white-crowned sparrows;
nesting species include kingbird, song and swamp sparrows,
redwing blackbird, yellow warbler, common yellowthroat;
other birds include kingfishers, great blue herons, sora and Virginia rails,
in Jackson Park birds include warblers, sparrows, thrushes, flycatchers,
black and white warblers, veery, ovenbirds, winter robins,
cardinals, rabbit, mink

Rotary Greenway Trail
Natural Features – parallel to Otonabee River, urban parkland,
mixed forest, meadows Plants – cedars, coltsfoot (spring), wild grape
Creatures – chickadees, swallows, redwing blackbirds, osprey, waterfowl

Ganaraska Trail
Natural Features – travels through varied terrain, from Oak Ridges
Moraine in the Ganaraska Forest in the south to eskers and mixed
deciduous forest and farmland, Hogs Back Esker one of best
examples of a glacial deposit in Ontario, designated as a provincially
significant area of natural and scientific interest, crosses the Pigeon River,
private and public lands
Plants – wild strawberries and raspberries, poison ivy
Creatures – weasels

Parkway Trail
Natural Features – urban parkland, meadows, abandoned railway

1)Provincial Parks

Mark S. Burnham Provincial Park
Natural Features – one of the oldest woods known in the Kawarthas
– some trees over 200 years old, demonstrating a climax forest
of sugar maple, beech, basswood, ironwood, white ask and
eastern hemlock and yellow birch on the lower slopes
Plants – leatherwort, alternate-leaved dogwood, red-osier dogwood,
many varieties of grasses, sedges and woodland flowers including
Indian pipe, red and white trilliums, wild leek, false and
star flowered Solomon’s seal, wild ginger, jack-in-the –pulpit,
rose twisted stalk, round and sharp-lobed hepatica, clintonia, trout lily,
large-flowered bellwort, spring beauty, Canada violet,
northern white violet
Creatures – porcupines, squirrels, chipmunks, garter snakes,
birds nesting include blue jays, robin, red-eyed vireo, chickadees,
white and red-breasted nuthatches, rose-breasted grosbeak,
scarlet tanager, wood thrush, broad-winged hawk, great crested flycatcher;
other birds include pileated woodpeckers, ovenbird, green herons
common along swampy section at west end of trail, American bittern

Emily Provincial Park
Natural features – 78 hectares, esker, forested area, locally significant
wetland, abandoned agricultural area
Plants – poplar, red maple, balsam fir, spruce, white birch, tamarack,
black ash, cedar, red and white pine, green ash in wetland
(valued by Native people for snowshoes, sleds and bows and
arrows for its flexibility); marsh plants include duckweed, water lilies,
American lotus, cattails, pickerelweed, bur reed
Creatures – rivers otter, deer, muskrat, raccoon, painted turtles,
birds include osprey, black terns, wild turkey, wood ducks

Kawartha Highlands Signature Site Provincial Park
Natural Features – bedrock barrens, lakes, rivers and wetlands,
Canadian Shield Plants – some small alvar areas in the south, featuring rare
plants found on limestone outcrops that are quite flat
Creatures – deer, bear, otter, 5-lined skink, beaver, mink,
bald eagles in winter, whip-poor-will, barred owl,
night hawks numerous end of May, warblers, loons, turkey vultures

Petroglyphs Provincial Park
Natural Features – southern fringe of Canadian Shield, primarily coniferous forest,
waterfall along Eels Creek called High Falls, small
inland lakes, streams and wetlands, adjacent to
Peterborough Crown Game Preserve
Plants – pine and oak predominate; common spring flowers include fringed polygala
Creatures – deer, moose, timber and brush wolves, black bear, five-lined
skinks water snakes, turtles; pileated, hairy and downy woodpecker,
bald eagles in winter, crossbills, blue jays and grey
jays (most southerly nesting area), ducks, ruffed grouse,
bald and golden eagles in winter, popular area for
butterfly watching

Silent Lake Provincial Park
Natural Features – large undeveloped lake, transition zone between
the Canadian Shield and the southern deciduous forests,
therefore home to both northern and southern species,
Bonnie’s Pond, 1420 hectares which is largely undeveloped
Plants – second growth forest, most common species of trees are
birch, maple, hemlock and white pine; many wildflowers
including the uncommon varieties such as the
rose pagonia, rattlesnake fern and toothwort, and
the more common ferns, orchids, sedges and
pitcher plants; rare plants include the narrow-leaved spleenwort
Creatures – bear, deer, four-toed salamander found in nature reserve
zone added to the east side of the park; otter,
mink and beaver live in marshy areas along the lake;
warblers beginning in mid-May, hooded mergansers,
scarlet tanagers and ruby-throated hummingbird in
summer, ducks in migration season, loons

3)Conservation and Wildlife Areas

Ganaraska Forest
Natural Features – 4455 hectares Oak Ridges Moraine, sandy hills of
glacial till, predominantly pine, extremely large forest
Plants – plantations of red and white pine, white spruce, tamarack;
natural forest areas of maple, oak, cherry, hemlock, birch, cedar
Creatures – wild turkey, blue birds by lookout.

