The Lives of Lake Ontario An Environmental History

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Series: Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies Series

By: Daniel Macfarlane(Author)

282 pages, 41 b/w photos

Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press

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ISBN: 9780228022237 Hardback Sep 2024 Expected delivery 13th March - 16th March
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About this book

Lake Ontario has profoundly influenced the historical evolution of North America. For centuries, it has enabled and enriched the societies that crowded its edges, from fertile agricultural landscapes to energy production systems to sprawling cities.

In The Lives of Lake Ontario, Daniel Macfarlane details the lake's relationship with the Indigenous nations, settler cultures, and modern countries that have occupied its shores. He examines the myriad ways Canada and the United States have used and abused this resource: through dams and canals, drinking water and sewage, trash and pollution, fish and foreign species, industry and manufacturing, urbanisation and infrastructure, population growth and biodiversity loss. Serving as both a bridge and a buffer between the two countries, Lake Ontario came to host Canada's largest megalopolis. Yet its transboundary exploitation exacted a tremendous ecological cost, leading people to abandon the lake. Innovative regulations in the late twentieth century, such as the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreements, have partially improved Lake Ontario's health.

Despite signs that communities are reengaging with Lake Ontario, it remains the most degraded of the Great Lakes, with new and old problems alike exacerbated by climate change. The Lives of Lake Ontario demonstrates that this lake is both remarkably resilient and uniquely vulnerable.

Figures vii
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction 3
1 Glaciers and Empires 17
2 Settlers and Ecologies 38
3 Canals and Ships 59
4 Cities and Growth 81
5 Energy and Megaprojects 109
6 Fisheries and Invasives 124
7 Pollution and Protection 138
8 Levels and Regulation 165
Conclusion: Listen to the Lake 185
Notes 205
Bibliography 233
Index 261

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Biography

Daniel Macfarlane is an associate professor in the School of Environment, Geography, and Sustainability at Western Michigan University and the author of Natural Allies: Environment, Energy, and the History of US-Canada Relations.

Coming Soon

Series: Rural, Wildland, and Resource Studies Series

By: Daniel Macfarlane(Author)

282 pages, 41 b/w photos

Publisher: McGill-Queens University Press

Media reviews

– Commended, John R. Lyman Book Awards in Maritime History, North American Society for Oceanic History 2025

"Engaging and accessible, The Lives of Lake Ontario fills gaps in our knowledge of lakefront geographies by considering the lake itself as an organizing principle. This re-centering of key regional features generates insights into the economic and environmental history of the region that have been overlooked by land-oriented studies, giving water its due in the history of this watery centre of the continent."
– Jennifer Bonnell, author of Reclaiming the Don: An Environmental History of Toronto's Don River Valley

"Despite some progress, the mistreatment of Lake Ontario over the last two centuries continues to undermine its ecological health and role as a key fish and wildlife habitat. The Lives of Lake Ontario advances our understanding of a Great Lake that is often trivialized, building blocks of history and science into a fascinating whole."
– Dave Dempsey, author of Great Lakes for Sale

"MacFarlane's contribution provides a space to think across geographical, technical, social, cultural, and political landscapes. A comprehensive, insightful environmental history of Lake Ontario."
– NiCHE: Network in Canadian History & Environment

"A deeply researched, authoritative account of the physical phenomena that formed and continue to shape the fourteenth-largest lake in the world [...] Beyond his ability to distill an abundance of complex scientific detail into crisp, digestible prose, [Macfarlane] truly shines in elucidating the reciprocal relationship between the lake and the people surrounding it."
– Dan Rubinstein, Literary Review of Canada

"Drawing upon a rich reserve of sources, including US and Canadian state, provincial, federal, and university archives, The Lives of Lake Ontario makes a persuasive case for paying more attention to this 'least appreciated' member of the Great Lakes."
– H-Environment

"The Lives of Lake Ontario is exceptionally well-written and accessible, not merely an academic text. Macfarlane enriches the history of Canada-U.S. relations, and he skillfully navigates complexities with a human touch."
– Seaboard Review of Books