The Ontario Trails Council supports the initiatives of the National Trails Coalition who have made a pre-budget submission to Parliament.
The NTC was encouraged when, during the election campaign, we received the following response to our
request for continued support of this private/public partnership from the Liberal Party of Canada
Campaign:
“A Liberal government will provide a new, dedicated funding envelope of $20 billion for social infrastructure, which will prioritize investment in, among other things, recreational infrastructure such as trails. Our commitment to investing in infrastructure will ensure that groups such as the National Trails Coalition, and its municipal and provincial partners, have access to the stable and predictable funding they need to continue creating jobs and promoting our outdoors. We are proud to support investments in recreational infrastructure such as trails that keep Canadians active and healthy.”
We look forward to working with NTC to make this promise happen. We encourage you to contact the NTC to secure information to forward to your local MP.
http://ntc-canada.ca
G2G Trail
Volunteers, staff and community members engaged in the management and operation of the G2G Trail will have their training costs subsidized to take the education program. Through the training they will be better able to manage and operate the Goderich to Guelph Rail Trail. The Ontario Trails Council offers three annual on-line courses for trail groups. Trail Planning, Trail Stewardship and trail Management. These are offered on a calendar basis through Algonquin College. The staff and volunteers of the Goderich to Guelph Trail wish to take these courses but do not have the money for up to 30 persons to spend 1,000 each to take the certification training. The OTC wrote a grant in support of their desire for training.
Hamilton Burlington Trails Council
Trail systems in Ontario are extensive but underused. With a trend of reduced activity driven by the use of technology, our project will use it to encourage communities to become more active. Our objective, through implementing innovative technology, is to improve trail usability and lower the barriers to trail usage thereby providing the community with the means to increased access of existing natural spaces. This approach will promote the use of trails by raising awareness of their existence and providing guidance on usage and connectivity thus increasing frequency of activity. Community trails provide a unique opportunity to accommodate various forms of activity, to users of all ages, at no expense thus rendering it very accessible.
We will attain our objective by creating a fun and innovative web based portal and supporting mobile device application. We propose to use various location based mapping technologies, to mesh panoramic imagery with ancillary cultural, environmental and heritage data. This will connect people to their natural surroundings, establish a sense of place and provide an avenue for positive experiences through increased safety, time and resource management.
Ontario Tool Trailer/IMBA Canada
The Ontario Trail Tool Trailer project is a Resource Development project, in that it will provide a new and badly needed resource in the form of trail-building tools and volunteer event support, (there is NO trail tools trailer or lending resource in Ontario) and it will train several groups in the art and science of sustainable trail creation and maintenance. The primary deliverable that the project will address is in the category of "Volunteer and Education" - encouraging volunteer trail user groups to take a stewardship role in their trails, and providing them with the tools and education required to do so successfully.
The Ontario Tool Trailer project will consist of three parts: 1) A mobile tool trailer, that will house all the tools and support structure required to host a successful volunteer trail-building or trail maintenance day, 2) The creation of a lending structure to ensure the ongoing availability of the tool trailer to interested groups, and 3) A series of trail-building workshops to educate stakeholders in the art and science of sustainable trail creation and maintenance.
Ontario Trail Assessment
The Ontario HETAP Trail Assessment Project is a Resource Development project, in that it will provide a new and badly needed resource of trail-assessments using our HETAP trail assessment tool, (the HETAP Unit) and volunteer event support, and it will train 4 technicians to perform trail assessment to ensure AODA compliance. Once the technicians have been trained, a fee will be charged for the trail assessment. The trail assessment process will assess trails for accessibility and other trail characteristics.
HETAP stands for High Efficiency Trail Assessment Process and has been developed to accurately and consistently collect information on the length, grade, cross slope, width, surface type and obstructions of a trail, as well as inventory trail features, such as signage, amenities, maintenance issues, etc.
Great Lakes Guardian Fund for Georgian Bay Coast Trail and PartnersThe Project is part of a larger project by the community based organization Georgian Bay Coast (GBC) Trail which is developing a 200 kilometer rugged hiking trail alongside the east coast of Georgian Bay from Bayfield Inlet to Point Grondine.
This Project is located on a section of this trail on the north east shore of Georgian Bay approximately 90km of Sudbury on the west side of highway 69 and 71km north of Parry Sound on the Henvey Inlet Territory. This Project will identify and protect traditionally significant plants according to medicinal use, edibility or spiritual value along this trail.
In partnership with Georgian Bay Coast Trail will utilize consulting firms such as Gayenaseh in Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation, and community elders.
This Project has four (4) objectives as follows:
1) The training of the Recipient to identify plants of traditionally significant importance and if a species at risk (SAR); and,
2) Geo-location of identified plants/SAR; and,
3) Conservation of identified plants/SAR through arboretum or other methodology so that the development and use of the Georgian Bay Coast Trail does not negatively impact these plants; and,
4) The understanding of heritage and culturally significant plant life will lead to interpretive signage programs and provide material for guides serving the GBC Trail
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