The Murray Marsh, also known as the Big Murray Swamp, is an

ecologically Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their biophysical environment, physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community (ecology), community, ecosy ...

important

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

on the Trent River in

Northumberland County, Ontario Northumberland County is an upper-tier level of municipal government situated on the north shore of Lake Ontario, east of Toronto in Central Ontario. The Northumberland County headquarters are located in Cobourg. Municipalities Northumberland ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. At 4850

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is a ...

s (12,125

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s), this is the largest expanse of unspoiled wetland in southeastern Ontario. Lying south of Percy Reach, the marsh extends 8.75 kilometres southward from the Reach to a point 3.3 kilometres northwest of Wooler, Ontario. It sweeps in an irregular arc between Percy Boom (44 degs, 14 mins North; 77 degs, 48 mins West) in the west and German's Landing (44 degs, 16 mins, North; 77 degs, 40 mins West) in the east. These two points are located approximately 10.8 kilometres apart. Vegetation consists of wooded

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

, thicket swamp and lowland

deciduous forest In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

interrupted by ridges, islands and open water. More than 150 bird species including migrating waterfowl use the marsh as a feeding and nesting site. A heronry is located in a meadowland in the northwest area of the marsh and a large deer yard is situated in the wetland.

References

Ontario Natural Heritage Information Centre

Quinte West Ontario- tourism, events, information
*Topographical Map, Dept. of Energy, Mines and Resources, Ottawa (published 1982)

External links

Lower Trent Conservation: Murray Marsh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray Marsh, The Marshes of Ontario Protected areas of Northumberland County, Ontario