The Role of the Neighbourhood in Rehabilitation of an Urban Aquatic Ecosystem

Abstract

Abstract For the first 10 to 15 years following rehabilitation, the original goals at West Heights Pond, Kitchener, were attained. Monitoring over a 16-year period revealed that if ecosystem health and aesthetics goals are to be sustained in the future, management intervention is required. Required management includes on-going control of aggressive wetland plant pests; efforts to discourage waterfowl feeding so that numbers decline and water quality improves; and potential future control of exotic fish species goldfish and carp. The study has concluded that (1) periodic monitoring over the long term is required to determine whether rehabilitation plan goals are being met and to identify the nature of required management interventions; (2) human neighbours are a critical species in the ecosystem management process since they can be the agents of significant positive and negative actions which affect attainment of rehabilitation plan goals; and (3) the lead agency in rehabilitation implementation should ensure that a long-term dialogue with site neighbours capitalizes on the positive role neighbours can play and avoids negative actions such as feeding waterfowl, trampling banks and vegetation, and introducing exotic fish species.