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Ontario boasts over 80,000 km in trails. Whether you're in downtown Toronto or North of Superior, we have a trail for you. The Ontario Trails Council is a registered charity, led by volunteers who promote the development, management, use and conservation of Ontario's trails. You'll find everything from gentle walking trails to rock faces for climbing and water routes to canoe and kayak.
Friday, July 22, 2016
Ontario Trails News - subscribe to our newsletter Trailwise - join all the discussion about Ontario's trails and trails activity!
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Ontario Trails News - we want your input - answer a trails survey today! Help Ontario Trails help you!
Trail Surveys
The OTC is interested in what you think! We have written many
types of surveys and are pleased to provide links to them
on this page.
From such important topics as Trail Trade Specialist to Member
Services we want you to help us help you!
Click the title below to be redirected to the survey of your choice.
Help Us Help You - website improvement
Upload Your Trail - add your trail to the website
Upload Your Event - add your trail event to the website
Trail Reform Now - legislative and insurance reform support
Trail Trades Specialist- tell us what you'd like to see in a trail trades course
Member Services - are you happy as an OTC member with the services you get?
Strategic Planning 1: - tell us what you'd like the OTC to do
Strategic Planning 2: Financial Sustainability - as a charity we can always use new ideas
to sustain ourselves
to sustain ourselves
Strategic Planning 3: - Effectiveness - how effective are we?
Customer Satisfaction - as a member of the public what do you think of the OTC?
Blue-Green Trails - help us define this unique trail environment
Trailhead Ontario - give us your feedback if you did, or did not attend
Economic Impact of Recreational Trail (ON) - for the Eco Dev/Tourism, Trail Planning office
Insurance Issues - tell us about your ability to get coverage
Trails of 1812 - is your community celebrating our bi-centennial
On-Road Cycling Lane Petition - Norm Miller MPP - download the form here -
(no web link available)
(no web link available)
Trail Priorities - September 2016
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
Ontario Trails News - news about Ontario's Trails, information, membership or provide feedback about your Ontario Trail!
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Answer a Survey |
Canada Parks and Recreation Association working group releases RFP
Please find a link to a Request for Proposal for professional services in French and English to complete the next phase of edits and reviews for Parks for All - A Shared Vision for Canada’s Parks Community. Proposals are due July 25, 2016 and it would be greatly appreciated if you could broadcast this request to potential bidders in your networks. This undertaking is jointly sponsored by the Canadian Parks Council (CPC) and the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA), and is administratively supported by the Alberta Recreation and Parks Association (APRA).
As always, many thanks for your support and willingness to share this request broadly,
Murray Kopp (CPRA) and Dawn Carr (CPC)
Parks for All Co-Chairs
Les membres de la Comité national consultatif :
Ci-inclus, trouvez un lien à la Demande to proposition pour les services professionnel en français et en anglais pour compléter la prochaine phase de modifications et révisions pour Des Parcs Pour Tous – Une vision commune pour le réseau des parcs du Canada. Les propositions sont à remettre par le 25 juillet 2016 et ce serait tellement apprécié si vous pouviez diffuser cette demande aux offrants potentiels dans vos listes de distributions. Cette œuvre est parrainée conjointement par le Conseil canadien des parcs (CCP) et l’Association canadien des parcs et loisirs (ACPL), et est soutenue administrativement par l’Association d’Alberta des loisirs et parcs (AALP).
Je vous remercie énormément de l’appui de partager cette demande de façon générale,
Murray Kopp (ACPL) et Dawn Carr (CCP)
Coprésidents de Des parcs pour tous
Murray Kopp
Chair – Parks Task Group
Canadian Parks & Recreation Association
Director - Parks Services
Regional District of Central Okanagan
1450 K.L.O. Road, Kelowna, BC V1W 3Z4
250 469-6232 | www.regionaldistrict.com/parks
Sign-up to receive the Regional Parks e-Newsletter
Are you a Destination Marketing Organization?
