With almost 50 square kilometres of park land, and thousands of visitors each year, Rouge Park is a place where wildlife finds healthy habitat, and people find an urban oasis.

Our challenge is to keep people and wildlife safe, and ensure the Park is protected for the future. A variety of people, including you, can help us. Our visitors’ activities make an impact, good or bad.

When you explore the Park, you can help protect the natural environment, so that everyone may enjoy a beautiful, healthy Park year after year. Please stay on designated trails as you explore this unique nature reserve.

We take many steps to protect Park visitors, and to safeguard the Park from harmful human activities. Who helps us protect the Park by ensuring our guests are complying with laws, by-laws and park regulations?

• Toronto Police Services, 42 Division 416-808-4200
• Toronto By-law enforcement officers
• Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Conservation Officers 1-877-TIPS-MNR
• Toronto and Region Conservation Authority Conservation Officers

Many deer have fallen victim to poaching in the Park. Killing animals in the Park is illegal. This is a dangerous activity for people too. The poaching of large animals such as deer involves weapons that pose a safety concern for the unsuspecting public, especially if they have not stayed on the official trails. Make no mistake, this is not hunting – hunting is the harvest of wildlife in legal areas, at legal times, using legal methods. There is no legal use of firearms, including bows or crossbows in Rouge Park at anytime.

If you witness illegal poaching in Rouge Park, please call the Ministry of Natural Resources tips line at 1-877-TIPS-MNR (847-7667) Learn more.

Removing plants or mushrooms from the Park is also prohibited. Many people do not realize that stopping to collect some of their favorite wildflowers or edible mushrooms while exploring the Park can have a significant negative effect on the ecological processes that occur in the area. Every species, from deer to mushrooms, has an important role to play in the ecosystem. For example, fungi act to decompose dead plant and animal matter returning important nutrients to the soil. This in turn allows new plant growth to flourish. If we harvest a species quicker than it can be replenished, that species could become seriously depleted or even extinct, causing these ecological processes to be altered.

Rouge Park is for everyone to enjoy, and if we all become stewards of this land and do our part to protect the natural resources of the area, it will continue to flourish as a natural wild space. This means enjoying the natural environment of the Park without disturbing the plants and animals within it. So, if you must take something from the Park, be sure it’s a photograph, a memory, or a sense of appreciation for the sanctuary the Park offers. There are plenty of those for everyone!