Explore The Eramosa River With Marvin the Muskrat

Rehabilitation

Let’s stop here for a moment, I want to show you something. Back when my grandmother was just a young muskrat herself, things were different than they are now. Humans didn’t use to love and protect nature. They used this area to dump all of their garbage, there were mountains of it that overflowed into the water, hurting the fish and poisoning the plants. If you had been walking the exact same route more than 60 years ago that you are today, you would have been wading through garbage piles. Luckily for us though, they decided to put dirt over all that garbage and let trees grow over the top of it, and let nature try to go back to the way it used to be. So these days, you wouldn’t know that the banks of this river used to look like that long ago, except when storms topple trees over, exposing bits of plastic and glass twisted up in their roots, or when the river washes some of its banks away and reveals old wires, tires, or shoes. Sometimes you can find treasures like old glass bottles, but usually it is only broken pieces that remain, so be careful of your fingers and don’t pick up anything sharp! I’m glad it's a beautiful forest, not a dump anymore because now it is my home. Close your eyes and picture your home. Now imagine if there were piles of garbage everywhere! Now you know how my grandmother felt! Not comfy at all. Let’s continue on our walk...

Human impact

Let’s have a little break here while I tell you about this old willow tree. A few years ago, some humans were foolish and set this tree on fire. Luckily, the fire was put out in time, but if it hadn’t been, it could have spread to the whole forest and burned it all to the ground. Forest fires are one of my biggest fears because this is my home and the home of so many of my woodland friends. If you look into the water too, you can see old tires and pieces of garbage from when this area used to be a dump, which gets in the way when me and my friends are trying to swim. So please don’t drop your garbage, or leave behind anything that isn’t compostable. And if you find any garbage, please don’t leave it lying there, there are garbage containers on the main path if you need a place to put it! (Please be careful if you do decide to pick up some trash because sometimes you can find needles, DO NOT PICK UP THE NEEDLE!!! It is not safe, please call 519-240-4098 to get someone from ARCH to come pick it up).

Native plants

There are many native species within our forests meaning that they are naturally from this area, and all native plants and animals are extremely important for keeping our ecosystem healthy and working properly. They are important for forest creatures like me and humans like you because they provide food, shelter, and biodiversity!

 There are hundreds of different species of native plants around us today, and as you walk through this magical waterside path, you’ll see many different kinds of trees, some native and some invasive. Many of these trees are actually conifers, meaning they are always green, even throughout the winter! There are many different kinds of coniferous trees from the spiky spruce to the more gentle leaves of the white Cedar. I love to gently pull off a few sprigs of cedar and put it in a cup of boiling water to make some tea! Cedar trees have tons of good vitamins in them like vitamin C, making them very healthy edible native species! Feel free to pull a small amount of cedar off and make some tea with it! Make sure to only use what you need, though. There are many other kinds of native trees too, which help keep my river alive and well! Trees are really important, as we know, but especially around river banks, because they help stop the banks from being washed away by the flowing water, in a process called erosion, and the tree roots are used as homes for many kinds of fish! As you continue to walk, keep an eye out for a very special kind of native flower, they are very beautiful and are one of my favourite plants! They have three large white petals and are called trilliums! Don’t pick any if you do find them though, they are so special that they have been claimed as the official flower of Ontario.

Invasive Species

If you look around the ground here, you should see plenty of the same type of plant. It might be in different stages of growth, but it’s everywhere right here. The plant that I’m talking about is garlic mustard. This sounds like a pretty tasty name for a plant, and actually, if you pick some and wash it well, you can actually turn it into some delicious pesto or eat it raw if you’re feeling adventurous! If you are looking for some recipes,  explore this website .

The problem with garlic mustard is that it does much more than taste good, it’s also something called an invasive species. This means that it’s not actually supposed to grow here, and it has many negative impacts on the native plants and animals in the area. Garlic Mustard is allelopathic- which is a fancy way of saying that its roots produce a chemical that it releases into the soil to stop different species of plants and fungi from growing near it. By doing this, garlic mustard can essentially change an entire ecosystem by controlling which plants can and cannot grow in it.

Garlic mustard lives for two years and in the first year, it stays low to the ground and grows in circular clumps. The next year, it grows in tall stalks with little white flowers. You can also identify it by its smell that is quite similar to garlic.  You can learn more about it and its identification here. 

If you want, you can help the area along the river by pulling garlic mustard out of the ground! An important tip is to put the garlic mustard in the garbage, instead of in the compost to avoid letting it spread even more.

Recreation of Water Way

There are lots of things you can do along the river! Whether it’s canoeing, kayaking, fishing, hiking or biking, lots of people in Guelph enjoy spending time around the river. Unfortunately, the Eramosa River is not suited for swimming, so you shouldn’t be going for a dip in the river on a hot day. 

The Eramosa River is home to different species of fish such as rainbow trout and bass, but you might not have the best of luck fishing along this part of the river. Your best bet is probably to look for crayfish, a yummy snack for muskrats like me! These little creatures are often found hiding under rocks in the river. Be patient, move carefully and you might just have some luck.

People love to canoe and kayak here, and something fun I’ve seen going on along the river are people who have taken their dogs kayaking with them! The dogs were nice and safe too because they even had their own life jackets. I’ve also seen a homemade raft with lawn chairs on top of it. Try making a mini raft of your own or find something that floats and see how far and how fast it goes in the river. Be careful though! Only use things that you’ve found in nature as a part of your creation, because you don’t want to litter and hurt our river. If you find garbage along the riverbanks, it’s better to make sure it gets to the garbage safely then to send it out into the water.

Water Protectors

You’ve reached the end of your walk! Your last stop! Maybe you’d like to get ice cream to lick while I tell you about the last spot for today (but keep your mask on and stay distanced while you’re in line, it can get pretty busy so we want to stay safe!). Right across the river from the Boathouse, there is a small park called Marianne’s Park. Although things are different this year because of the pandemic, usually a crowd meets here to start off the 2Rivers Festival with a  Sacred Water Walk , led by my good friend who is an Anishinaabe Indigenous woman named Jan Sherman. I love this walk because it shows me that people care about this beautiful river just as much as I do. I love to see people working to protect the water and thank it for everything it does for us all. I hope that even though you won’t have been able to join in on that walk in person this year, you will have enjoyed your walk today and learned more about this river. When we spend time in nature, we learn to love it, and we want to work to protect it from garbage and invasive species and things that hurt it, and I hope that you too will become water protectors one day. Thank you for joining me today, I hope you had fun and learned a lot!