Please take a couple of minutes and send us your contact information.
Ontario Trails are currently engaged with RTO's in seeking improved data for the Ontario Trails Council website, as well as crafting Trails Tourism Action Plans with each RTO and their partners.
Add your contact information here:
RTO1 DMO's
RTO2 DMO's
RTO3 DMO's
RTO4 DMO's
RTO5 DMO's
RTO6 DMO's
RTO7 DMO's
RTO8 DMO's
RTO9 DMO's
RTO10 DMO's
RTO11 DMO's
RTO12 DMO's
RTO13 DMO's
Do you have a trails tourism strategy? Add your strategy here -
RTO1 DMO's
RTO2 DMO's
RTO3 DMO's
RTO4 DMO's
RTO5 DMO's
RTO6 DMO's
RTO7 DMO's
RTO8 DMO's
RTO9 DMO's
RTO10 DMO's
RTO11 DMO's
RTO12 DMO's
RTO13 DMO's
Ontario 150 Offering Grants!
Apply for funding
There are three funding programs you can apply for:- Community Celebration Program (application opens July 6 and closes September 2, 2016)
- Partnership Program (application opens July 6 and closes September 30, 2016)
- Community Capital Program (application opens July 18 and closes September 14, 2016)
Ontario150 Community Celebration Program
This program will help to support initiatives that celebrate and commemorate Canada and Ontario’s 150th anniversary.Ontario150 Partnership Program
This program supports collaborative projects that foster new partnerships and innovative ways to engage and empower youth.Ontario150 Community Capital Program
This program helps municipalities, not-for-profit community organizations and Indigenous communities improve existing infrastructure through repairs, renovations or retrofitting.G2G Funding Campaign AnnouncementPreview YouTube video G2G Rail Trail Crowdfunding Teaser
Thanks to your efforts, over $20,000 has been raised in 2016 from individual donations, and to celebrate we’re having a party Please consider signing this petition
Educational Courses - sign up for Fall - on-line learning
Please consider supporting our work
Our Mission - to promote the preservation, management, use and development of trails.
Everyday, somewhere in Ontario we educate, support a group, lead or assist a community improving its quality of life through trails.Ask us how we make a difference! Thanks
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Ontario Trails News - activities, development and support information about Ontario's trails!
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ADD YOUR EVENT |
Thanks to our returning Members - we appreciate your support!!
City of Toronto Parks and Recreation
Announcing Trailhead Toronto!
In Fall of 2016 trail enthusiasts and supporters are headed to Toronto for a day of meetings and lively discussion about all types of local and regional trails.Are you a member of the OTC? Are you Toronto based, a trail group, a service provider, a developer of trails? Why not join us as a presenter on the very important date of November 24th.
Why is that date important? Its the day before the Ontario Trails Coordinating Meeting that is the implementation framework the province has adopted to address trail issues in Ontario. Ontario Trails Council is co-chair of the process.
For the last 20 years risk, user behaviour and resultant liability has been the number one issue facing trail managers and operators. Through member support we have achieved significant reductions in liability exposure that the insurance industry is declaring as positive.
After 12 years of work we got a trails act that reduces trail liability making easier for ALL trail organizations to secure trails due to reduced risk exposure. This act supports the management strategy and vice versa.
So why not attend or present @Trailhead Toronto? Showcase your project to government and the other 25 leaders that will be meeting the next day to decide directions of change.
News From Around the Membership
Hike Haliburton Festival!