Miller Creek Wildlife Area
Natural Features – provincially significant wetland, officially known as the
Snelgrove Brook Wetland, locally known as Miller Creek
Plants – numerous vegetation zones, upland hardwood, lowland wet and dry
coniferous woods, grassland, late-stage bog, sedge and
cattail marshes, interesting vegetation includes: ram’s head
lady’s slipper, clubmosses, goldenthread, starflower, one-flowered pyrola, Solomon’s seal,
jack-in the –pulpit, skunk cabbage, baneberry, thimbleweed
Creatures – deer, muskrat, beaver, red fox, coyote, river otter, weasels,
European hare, eastern cottontail, star-nosed mole, bats,
variety of snakes, toads, salamanders, frogs, including locally
uncommon mudpuppy, painted turtles, most birds found in
the Kawarthas can be found here as migrants, winter
residents or breeding: warblers, flycatchers, swallows, blackbirds, wrens,
sparrows, hawks (including marsh harrier), herons, ducks
(all these breed here), American bittern, snipe

Selwyn Conservation Area
Natural Features – along Chemong Lake, forested area,
open fields, wetland, limestone plain, sand beach, 29 hectares
Plants – thick cedar, sugar maple, American beech, closed
gentian, violet family, spotted jewelweed
Creatures – white-tailed deer, skunk, raccoon, meadow vole,
great blue heron, belted kingfisher, osprey, wood ducks,
yellow-bellied sapsucker

Warsaw Caves Conservation Area
Natural Features – Indian River flows through it, limestone gorge, caves and kettles,
river “disappears” for a stretch, “potholes, mixed forest,
cave 4 is a glacier cave – ice not uncommon
in mid-July, 224 hectares
Plants – eastern white cedar, eastern white pine,
white spruce, walking fern by caves 5 and 7, gaywings,
helleborine, hepatica, wild columbine, goldenrod
Creatures – fossils in cave 2, porcupine, deer, butterflies abundant

4)Other Areas of Interest

Ennismore Waterfront Park
Natural Features – along western shore of Chemong Lake
Creatures – osprey (nesting)

Kawartha Nordic Ski Trails
Natural Features – within the Peterborough Crown Game Preserve, mixed forest through Canadian Shield, large wetlands
Plants – large white pine, hemlock, spruce, white birch,
sugar maple, red oak, cedar, balsam, tamarack
Creatures – deer, timber wolf, bear, beaver, snakes,
barred owl, tame chickadees and red breasted and white
breasted nuthatches at Tanney Cabin, grey jays

Trent University Wildlife Sanctuary Nature Area
Natural Features – 150 hectares, several drumlins, wetlands, old agricultural area
Plants – early successional habitats with grasses, apple, hawthorn, aspen, lowlands have eastern white cedar
Creatures – deer are plentiful, porcupine, raccoon, great horned owls, American woodcock, Cooper’s hawk, butterflies abundant

Trent University Otonabee River Loop
Natural Features – dominated by the Otonabee River and Lady Eaton Drumlin (252 m high), limestone
Plants – cedars overhanging river, locally rare butternut
trees, ferns, wildflowers plentiful on Lady Eaton Drumlin
Creatures – swallows, ducks all year, butterflies abundant on Lady Eaton Drumlin

Eels Creek
Natural Features – undisturbed wilderness
Plants – pine, willows, royal and ostrich ferns,
in late summer, purple fringed orchis and small stands of
cardinal flower, pickerel weed, white-flowered pickerel weed
Creatures – raccoon, beaver, herons, wading birds, ducks

Nogies Creek
Natural Features – Muskellunge Research Area and Sanctuary – fishing
not permitted, rocky, heavily wooded, wetland, Crown and private land
Plants – white cedar, white pine, hemlock, birch, poplar,
maple, beech, white ash, ironwood, basswood, black cherry, butternut,
wild rice (quite plentiful), hepatica, wild leek, trillium, closed gentian, turtlehead, high bush cranberry, spikenard, fringed polygala, clintonia, yellow lady’s clipper, fack-in-the-pulpit, cardinal flower
Creatures – otter, beaver, muskrat, mink, raccoon, deer bear, snowshoe hare, migrating waterfowl

Indian River – Warsaw to Warsaw Caves
Natural Features – the broad river valley at Warsaw
transitions to a 65 m limestone gorge at the Conservation
Area property, giant icicles along gorge in winter
and early spring, river goes underground for
400m at Warsaw Caves
Plants – cedar and birch along gorge
Creatures – red winged blackbirds, kingbirds, great blue heron, kingfishers, beaver, muskrat, mink

Indian River – Keene and Rice Lake
Natural Features – extensive cattail marsh, mouth of the
Indian River, Rice Lake, Serpent Mounds Park,
Harris Island – designated as a provincially significant area
of natural and scientific interest with a large marsh and drumlin
Plants – dense cattail marsh, old oaks at Serpent Mounds
Creatures – muskrat, beaver, black terns, bats, large flocks of resident and migrating ducks, bitterns, herons and songbirds

City of Peterborough – Waterfront Walks
Natural Features – Little Lake, Otonabee River, Trent Canal and lock,
environmental display gardens at Ecology Park, various
areas of natural restoration along waterfront
Plants – old willows, ash, silver maple, catalpa
Creatures – wild and domesticated water fowl on Little Lake, beaver, osprey

Havelock Trail
Natural Features – passes through a nice woodlot

Lakefield Trails
Natural Features – Lakefield Marsh, Otonabee River
Creatures – at the marsh birds include black tern, northern harrier, marsh wren, least bittern

Peterborough and the Kawarthas are typified by the
Canadian Shield to the north, and limestone plains and agriculture to the south. The transition zone, known to some as The Land Between, has a high level of biodiversity reflective of the habitat offerings of both the Canadian Shield and the limestone plain. Listed below are major features and creatures of interest in natural areas and along trails and canoe routes in the Kawarthas.

Kawartha trails features 
1. Trails
2. Provincial Parks
3. Conservation and Wildlife Areas
4. Other Areas of Interest