It's not much to look at right now — just an empty field with some new plantings and a couple of gravel paths — but that's kind of the whole point.

What was once the site of Veldhuis Greenhouses on King Street East in Dundas was officially re-christened Canal Park Saturday morning, the latest addition in the Cootes to Escarpment EcoPark System.

The strip of remediated land opposite Martino Park is another link in the plan to create a trail network that will eventually stretch from Cootes Paradise to the top of the escarpment in Burlington.

"Within five years we're hoping that people will be able to travel within the EcoPark System and have a connected trail network, just like the Bruce Trail is an established network," said Peter Kelly, co-ordinator of the Cootes to Escarpment project.

There are 10 partners working together in the project, including the city, McMaster University, Halton Region and the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

The goal is to acquire land to add to the system where possible or work with private landowners to help protect and preserve one of the most ecologically diverse areas of Canada.

"Most people don't realize that," said Kelly. "The irony of course is that it's abutting two major cities, Hamilton and Burlington, as well as the expanding development in and around it."

There are nearly 1,600 documented species in the area and the plan is to protect and connect nearly 4,000 hectares of land at the western end of Lake Ontario.

It's been a long and expensive process to get this far — about eight years and somewhere between $2 million and $3 million to purchase the old greenhouse property, which sits next to the Desjardins Canal. On top of that were the costs to demolish the buildings, remediate the soil and restore it with native plant species.

"Brownfield restorations always are an expensive adventure," said Chris Firth-Eagland, CAO of the Hamilton Conservation Authority.

"Restoring nature is not cheap," he noted. "When we have it in the first instance and we can preserve it, then it's very affordable.

"Imagine when the canal was in full service — there would have been industries, docks, wharves here," said Firth-Eagland, pointing toward the water. "So you have layer upon layer of different histories covered over by the rise and fall of different enterprises."

The only reminder of the property's industrial past is a lone chimney, left standing so it can provide a nesting home for chimney swifts.

"This property is all about beginnings," Dundas councillor Arlene VanderBeek told a crowd of about 60 people who gathered for the park's official opening.

The goal is to also create a safer wildlife corridor between the waterfront and the top of the escarpment that isn't bisected by a major multi-lane highway.

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"The idea is to keep some areas natural so that people can enjoy and counteract some of the buildings and make sure the wildlife has a place to go too," said Grace Correia, executive director of the Hamilton Conservation Foundation.

"I'm hoping it plays a significant role in the community and people will use it."