This point of land, where the Little Bonnechere River spills into Round Lake, is relatively unstable although at first glance it seems quite the opposite. Despite the presence of the expansive sandy beach and towering shade trees, this landscape is geologically young — though formed over thousands of years. And the reshaping never stops. In summer, the sands along the waterfront are subject to the continual lapping of waves; in winter, when the water freezes and expands, the ice pushes hard at the shoreline. Up-river, erosion continually undercuts the sandy shoreline of the outside bends and deposits sediments on the inside bends. 

Thankfully, there is vegetation here! For all the trees and foliage you see growing above ground, there is a corresponding network of roots growing underground. The sandy soil is held together by the roots of towering pine and birch trees, along with a succession of shrubs and plants that thrive lower to the ground. All of this vegetation plays a key role in bank stabilization.

Human and natural activity can dislodge new seedlings, but within Bonnechere Park care is taken to support ecological integrity by allowing their natural growth. A tangle of roots captures sediment and debris that begins to form soil capable of supporting the seeds of other plants, which ultimately makes for more soil and more stability. This process repeats itself over and over so that the vegetation — and a stable landscape — is sustained.

It has been like this for thousands of years. You and I have a responsibility to keep it so.