Showing posts with label Ontario Trails Council User Poster Series; Ontario Trails Council. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ontario Trails Council User Poster Series; Ontario Trails Council. Show all posts

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Ontario Trails News - Trailwise, Trailhead Events, Trail Activities and more Ontario Trail News

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  • Trailhead Events • Trail Activities • Ontario Trail News •
Algonquin Trail Opens!
Please join the OTC in celebrating  this community success - Jason Davis is on our Board and several of those photographed are members of OTC!
Sean Chase/Daily Observer With this ribbon cutting ceremony on Murphy Road, the County of Renfrew officially opened the Petawawa section of the Algonquin Trail Friday. In the photo are (left to right) County CAO Jim Hutton, Petawawa CAO Dan Scissons, Ottawa Valley Tourist Association (OVTA) vice-president Cyndy Phillips, County forestry/GIS manager Jason Davis, Renfrew County ATV (RCATV) Club directors Dwight Panke and Dave McIntosh, Arnrpior Reeve Walter Stack, Ron Moss, representing Ottawa Valley Cycling and Active Transportation Alliance (OVCATA), Petawawa Mayor Bob Sweet, Terry Vaudry, with Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs (OFSC), Margo Johnson, Mark Johnson, OVTA director Damien McCarthy, County director of development and property Craig Kelly, Nicole Panke, RCATV president Teresa Hebb and Stephen Hebb.PETAWAWA – The Algonquin Trail is officially open for business in the Town of Petawawa.
Local dignitaries, active transportation advocates and snowmobile and ATV organizations were on hand Friday for a ribbon cutting at the trail's intersection with Murphy Road to dedicate a small section of the 219-kilometre Algonquin Trail which runs along the decommissioned Canadian Pacific Railway.
Organizations such as the Keetna Snowmobile and Recreation Club, Timberline Snowmobile Club, North Renfrew Snowmobile Association, Calabogie and District Snowmobile Club, the Whitewater Sno-Goers, Snow Country Snowmobile Association and the Ontario Federation of Snowmobile Clubs District 6 have supported the necessary upgrades along sections of the trail such as brushing, grading, application of aggregate and signage. However, more work needs to be done before the entire trail network is ready to go.
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Find Your Favourite Winter Trail!
Be sure to share these links with your friends and colleagues. Click the picture for the most complete list of trails by winter activity.
GO MOBILE


















MANY THANKS to our RENEWING MEMBERS!!


As we say - everyday, somewhere in Ontario, Ontario Trails makes a difference in trails. Membership renewals were e-mailed at te end of November - we wrote - 

Your support enables Ontario Trails to make a difference by maintaining an office and helping the 200+ communities that turn to us for help, in your area and everywhere in Ontario.

Memberships run from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 each calendar year. This is why you are being invoiced now.

The Ontario Trails Council hosts an award winning website promoting all of Ontario's trails, including trails in your area!

You have several ways to renew or sign up:
By adding your name to our automated system at Memberplanet through the button below.

https://www.memberplanet.com/Groups/GroupJoinLoginNew.aspx
Or via more traditional means:
Print the attached invoice and send a cheque to:
OTC 500 Main St. Deseronto, ON. K0K 1X0
​​
Download the Membership Form, complete and send back with invoice to the address above.

The OTC is more though -  Please continue to support our work. Renew today!
Ontario Trails Members 2018 - Renewed!

Friends of Second Marsh


McMaster University - Outdoor Recreation


Ontario Federation of All-Terrain Vehicle Clubs


City of London - Parks and Forestry

The City of London supports walking and cycling as active ways to enjoy the many special features London has to offer either as a recreational pastime or as a means of transportation. Routes within the city consist of on-street routes, off-street routes and multi-use pathways.

In addition to the pdfs of the map above, you can also see these routes using London's interactive CityMap.

Interested in exploring London's Environmentally Significant Areas? Check out the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority's website link.

For more information on bicycle safety and rules of the road, see the Cycling Skills Guide link on the right.

Ontario Trails simplifies your Membership Connection!Over the years the Ontario Trails Council has worked to provide services that give you value and results for your membership support. We are constantly working to improve services and your ability to easily provide feedback on our efforts.

In March the OTC Board endorsed moving to a more automated system of membership management, deciding to use the platform Memberplanet. More information on this can be found at Memberplanet.

The OTC is working to implement this system.  The ways to Memberplanet should make membership management easier include:

1) Account information accuracy
2) On-line membership renewal
3) Contact status updates
4) Group news

The membership planet platform provides all of these, including invoicing and receipt generation functions. So if you have an A/P department to report too, this should make your paper trail readily available to you!

When you start the process you'll be directed to this window. We are working on updating existing members to the database. So if you are an existing member, just bookmark this information for reference. We'll send you reminders about renewing at renewal time, in late November each year.



