Rouge Park is Canada's premier urban wilderness park. Over 47 km2 (11,500 acres) in size, it is protected park land in the Rouge River, Petticoat Creek and Duffins Creekwatersheds, in and near Toronto, Canada's largest city. This Park is already 13 times bigger than New-York's Central Park or 33 times bigger than London's, England's Hyde Park. Its Natural Appearance must be kept, because it homes:
- 762 plant species, including 6 which are nationally rare and 92 which are regionally rare.
- 225 bird species, 5 of which are nationally rare breeding birds and 4 other breeding birds of special concern as well as numerous locally rare, area-sensitive raptor and colonial birds
- 55 fish species, 2 of which are nationally vulnerable
- 27 mammal species, some are locally rare
- 19 reptile and amphibian species, some are locally rare
So we need to protect this Park, and for that we need to find the things that danger the Parks ecosystem
One of the things that danger the ecosystem are unaware humans. For example some people hunt down dears for recreation and food, that is allowed in some legal places but Rouge Park is not one of those places. A loss of any species in an ecosystem can affect the whole ecosystem. Another thing is when people pick up edible mushrooms or wild flowers.( http://www.rougepark.com/explore/protect.php)
Another thing is garbage waste and chemical waste in the Rouge River. There is a nearby landfill site not to far from the Rouge River, the harmful chemicals from items like plastic can seep through underground and harm the ecosystem. A very harmful chemical called Bis-phenol-A prevents birth and cause gender defects in fish when there is a significant amount in the water. Another problem is the surrounding farmland, the farmers use chemical based fertilizers and the excess fertilizers which seep through the ground in into the Rouge River cause algae blooms which really disturbs the environment. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom )
There are plenty of other problems affecting the Environment such as noise and air pollution but those are some of the main ones that affect the Park directly.
