Thursday, March 21, 2013

Ontario Trails News - All the Best in World Class Trail Experiences right here on Ontario Trails!

Aboriginal sports organization wants minister’s support

Thursday March 21, 2013

File photo
Team Ontario marches into the 2008 North American Indigenous Games in Cowichan, BC.

An Aboriginal sports organization is hoping the sporting background of Ontario’s new Aboriginal Affairs minister will result in an increased focus on the benefits of sport for First Nations and Metis youth.
The Aboriginal Sports and Wellness Council of Ontario (ASWCO) says that new minister David Zimmer’s background in swimming, hiking and weightlifting should help him to “personally understand the benefits of physical activity.”
“Our hope is that Mr. Zimmer’s experience as a parliamentary assistant and personal understanding of physical fitness will help contribute to greater opportunities and success for Aboriginal peoples in sport and recreation,” said ASWCO chair Marc Laliberte.
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Lester B. Pearson Park Pictures added to Ontario Trails Website -

Thanks to Jim for the photos!

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Active Transportation-Canada Listserv Members:

There have been more than 25 new news items added onto the Active Transportation-Canada Website since the last notice on March 1. These include:

1. Edmonton - City delays bike lanes, orders more consultation

2. What happens when you build it and they don’t come?

3. It's Not About The Bike Or Car -- It's About Better Cities

A complete list of all articles posted since the Websites creation may be found in the "Blog Archive" box, located on the right margin of the Website. There are now more than 1,700 items posted on Active Transportation - Canada, with links available to dozens of studies and hundreds of news items from communities across Canada and around the world.

Active Transportation Canada URL: http://activetransportation-canada.blogspot.com/ "Search" function is available on the site. You will find this at the bottom of the page.

If anyone has a problem reading this message, please let me know. I welcome suggestions for posts, so if you have news items featuring your community, please share them with the other subscribers from Canada, the US, and Australia on Active Transportation-Canada.

Thank you.
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Trail Counts

EVER WONDERED WHO IS USING YOUR TRAIL AND WHEN? LOOKING FOR MORE THAN JUST A STATIC COUNT OF TRAIL ACTIVITY? TELL OTHERS ABOUT WHAT TYPE OF PERSON IS USING YOUR TRAIL, WHAT MAKES YOUR TRAIL A POPULAR DESTINATION...AND MORE!

WE HAVE YOUR ANSWER.

Utilizing smartphone technology trail users can now complete a short survey that:

Logs in the trip
Single counts individual users
Consolidates results for centralized reporting
Consultation on survey content.
We ask your questions - the facility manager asks what they want to know!
Allows for separate trail counting
Multi-season operation
24/7collection
Identifies quality of trail experiences
Provides you feedback loop

Wherever there is a smartphone signal, and YOUR trailhead you could be gathering and collecting additional information that will make for a better trail! Got great trails? Get the feedback that keeps you in the know!

LOW MAINTENANCE

Using weatherproof decals our methods allow users to quickly and easily provide you with information you need to assess, improve, direct, re-direct, or provide information to the user - while on the trail. Our proprietary method has been developed by over 140 trail users and with the input of The City of Thunder Bay and Norfolk County Trail Managers.

LOW COST

$50.00 per trail per year (max 3 trails) includes:

Decal design
Decal Printing - max 6 sheets, various size decals
More decals option (fee charged)
Survey Set-up
Survey reports
All system maintenance
Regional Comparisons
Seasonal variances
Trail differentiations
Use patterns

PACKAGES

OTC Member? - Take $25.00 off each package!

Blue - 4-10 trails: $300.00 plus HST and registration fees
- Maximum 20 sheets of decals
Green - 10-20 trails: $500.00 plus HST and registration fees
- Maximum 40 sheets of decals
Gold - 20 or more trails: Starting at $1,000 plus HST and registration fees
- TBD

We've kept the price low - comparible pairs of static counters, that provide no demographic or qualitative information start at @$750.00 a pair, per trail - at OTC we are maintenance free, so operating cost is never an issue! Get information on your rural trails - save on gas, training, maintenance and get better connected to your customer: THE TRAIL USER!

VARIOUS DECAL SIZES TO MEET YOUR NEEDS!

8 decals per sheet - each decal is @4.5" (W) X 1.12" (T) or 11.43cm (W) X 2.8cm (T)
4 decals per sheet - each decal is @ 6" (W) X 1.75" (T) or 15.24cm (W) X 4.44cm (T)
2 decals per sheet - each decal is @ 9" (W) X 2.25" (T) or 22.86cm (W) x 5.72cm (T)

NETWORKED TRAIL TRAFFIC SERVICE -

Do you have a trail that comes into your area from somewhere else? Is it managed by someone other than you? Ever want to know how much trail traffic was passing through, staying. or going away from your place - on your trail? Trails network and they cross jurisdictions. How much maintenance are you doing for traffic that comes from someone else's trail? We can answer that! Watch this space for our Trillium Trail (C) Decal. It is designed specifically for trail networks

OTHER FACILITIES?

Do you have a trail that comes into park, runs around the arena or pool and you'd like to know more about cross flow and traffic integration? Ontario Trails can offer this same method to integrate additional feedback from your other recreation facilities as well - producing for you a comprehensive report on traffic, quality of experience at your arena, pool or tourism destination - giving you a sense of aggregate operation and our 4 F's - "fit, flow, funding and function."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Call Patrick at 877-668-7245
execdir@ontariotrails.ca
*Shipping and handling extra
** Colour print extra

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Trailhead Ontario

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Trailhead Ontario Website Trailhead Ontario Registration - Early Bird Ends April 1, 2013

Our Plan for 2013 – "From Recreation to Tourism" There are a lot of new trails and trail tourism partnerships in RTO8. The Ontario Trails “Trailhead Ontario 2013″ Committee is is pleased to announce the Holiday Inn Waterfront Peterborough as the location of our conferencing. Site locations for our trail education program are being determined now.

NATURAL/ HISTORIC SITES When you’re entering the region from any direction the noticeable feature that differentiates Peterborough from other Cities or Counties in Ontario is the distinct rolling hills. These hills, while beautiful when full with fall foliage, have a unique history behind them. When the last ice age was receding, it left behind large pockets of sediment, which it picked up while proceeding to grow and freeze everything in its path. These pockets of sediment are what create the rolling hill effect you see now. The leftover hills are called Drumlins and Peterborough is home to one of the largest Drumlin fields in Canada. The reason is unknown, however when traveling along the trails or the roads, makes sure you keep an eye out for the next hill and think about how it really was created. Become a Trailhead Ontario Presenter - tell us about yourself!

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Our mobile app voted one of 12 Must Have for Living in Rural Ontario by Ruralist.ca

Ontario Trail Projects - this page details our work in 32 areas of Ontario.

Ontario Trails Council liaise with the province, and through membership input we conduct a variety of surveys and create reports that guide decision makers at all levels - these include:

Trail Priorities
Accessibility
Land Use Planning
Ontario Cycling Route Commentary
Use of Maintenance Vehicles on Trails
Community Development
Event Planning for Trail Groups
Safe Trails Manual
Regional Tourism Trail Inventory RTO12

And more. We can get you to a significant trails audience.

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Ontario Trail Council Membership

Membership renewals for 2013 started going out December 1st, 2012. Thanks to the 77+ organizations that have renewed so far!

On behalf of OTC we thank you for your support. If there is a group you know that is not a member contact us and we'll send them a note on membership benefits.

THANKS! MERCI!