Ontario Trails News - President's Message, ALTO, and more!

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

ONTARIO TRAILS COUNCIL NEWSLETTER - March 9, 2026 • National Trail Conference Go Fund Us - Send 10 Ontario Reps to Winnipeg! • • Winter Activity on Ontario Trails • Trail Projects • Updates • Member Services • Ontario Trails Council is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors, that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.  Please consider supporting us through a donation or a membership. Thanks.   OTC President’s Corner  March 2026 As many of us now say, “It’s been a minute” since we last connected and so it has. As a Canadian it would be strange of me not to inject something about the weather – so however you experienced winter in Ontario this season, I’m hoping you found a way to enjoy it outdoors on a trail! Spring is near and we all can feel the sun’s warmth again. It is beginning to feel like a new day in more ways than a seasonal change. I’ll give you a simple example. Since the summer of 2000, the Ontario Trails Council (OTC) and the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) decided it was in their best interest to each take a different “fork in the trail”. The trail each agency followed diverged but were never out of sight and often not out of step with each other’s forward direction. Time passed, trail leaders moved on, history faded and those two forks in the trail, found their way back to a single, more established pathway. If you heard it from someone else, this should help make it clear: the Ontario Trails Council is once again working with the Trans Canada Trail on trail related challenges to find solutions and improve trail operations and the user experience here in Ontario. We need each other – we always have. Starting this week, the OTC is engaging with local trail champions in Durham Region, near Uxbridge – Trails Capital of Canada to knit together a solution that will stabilize the management of the Beaver River Wetland Trail – a 22km TCT section, in collaboration and with the support of the Trans Canada Trail. As an OTC member, trail manager and/or trail enthusiast you may have questions about what changed? What took you so long? How do we tap into this kind of OTC/TCT assistance? What I can tell you here is that this renewed arrangement was long in the making, fostered by many over many years and I’d be happy to share more about how it came to be in several ways. First, I’d like to thank Patrick Connor (OTC Executive Director) and Kim Goodman (OTC Board Member) for their resilience, openness and aim to support this renewed relationship with the Trans Canada Trail team. Now as for the options to connect and learn more see below: Option 1: reach out and email me president@ontariotrails.ca. If my inbox is overwhelmed by your questions, that’ll be a happy problem because we’ll get to meet each other. Option 2: reach out to Patrick Connor (Executive Director) and ask about membership renewal, assistance and support – he’d love to get in touch. execdir@ontariotrails.ca Option 3: Consider attending the Canadian Trail Summit in Winnipeg June 16-19 https://canadiantrailsummit.ca/ being hosted by Trans Canada Trail. This is a great chance to catch up, connect, talk trail challenges and solutions. Also, The Forks in Winnipeg is an iconic destination in Canada, especially in June – not to be missed.   Can’t make the Summit but would still like to support it? We have an OTC GoFundMe account set up below, the aim is to use the funds raised to offset the costs of 10 Ontario attendees to the conference. We’d love the support, but even better is to have 10 reps from Ontario attend and bring back the learning here.   Safe, accessible and enjoyable trails to all of you, Dan   ONTARIO TRAIL NEWS   Go Fund Us You can Help send 10 Ontario Trails Leaders to the National Trail Summit Ontario Trails Council is revitalizing our partnership with the Trans Canada Trail. Recent talks have gone exceedingly well between the OTC Board and leadership of the TCT. We thank the TCT for the opportunity to support our presence at the national event. Unfortunately due to a lack of resources we missed the World Trail Conference 2 years ago. We wish to have a presence in Winnipeg in support of those OTC members that Support the Trans Canada Trail in their communities. With your help we can help shape a better future for trails in Canada. Please donate to get us there. Thank you. TOP TRAIL NEWS   Brant County approves master plan for Nith trails - BrantBeacon BrantBeacon Amrize (formerly Lafarge Canada Inc.) holds an ... Despite this, there are unauthorized trails, ATV and dirt bike uses throughout the site.   Province Expanding Charleston Lake Provincial Park - Ontario Newsroom Ontario Newsroom - ontario.ca ... hiking trails and excellent educational programming. It received 143,879 visits in 2025. In fall 2025, Ontario became the first in Canada to ... If you would like to view the PPCRA regulation proposal and/or submit a comment, please visit the Environmental Registry of Ontario at ero.ontario.ca and search for number 025-0031. Comments received by the deadline will be considered in preparing the decision of whether to expand Charleston Lake Provincial Park.    Province-backed bridge upgrades expected to boost tourism and ATV traffic in the Mattawa area BayToday.ca The VMUTS trail system is popular among many outdoor enthusiasts and is an important nature tourism attraction in northeastern Ontario. Several ...   Is your trail impacted by the potential Alto High Speed rail project? The friends of the Cataraqui Trail write to OTC: We have become aware of the possible use of the Cataraqui Trail as part of the future Alto Train route. You can see where the proposed southern Alto train route traverses the trail via Alto’s interactive map: https://en.consultation.altotrain.ca/shaping-the-canada-of-tomorrow-with-high-speed-rail/places/interact-map The Friends are of course concerned and passed the motion below.  Motion: That the Friends of the Cataraqui Trail express opposition to the location of the ALTO High Speed Rail system along any section of the Cataraqui Trail and encourage members of the Friends of the Trail to express their own opinions to ALTO.  Alto is encouraging feedback via a brief. If your organizations are interested. Here is the link to submit a brief: https://en.consultation.altotrain.ca/shaping-the-canada-of-tomorrow-with-high-speed-rail/surveys/upload-brief The OTC will be sending in its own brief, we encourage OTC members impacted by the railway to also write their own brief.   Bay of Quinte MP withholding support for proposed southern high-speed rail route Quinte News ... conservation areas and Canadian Shield landscapes. In recent weeks, what began as a limited discussion has evolved into widespread concern among ...