Ontario Trails All Year Long! 
Add an Ontario Trail Logo to your website! 
Ontario Trails WeekOntario Trail DayOntario Trail Count
Watch for it on our social media, our facebook page and in our twitter feed.

Tell us all about your trail event and join us as we celebrate Ontario's Trails!
1. Log in Your Event  - Event spreadsheet.
2. Add your event to our event calendar -  add it here.
3. Post your personalized decal on your Trail - we have one for every group on our list. (see #5 below)
elliot lake trails survey
4. Add your trail user survey to any of your trail pages - we've made one for our members and regions. Get your decal here - 
We've checked the links, if something isn't working simply give us a call - 613-484-1140. We'll be adding these links to the various relevant trail pages in your regions and RTO's/DMO's over the upcoming year!
 

5. Send us your Trails video - we'll be posting content on-line at https://goo.gl/Fy2bIL and we'd be happy to add to our trails tube - https://www.youtube.com/user/ontrails
Missing? You may want to talk to us about OTC Membership. 613-484-1140 We'd be happy to connect with you.
Ontario NewsroomOntario Newsroom
 
News Release

Ontario Providing More Opportunities for Seniors to Stay Healthy and Active

November 15, 2017

Applications Now Open for the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund

Ontario is now accepting applications for the 2018-19 Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund from not-for-profit organizations, with a new stream this year geared towards projects for seniors that boost physical activity and healthy living.
The fund supports one or two-year projects aimed at increasing opportunities for people of all ages so that they can become more active, by helping them learn new skills and encouraging lifelong physical activity. Last year, more than 120 projects were supported by the fund which included helping children with medical conditions and disabilities increase their participation and establishing hiking groups for students with mental health disabilities.
For 2018, the fund will expand support for seniors programming as part of Aging with Confidence: Ontario's Action Plan for Seniors. This new funding stream will help give seniors more opportunities to stay fit and connected to their communities.
The deadline to apply is January 16, 2018, and recipients will be announced in winter 2018.
Investing in communities' health and well-being is part of Ontario's plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation. 
 

QUICK FACTS

  • More than $30.6 million has been invested since the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund launched in 2013.
  • The fund is a key priority of Game ON – the Ontario Government’s Sport Plan which is providing opportunities for residents to get involved in organized sport by strengthening the community and recreation sector.
  • Aging with Confidence: Ontario’s Action Plan for Seniors is the Ontario Government’s vision to help seniors remain independent, healthy and active, safe and socially-connected.
  • As part of the Action Plan, the Active for Life Recreation stream is investing $5 million to create up to 20,000 opportunities annually in sport and recreation for seniors across the province.
 
 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

 

Ontario Trails wants to Know!
Hi - the OTC has listened to people and through recent consultation with:

1) Conservation Area Managers via Conservation Ontario forums, plus Park and Recreation Managers via Ontario Parks Association  Parks and Recreation Ontario we have added Dog on Leash and Dog off Leash Categorizations to your trails. We will designate but you have to tell us which ones. Also knowing if you have a dog park in your area would help as we could then also direct dog owners to these parks as well. We can add your message.

2) Hunting Off Trail - we have been talking with the Conservation Officers Association and Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters and it's that time of year where many hunters using ATV, dirt Bike or other means access hunt lands off of trails. Do you allow this off of your trail(s)? We can add this information to your trails. We can add your message.

In both cases this information is viewable off our handheld website so all trail users can know this.

Both groups have indicated this would help with prosecution (if needed) trespass and landowner protection as usually signs are often deficient, or with many access points its difficult to know whether there is a sign at all access points, and in fact whether these staffs are there to educate (which they would prefer) or police.

Please advise.

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Ontario Trails News - True Facts about Bill 100, OTC goes to House, Bill 100 good for trails, OTC MPP Letter

Ontario Trails Council - writes letters for you to use With Your MPP
 

The Ontario Trails Council continues to attend Landowners meetings to reinforce our positions on the Bill and correct the misrepresentations that keep appearing in the media regarding the Bill. We continue to meet to discuss Bill 100, and to get our message out to the public to defense Bill 100 and reduce closure of trails.




For a copy of the OTC letter go to:
23.3.16 OTC MPP Letter of Support Bill 100 - pdf

For a copy of the letter you can use to send on your letterhead please go to:
23.3.16 MPP Generic Letter of Support Bill 100 - word

Ontario Trails Council continues to engage on the Bill
  • The OTC remains committed to the passing of Bill 100
  • Our members are going to engage their members to work with landowners locally to correct the anxiety caused by misreporting of impacts
  • We gained greater insight into the working relationships some media have with the advocates against Bill 100
  • A Public Bill 100 education plan is being developed.
  • We have invited the Ontario Landowners Association and the Ontario Federation of Agriculture to speak at Trailhead Ontario in Calabogie June 19-21, 2016
  • the Ontario Federation of Agriculture has agreed to present at Trailhead Ontario in Calabogie June 19-21, 2016
  • The OTC Board passed a motion in support of trails safety, trespass deterrence, and in support of OFA. "The OTC supports the increase in trespass fines to a minimum penalty of 250.00." March 9, 2016.
  • The OTC had its Executive Director attend the House of Commons on March 24 to hear the debate on Bill 100

 

Update from the House Debate March 24, 2016
MPP Clark, Leeds and Grenville acknowledged the Parts of the Act are not so bad and that the government would be well served to take it to committee so that changes could be made.

