Rouge National Urban Park spans an impressive 79 square kilometres across Toronto and Pickering, and the enormous public space is soon expected to grow even larger.

The Government of Canada announced on Friday that the sprawling park is on track to expand further into Pickering with the addition of 119 hectares of land in conjunction with an announcement on the investment of close to $1 million to support watershed restoration.

The announcement comes following the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's (TRCA) approval of the disposition of land measuring 1.19 square kilometres for "the potential expansion of Rouge National Urban Park in the City of Pickering and the Regional Municipality of Durham."

Gary Anandasangaree, Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Scarborough-Rouge Park MP, called the announcement "another step forward for expanding and restoring the park's precious ecosystems and creating even more vibrant places for GTA residents to discover and connect with the incredible wildlife, forests, marshes and meadows."

Today, the #GoC announced a funding contribution of close to 1M$ for restoration work in @RougePark and a motion to transfer 119 hectares of land from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. pic.twitter.com/lxZ222Ej2X

— Rouge National Urban Park, Parks Canada (@RougePark) November 16, 2024

The expansion would join the over 2,200 hectares of land that the TRCA has handed over to Parks Canada since 2015 for inclusion in Rouge National Urban Park.

In that nine-year period, Parks Canada states that it has worked alongside the TRCA, as well as Indigenous communities, the City of Toronto, the City of Pickering, agricultural landowners, schools and volunteers to restore and maintain the park.

According to Parks Canada, it has "initiated and completed 137 ecological restoration and farmland enhancement projects that have restored 92 hectares of wetland habitat, 142 hectares of forest habitat and five hectares of meadow habitat, including the planting of over 300,000 native trees and shrubs."

Rouge Park is home to the breathtaking Mast Trail, an old logging route named for the felled trees used to construct ship masts for the British Royal Navy.

While it straddles two cities in the most populous region of Canada, many may be surprised to learn that Rouge National Urban Park is home to wildlife more commonly encountered in the country's hinterland, like bears.

You can find roughly 1,700 species in Rouge National Urban Park, including more than 1,000 types of plants, and a variety of animals, including almost 250 bird species, as well as dozens of fish, mammal, reptile and amphibian species.

Sadly, despite all its majesty and pristine, undisturbed nature, Rouge has also developed a recent reputation as a dumping ground for trash.