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors, that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario. Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025! Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. We wish to thank the City of Orillia, Newmarket, Grimsby and Durham Region for expressing an interest in hosting a Mayor's Walk in 2025!  Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Ontario Trail News - Trail Wise January 6, 2025 - published regularly by the Ontario Trails Council

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025! Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. We wish to thank Newmarket, Grimsby and Durham Region for expressing an interest in hosting a Mayor's Walk in 2025!  Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Ontario Trail News - Trail Wise December 30, 2024 - published regularly by the Ontario Trails Council

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025! Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. We wish to thank Newmarket, Grimsby and Durham Region for expressing an interest in hosting a Mayor's Walk in 2025!  Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Ontario Trail News - Trail Wise December 23, 2024 - published regularly by the Ontario Trails Council

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.     Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025!    Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. We wish to thank Newmarket, Grimsby and Durham Region for expressing an interest in hosting a Mayor's Walk in 2025!  Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Ontario Trails Council - Trail Wise Newsletter - December 16, 2024

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   POSTAL STRIKE IMPACT We would ask that during the Postal Strike all memberships be called in to 613-484-1140, or paid by Direct Deposit, or Paypal. Details at bottom of this newsletter. Thank-you.   Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025!    Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. We wish to thank Newmarket, Grimsby and Durham Region for expressing an interest in hosting a Mayor's Walk in 2025!  Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Ontario Trails Blogspot Update - December 8, 2024

 

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   POSTAL STRIKE IMPACT We would ask that during the Postal Strike all memberships be called in to 613-484-1140, or paid by Direct Deposit, or Paypal. Details at bottom of this newsletter. Thank-you.   Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025!      Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!

Ontario Trails Trail Wise Newsletter Update - December 2, 2024

Ontario Trails Council - a provincial charity working for the development, use, management and preservation of trails and trail based activity. Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.

Ontario Trails is a charity, led by a volunteer board of directors that promotes the use, management, development, and preservation of trails and trail-based activities in Ontario.   Host A Mayor's Walk in 2025!      Ontario Trails "Mayor's Walk" are open to OTC member organizations to act as hosts for a walk on June 7, 2025. We are asking communities to share their enthusiasm for their local trails by inviting your mayor out for a walk on provincial trails day, June 7, 2025. With trails in 100's of Ontario Communities this is a great way to showcase your local support while enabling all the Mayor's and their traill friends to get out for a celebration of trails. Sign up sheet. Ask for the event planning tool, email us at execdir@ontariotrails.ca Thanks everyone!    The OTC website has been renewed and updated for about 18 months. Tell us what you think. https://g.page/r/CQ9K9pdhHG6TEBM/

Places to Run, Ride Your Bike and Saving the Land for Greenbelt and other Trail Related News

There's always something happening on Ontario's Trails

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BEN SNIDER-MCGRATH JUNE 14, 2020

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When COVID-19 prevented Toronto residents from going out and doing whatever they pleased, they began hitting the city’s trails and pathways more and more to keep active by cycling, walking and running. Seeing the sudden surge of outdoor activity, the city decided to create ActiveTO, an initiative that reserved 57 kilometres of Toronto streets for pedestrians and cyclists. The only issue with ActiveTO was that there was no map available for the public, so five Toronto organizations (Cycle Toronto, Walk Toronto, The Bentway, Park People and Spacing Magazine) teamed up to make one, which they named SafewaysTO.

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Environmentalists, farmers renew push to shelve Pickering airport, save prime farmland

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Land was purchased by federal government in 1972 to build airport

Angelina King · CBC News · Posted: Jun 14, 2020 5:00 AM ET | Last Updated: June 14

Advocates for farmland in Pickering, part of a group called Land over Landings, want the remaining land preserved for agriculture instead of a proposed airport. (Jonathan Castell)

Environmental organizations and farmers are renewing calls to protect land in Pickering slated for an airport, saying Ontario is missing out on what could be a secure source of local produce.

The federal project has been in limbo for decades and the group says that's led to a missed opportunity to expand southern Ontario's fruit and vegetable production on prime farmland.

The land, 18,600 acres, was acquired by the Liberal government of then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau in 1972 for the construction of an airport.

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Chesley’s Inn wins bike friendly award

June 14, 2020 — Changed at 19 h 37 min on June 14, 2020

Reading time: 30 s

By Nick Seebruch

Owner of the Inn Robert Prowse (Shawna O'Neill/Seaway News).

CORNWALL, Ontario – Cornwall’s Auberge Chelsea’s Inn is one of 19 businesses from across Ontario’s 13 tourism regions to be recognized with the Bike Friendly Business Award from the Ontario By Bike network.

“The level of service and enthusiasm that these 2020 award winning businesses welcome cyclists with surpasses our bicycle friendly certification criteria and truly is beyond exceptional. Cyclists are taking note and spreading the word. We are pleased to recognize their efforts serving the cycling community, both locals and cycle tourists.” said Louisa Mursell, Executive Director of Ontario By Bike / Transportation Options.

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