A nature trail for pleasure walkers, joggers, hikers & bird-watchers. Accessible for baby strollers, motorized scooters and wheelchairs. The trail is a photographer's paradise, from the Mill Pond through to the woodlands and the West Perth Wetlands.

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Trail Sections: The Wetlands

Description

Location	south of Frank Street	Image linked to full trail map
Length	4 km of walkways along the berms
Access points, (P) = Parking	Frank Street; straight through on Wellington Street by sports fields & park at Entrance Gardens (P)
Surface Conditions	packed earth / mud, berms, width ??
Hiking difficulty rating	challenging
Popular activities	bird-watching, walking, hiking
Enhancements	Wetland Entrance Garden, The Bob Tam Memorial Viewing Station
Connections	at Frank Street: South Trail south of Frank Street: The Woodlands

Points of Interest

Pictures

• Wetlands
• More Wetlands Photos - 2007
• Gallery of Bird Photos
• Hudsonian Godwits (2008)
• American Avocets (2009)

Detailed Description (text by Dave Brown):

A few years back the town of Mitchell decommisioned ALL 5 of the the sewage ponds in favour of building a new high capacity sewage treatment plant at the site. The good news is that 3 of the ponds (#3, #4 and #5) have been kept "mostly" intact and a new West Perth Wetlands Sub-committee was formed to help create wetlands out of these 3 remaining ponds.

Pond #1

• no longer exists
• originally located to the immediate west of the entrance driveway
• was donated to Mitchell minor sports and was completely scraped down and then filled in
• now home to 3 much needed soccer pitches and a brand new hardball diamond

Pond #2

• no longer exists
• originally located to the immediate east of the entrance driveway
• was scraped out and part of it was used as the site for the new sewage treatment plant
• the rest is a grass field in front of the plant.

Ponds #3, #4 and #5 (West Perth Wetlands)

• behind the sports fields and the sewage treatment plant
• were donated (after some discussions with Ducks Unlimited and Perth MNR) to be revamped into viable wetlands
• these 3 ponds together constitute roughly 60 acres in area
• include nice high berms with walking paths along the top
• there are newly created shrub gardens and several tree plantings have been done around all 3 ponds
• provides access to / from the relatively new SOUTH section of the West Perth Nature Trail at the westernmost berm end of pond #3. This allows trail hikers / bikers to access the entire loop around the 3 ponds.
• ultimate goal is to reestablish a pumping system in the 3 ponds to allow us to draw down a given pond each season to create shorebird habitat. So far this hasn't been necessary since hot and dry summer weather has resulted in excellent shorebird habitat (especially in ponds #3 and #4) by August.
• pond #5 is usually deeper year round and as a result provides excellent open water for staging waterfowl.
• an excellent variety of birds can be spotted in this wetland and the nearby woodland areas

Other sections

• North - East bank (south from Francis Street to Ontario Road)
• North - West bank (north from Dam through Lions Park to William Street)
• Middle - East bank (south from Ontario Road to the railroad tracks, along the river flats)
• South Trail (south from the tracks at the James Street flats to Frank Street)
• The Woodlands (many paths through forested river flats, to the West Perth Wetlands, also further south along the Thames River)
• Wetlands Trail
• Park areas (Stacey Park, Lions Park)

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