Ark Gardening
in the Context of the 6th Mass Extinction
...And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the "ARK."
GENESIS 7:23
​
While the story of Noah’s Ark is ancient, its message is more relevant today than ever. The destructive flood is not water but an ecological collapse of our own making. Across the globe, ecosystems that once flourished—towering forests, thriving wetlands, and vibrant prairies—have been reduced to isolated, degraded fragments. Habitat destruction, agriculture, resource exploitation, industry, pollution, introduced species, and urban sprawl have reshaped the natural world, pushing many species to the brink of extinction. The crisis is accelerating, and we can no longer afford to stand by. Unlike Noah, we have the power to act before it is too late—to choose renewal over destruction, to rebuild instead of erase. What we plant, protect, and how we design our landscapes today, determines our future.
I live in Burlington, Ontario, where the Great Lakes and Carolinian Deciduous Forests merge near the location of "Brant's Block," a 3,450-acre land grant given in 1784 by the British Crown to Mohawk leader Joseph Brant. At the southwest corner of Brant’s Block stands "Brant’s Oak," a prominent White Oak (Quercus alba) that served as an official survey marker, defining the boundaries of Brant’s Block, Wellington Square and eventually the City of Burlington. At the time Brant's Oak was surveyed, it was part of an expansive thriving landscape of towering hardwood forests, tallgrass prairies, and pristine wetlands.
Brant built his home near the current location of the Joseph Brant hospital and museum. Back then, the nearby sandy Lake Ontario shoreline supported a wealth of biodiversity. The waters teemed with American Eels (Anguilla rostrata), Lake Sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), and Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar). The skies were filled with Least Bitterns (Ixobrychus exilis) and Black Terns (Chlidonias niger), while swarms of Monarch Butterflies (Danaus plexippus) and Yellow-banded Bumblebees (Bombus terricola) moved between fields of Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata) and Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa). Hill’s Thistle (Cirsium hillii), Prairie Buttercup (Ranunculus rhomboideus), and Showy Tick-Trefoil (Desmodium canadense) flourished in the tallgrass prairie. Greater Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) danced and Eastern Cougars (Puma concolor) hunted them.
Moving deeper into the forests of Brant’s Block, the landscape transitioned from sunlit prairies to dense, towering woodlands. Here, Red Mulberry (Morus rubra) and American Chestnut (Castanea dentata) stood among giant Tulip Trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) and Cucumber Trees (Magnolia acuminata), their broad canopies providing food and shelter for countless creatures. Enormous flocks of Passenger Pigeons (Ectopistes migratorius) blocked out the sun. Nearer to the forest floor, Eastern Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis), Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), and Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), offered food and shelter to Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) and Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus). Nearer to the forest floor, Eastern Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida), Canada Anemone (Anemone canadensis), Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), and Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum), offered food and shelter to Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mustelina) and Eastern Towhee (Pipilo erythrophthalmus).
Jeffersons Salamanders (Plethodon cinereus) tunneled through
the leaf litter while Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) soared overhead.
Today, only a few isolated dying remnants of the ancient hardwood forests, tallgrass prairies, and pristine wetlands survive. Many species once common on Brant’s Block, have since disappeared or teeter on the oblivion of extinction.Species at risk in Ontario[https://www.ontario.ca/page/species-risk-ontario]If Joseph Brant were alive today, he would recognize very little.
"Brant's Tree" still stands tall, surrounded by asphalt in the middle of Allview Avenue, a relic of a lost world, largely replaced with urban sprawl. The once soft soils, thick with organic matter accumulated over millennia and teeming with decomposers, have become invasive Eurasian earthworm compacted and hostile. Carpets of non-native turfgrass consume space and water resources as fertilizers, pesticides, road salt, plastic and urban runoff drain through street sewers into nearby channelized waterways, fueling toxic algal blooms and poisoning aquatic ecosystems and our drinking water.
On streets nearby grow Periwinkle (Vinca minor), Lily of the Valley (Convalleria majallis), English Ivy (Hedera helix), Day Lily (Hemerocallis fulva), Japanese Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) and many other common escaped ornamentals that choke out native plant species, disrupt pollinator relationships, and alter soil chemistry across Southern Ontario, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile... These introduced species and many others commonly found in urban areas have become problems nearly everywhere they have been introduced.
The result? A single growing dysfunctional global "McEcosystem," where the same invasive species dominate, disrupt and erase entire communities of native microbes, plants, fungi, and animals that once made each region unique. Even if the biodiversity crisis stopped today, the earth’s biosphere would require millions of years to recover.