MPP Clark referred to the OFSC letter from MIke Clewer (OTC Treasurer) requesting that the Ministry improve and clarify the Bill. The MPP also went on to extoll all the great trails in Leeds and Grenville, noting the Waterfront, St. Lawrence Parks, Limerick Forest, Frontenac Arch Biosphere, Brockville, Charleston Lake PP and North Grenville.

All of these but one are OTC members. All have received funding through OTC involvement in the Canadian Trails Federation and the National Trails Coalition.

MPP Clark spoke to the funds and improvements, and praised the increased activity on local trails as "notable" due to the funding. He did not understand that the OTC had a hand in this process. I called his office, at the suggestion of Wayne Terryberry, OTC VP; to encourage his movement towards Act improvements instead of withdrawal.

MPP Clark spoke to the House, using language similar to OTC, that we are concerned about the continued loss of trails, landowners relations and getting the trails back for next season. He also expressed his hope that the government would consult in the community and called for committee action. He expressed as I have since 2003 to all governments - "that trails can make for great government community relations;" (should government choose to work with and through the OTC in trail communities - PSC)

As we move forward members must tell their MPP's of our role, their awareness of our work will make getting trails back easier with landowners. They will understand us as a friend of all, making investments in as many communities as we can.

OTC encourages you to attend upcoming Public Meetings - the only way we can get the media to focus on the positive impacts of Bill 100 reduce the negative press is if we attend these meetings and express the benefits of the Act.

Apr 9th Simcoe County Meeting http://goo.gl/Mgprkb

Please use our handouts and press releases to enable your information kit.


Ontario Trails Council Responds to The Pembroke Observer March 13, 2016

March 23, 2016


Letter to the Editor - Pembroke Observer

The Ontario Trails Council has asked the Ontario Landowners Association to cease or retract misinformation regarding Bill 100, that they continue to circulate through public meeting and the media, as recently as you reported on March 13, 2016

We also would ask the media to cease and desist as the information they are provided is being misunderstood. We called and e-mailed the Observer and were informed the Observer has in fact reported on both sides of the issue.

While we wish to maintain a cordial relationship with the media, a search of your site shows only 4 articles all reporting the misinterpretations and confused statements that continue to scare landowners unnecessarily.

Several respected groups, the Minister of Tourism Culture and Sport, community organizations involving farmers to hikers, and even MPP Randy Hillier (founder of the Ontario Landowners Association) and our organization, wants the closure of trails to stop. We respect landowners and we want to preserve 50 years of friendly relations amongst us.

Bill 100 only needs some tweaks and clarifications and this can be done by the OLA, and other groups, working through or with the OTC.

The OTC is looking to get additional support for other landowner agreements, recognized in the Bill.

At Ontario Trails Council we are working with Ministry Staff, and through committee, to bring to the Bill changes that will work for trails and landowners. At OTC we are moving forward through communication with the government to secure a positive outcome for all.

Despite published clarifications on the part of the Ontario Trails Council and the government, some people and their media partners continue to do damage to trails. Please review our input and work with us to change the Act for the better.

OTC Press Release

https://www.scribd.com/doc/299473575/Hillier-pans-landowner-views-on-provincial-trails-bill#download

If you have any questions about Bill 100 please contact the Ontario Trails Council, 613-396-3226 or email us at: execdir@ontariotrails.ca

We are here to help everybody have a better understanding of trails, trail use and management practice.

Please read our paper on Bill 100 – it's available here -http://goo.gl/yzlO0X
 


Ontario Trails Council Educational Posters



Ontario Trails Council contacts Media, distributes content to members and third parties
 

At Ontario Trails Council we've done more on Bill 100 this week. We've been on the phone with trail groups, landowners, the media and government officials. We've worked to clarify the issue, we were contacted on the weekend before the story broke big and we think we helped reduce the loss of trail through our effort. Please support this by:


  • Contact your MP and ask them to support Bill 100
  • Contact your Regional Trails Committee and ask them to support Bill 100
  • Send the OTC Press Release to area trail and landowners to clarify the issue
  • Most importantly - understand what the landowners concerns are and listen to them. If we respond as good neighbours they will understand trail folks are good folks
  • Talk to other trail users and tell them - don't trespass, respect private property - that saves trails!
  • We will supply a letter you can send to your MPP - circulated
  • Answer our Petition on Support of Bill 100 - next week