By David Yin, Local Journalism Initiative reporter
The Friends of Swan Lake Park hosted its Celebrating the Biodiversity of Swan Lake Park event on June 7.
Kathleen Elizabeth Noël photo
The Friends of Swan Lake Park is an advocacy group dedicated towards protecting Swan Lake and the park’s ecosystems.
Many group members and collaborators, led by founder Fred Peters, conducted free booths, polls, and nature walks for all visitors throughout the event.
Birder and wildlife photographer Kathleen Elizabeth Noël led two-hour-long birding walks, in which she and her team helped participants identify and observe over 20 animal species, such as the great blue heron, the turkey vulture, and the painted turtle. In addition, she led an hour-long stationary bird watching session on the park’s dock to ensure accessibility for all visitors.
Poet and arts educator Sheniz Janmohamed hosted two nature reconnection walks to help participants reflect and fine-tune their senses within the park’s environment. She led activities such as colour identification, sound mapping, and textural awareness throughout her walks.
The Friends of Swan Lake Park handed out surveys for people to provide their opinions on proposed changes to the park. Some questions included plans to designate the park as a Natural Heritage area under Markham’s Greenway System. Other questions asked about a potential boardwalk, increased parking space, and a new waterfall, among other changes.
The Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab, a partnership with leading researchers from York University, organized multiple booths near the playground to display their research technologies that survey and assess the lake’s water quality. The lab presented a VR simulation of a future boardwalk, a water testing kit, and four research drones.
A main goal for the Friends of Swan Lake Park’s event was to advocate to residents towards increasing the park’s environmental protections. This includes upgrading the park’s “Other” classification into a Natural Heritage Network site, based on Markham’s Greenway System.
According to Section 3 of Markham’s 2014 Official Plan, the Natural Heritage Network protects its lands by prohibiting any development, redevelopment, or site alterations that would impair both terrestrial and aquatic habitats; identifying land and aquatic features for protection; creating vegetation protection zones around respective features; and protecting endangered, threatened and special concern species.
Ward 5 Councillor Andrew Keyes and Regional Councillor Alan Ho both attended the event.
Keyes said the City of Markham updates its Official Plans “not more than every 10 years.”
“We do our best to look in that crystal ball, predict the future, and have our planning align with that vision,” he said. “But in 10 years time, that future might look different. And so, we want to revisit some of the assumptions that we made.”
For context, visitors have identified over 150 animal species at the park – most of them being birds – with some species at risk in Ontario, such as the bank swallow, the bobolink, and the common nighthawk.
Other goals for the Friends of Swan Lake Park’s event were to promote the park’s biodiversity and help people reconnect with nature.
“I think it’s important to think about the interconnectedness of human beings and
nature, and that’s something that we’ve lost,” Janmohamed said. “We tend to see
nature as something outside of us, something that we use, or part of our recreation as
opposed to, ‘Oh, if the bees die out, that’s going to impact what food is available to us and our survival at large.’”
Swan Lake Park was converted from a gravel mining pit in the 1990s. Since then, the lake has faced significant challenges in maintaining its water quality.
Swan Lake suffers from constant algae blooms due to Canada goose-induced nitrogen and phosphorus waste. Blooms can produce toxins for humans, pets, and wild animals upon ingestion.
Additionally, the lake has no stream inflows or outflows to renew its stagnant water, along with increased chloride levels from de-icing materials.
The City of Markham classified the lake as hypereutrophic – the poorest water quality level – in 2011. Afterwards, Markham city council implemented some programs to ensure the park’s sustainability.
The city treated Swan Lake with Phoslock in 2013 and Poly Aluminum Chloride in 2021 and 2024 to improve water quality. It also began a geese control program in 2014 to minimize Canada goose populations, as well as a Park Refresh program in 2021 to remove invasive plants and modify the lake’s shoreline to be less attractive to geese.
According to the Friends of Swan Lake Park, the council only addressed three out of seven concerns for a Park Improvement program from 2020 onwards: water quality, Canada geese, and park plants. To the advocacy group, the council had yet to fulfil the needs of aquatic animals, aquatic plants, other animals, and nearby residents.
In the advocacy group’s March 2021 Park Improvement Survey, over 90 per cent of residents supported an estimated $2 million investment, a long-term sustainable Stewardship Plan, and the restoration of terrestrial and aquatic wildlife to ensure the park’s sustainability. Over 80 per cent of residents also supported improving Swan Lake’s water quality to oligotrophic or mesotrophic status – the two highest water quality levels.
The Friends of Swan Lake Park will meet with Markham city council for a subcommittee meeting on June 18 at 9 a.m. They will also meet in 2026 following Markham’s five-year review of the water quality program for the lake.
Readers can fill out the Friends of Swan Lake Park’s survey through https://friendsofswanlakepark.ca/survey/. Residents can also volunteer for the Swan Lake Citizen Science Lab through https://www.yorku.ca/cifal/slcs-lab-membership/.
Photo: Poet and arts educator Sheniz Janmohamed hosted two nature reconnection walks to help participants reflect and fine-tune their senses within the park’s environment. (David Yin photo)