Ontario Trails Council Trail News - Trail Insurance Program

If you want:

• cost stability
• product assurance
• insurance perseverance
• a broker that understands trails

At OTC our mission is "trail preservation." See the note from Intercity Insurance, Mike King, below.

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 Further to our recent discussions, I wanted to let you know that we have investigated various markets to get a sense of the appetite that insurers have for coverage associated with trails.

Our findings suggest that coverage is available - but from a very limited number of carriers and that the cost of insurance in this class is not heading down anytime soon. The reality is that there have been losses associated with trails in general and that the frequency and severity of claims is on the rise.

On the positive side of the issue, we have had several specific discussions of late with our current carriers at Lloyd's of London and we are (collectively) very interested in ramping up our work with OTC to connect with your associates who manage trails. We and the insurers we represent are firm in our commitment to work collaboratively with the OTC trail community to develop a comprehensive risk management strategy that makes sense - and insurance is just one part of that strategy.

As for what trail insurance products we have "in the box” right now:

a)       Commercial General Liability coverage —premium costs start at $1,000.00 for $2,000,000 coverage.

b)      Directors and Officers liability coverage — premium costs start at $200.00 for $I,000,000 coverage. We find that even the smallest community group is seeing the importance of acquiring D and O coverage.

c)       Accidental Death and Dismemberment coverage - premiums start at $250. 00 to cover the Officers, Directors, employees, members. The limit of coverage is $100,000.

In the near future OTC will be bundling these products as a part of membership services and products.

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Congratulations to OTC Member - Headwaters Communities in Action

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2013 Call for Applications Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund
Ontario is providing grants to help communities take action to protect and restore their corner of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin.
This is the second call for applications under the Great Lakes Guardian Community Fund. Grants are available for projects that take place in Ontario within the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin. The basin includes: Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Ontario, Lake Superior, the St. Lawrence River, the Ottawa River, their connecting channels, and their watersheds. Examples of projects that could qualify include:

• Planting trees to restore stream banks
• Protecting and restoring sensitive and degraded natural habitats by managing the flow of storm water runoff
• Protecting traditional harvesting areas from invasive species by using traditional ecological knowledge

You can receive a grant of up to $25,000 grant for your project. Smaller projects are also encouraged. Applications for funding will be accepted until April 26, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. E.D.T. Information on the fund, including the application guide, form, frequently asked questions and 2012 grant recipients, is available at ontario.ca/GreatLakesFund.