Where is the Frontenac Arch?

The Frontenac Arch is a geological feature ridge of ancient granite, the backbone of eastern North America, that joins the Adirondack Mountains to the Canadian Shield. The Frontenac Arch lies northwest-southeast through the eastern portion of Ontario, from Algonquin Park, across the east end of Lake Ontario to the Adirondacks, and is about midway between the cities of Toronto and Montreal.

To many, the Canadian Shield is the quintessential Canadian landscape ”the rugged "north", and a land of forests and lakes. But many haven't realized that a portion of the Shield extends southward though Ontario, and into the U.S. The Frontenac Arch, as this hourglass-shaped outlier of the Canadian Shield is known, is the ancient backbone of North America. In Mohawk tradition, this massive landform is :The Bones of the Mother".

Even to the most casual observer, the Frontenac Arch is an entirely different landscape than the remainder of southern Ontario and upper New York State. To someone driving across the land, an otherwise flat and plain countryside is suddenly interrupted by rolling hills and rugged cliffs, topped with windswept pines, and valleyied with sinewy creeks and tranquil lakes and wetlands. But about a billion years ago, this was a far more dramatic landscape. The Frontenac Arch, and the Canadian Shield, was a massive range of towering mountains. It took hundreds of millions of years for these mountains to weather down to their roots and those basement rocks of the mountains are what we experience in this landscape today.

It happens that the lowest elevation along the Frontenac Arch lies at the east end of Lake Ontario. In fact Lake Ontario owes its existence to the Arch, which nearly impounded the lake. Through the last ice ages, glaciers bulldozed the basins for the Great Lakes and as each of the lakes filled to their brims, they overflowed on their race to the sea. A young Lake Ontario first flowed out the Oswego River. As the land rose further, released from the enormity of glacial ice, the lake tipped gently towards the east. The lake's waters finally rose up the flanks of the Frontenac Arch, far enough to spill between the granite hilltops. A thousand hilltops, actually the roots of the ancient mountains, became the Thousand Islands in this flooded landscape.

And so, the greatest natural intersection on the continent came into being at the end of the last ice age: the intersection of the Frontenac Arch and the St. Lawrence River Valley. The Arch connects the Canadian Shield and the boreal forest to the forests of the Adirondack and Appalachian Mountains a south to north/north to south migration route. The river valley is a route from the Great Lakes forest heartland of the continent to the forests of the Atlantic Coast. The Thousand Islands are at the very centre of that intersection. Here, the five great forest regions of the eastern continent meet and intermingle, with many species at range limits, and with many as remnant populations from forests altered by millennia of climate change and evolving landscapes. This region has, arguably, Canada's greatest diversity of plant and animal communities.

These natural migration routes have also proven to be trade and migration routes for First nations peoples. Discoveries in archaeological sites have unearthed copper knives from the far north, shells from the southern coasts, chert for projectile points from further west and inland, and pottery types from several regions. Three centuries ago, the river valley guided explorers, traders and nation-builders to the heart of the continent, and beyond.

These cultural and ecological riches were key among reasons for the designation in Canada of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve, by UNESCO. The designation celebrates the global significance of the region, where the Thousand Islands are the Biosphere's front door and the Rideau Canal, now celebrated as a World Heritage Site, is a central corridor. All who live and visit here, and who cherish its character, share responsibility in the stewardship of one of our Earth's most precious landscapes.

The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve was designated as Canada's 12th biosphere reserve by the UNESCO "Man and the Biosphere" program in November, 2002. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve is located where Lake Ontario flows into the St. Lawrence River, south of the national capital of Ottawa, about mid way between the cities of Toronto and Montreal, and an eight hour drive northwest of New York City.

In the 2,700 sq. km. biosphere reserve, there are in fact two UNESCO designations: the World Biosphere Reserve itself, and the Rideau Canal UNESCO World Heritage Site Ontario's only World Heritage Site. It is rare anywhere in the world that these UNESCO designations coincide. The southern half of the Rideau Canal World Heritage Site lies within the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve.

This unique juncture of humanity and biodiversity presents both a challenge and an opportunity: maintaining a high quality of life, a rich culture, robust economy, and healthy environment while recognizing the realities of growth and development in this region. This requires the development and maintenance of a healthy symbiotic relationship between people and nature: the fundamental pillars of sustainability. Having just celebrated its 6th anniversary, the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve reflects with pride on the accomplishments and strong partnerships towards sustainable community development, in Canada's authentic core.