Friends of Killarney Park
Wye Marsh Trails
Thanks again to Joanna Milczarek who does a great job finding and sharing all these great trail stories on behalf of the Ontario Trails Council!!Monday, July 18, 2016
Ontario Trails News - news about Ontario's Trails, funding, use, development and activities on Ontario's trails
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Submit Your Trail |
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Dear Friends of OTF, I'm happy to share that the honourable Eleanor McMahon, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport has officially launched the Ontario150 Community Capital Program today as part of the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the province's place in Canada in 2017. This new program is a one-time $25 million program of the Government of Ontario that is administered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) and will award one-year grants that range from $5,000 to $500,000 to support local capital needs. More precisely, this program will strengthen communities by repairing, renovating and retrofitting existing infrastructure to better address the diverse needs of Ontario communities while fostering economic growth. The application deadline for the Ontario150 Community Capital Program isSeptember 14, 2016 at 5 p.m. ET. Organizations that are already registered with OTF and verified as eligible to apply for OTF funding will automatically be eligible to apply for the Ontario150 Community Capital Program. Organizations that would normally be eligible for OTF funding but are not registered yet can register with OTF now. Beginning July 18, 2016, applications will be available through the registrants' portal in order to submit an application by the September 14, 2016 deadline. Please visit www.otf.ca/Ontario150 to learn more about the program, read the application guide, access our calendar of outreach activities as well as the application form questions before the online application system goes live on July 18. OTF is proud to have been chosen by the Government of Ontario to deliver this key program to mark a major milestone in the history and fabric of our province. Sincerely, |
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| Chers partenaires de la FTO, Je suis heureuse d'annoncer que l'honorable Eleanor McMahon, ministre du Tourisme, de la Culture et du Sport a officiellement lancé le programme Ontario 150 - Immobilisations communautaires aujourd'hui pour célébrer en 2017, le 150eanniversaire du statut de notre province au sein du Canada. Le programme Ontario150 - Immobilisations communautaires est un nouveau programme de 25 millions de dollars ponctuel du gouvernement de l'Ontario qui est administré par la Fondation Trillium de l'Ontario (FTO) et qui va octroyer des subventions d'un an allant de 5 000 $ à 500 000 $ pour appuyer les besoins d'immobilisations locaux. Plus précisément, ce programme renforcera les collectivités en réparant, rénovant et modernisant les infrastructures existantes afin de mieux répondre aux divers besoins des collectivités de l'Ontario, tout en favorisant la croissance économique. La date limite de soumission d'une demande de subvention au programme Ontario150 - Immobilisations communautaires est le 14 septembre 2016, à 17 h HE. Les organismes qui sont déjà inscrits à la FTO, et dont l'admissibilité à soumettre des demandes de subvention de la FTO a été vérifiée, sont automatiquement admissibles à soumettre une demande de subvention au programme Ontario150 - Immobilisations communautaires. Les organismes qui sont normalement admissibles à recevoir du financement de la FTO mais qui ne sont pas encore inscrits peuvent s'inscrire à la FTO maintenant. À compter du 18 juillet 2016, les formulaires de demandes de subvention seront disponibles aux organismes admissibles, directement dans leur portail, pour qu'ils puissent faire une de demande de subvention avant la date limite du14 septembre 2016. Veuillez visiter http://www.otf.ca/fr/Ontario150 pour en apprendre davantage sur le programme, lire le guide des demandeurs, accéder à notre calendrier des séances d'information et aux questions des formulaires de demande avant que le système de demandes en ligne soit ouvert le 18 juillet. La FTO est fière d'avoir été choisie par le gouvernement de l'Ontario pour administrer ce programme clé qui marque une page importante dans l'histoire de notre province. Cordialement,
Andrea Cohen Barrack CEO, Ontario Trillium Foundation Chef de la direction, Fondation Trillium de l'Ontario |
Government Looking for Feedback
OTC Member Benefits!
Membership is just the beginning! We thank you for becoming a member, here are some of the benefits that are now yours -Great Benefits!
Access to insurance, trail insurance and other services from CAPRI.
Advocacy Information
Your voice in Toronto, in your town and city, and in Ottawa, representing you on issues that matter to you. Trail Legislation, Landowner Rights, Best Practices, Funding and Grant Programs.
Latest Information for Having Your Best Trail
OTC members can access the latest information to learn more about healthy living, trail planning, trail protection and managing your trail. OTC members get access to E-newsletter and programs like the Trillium Trail Network.
Community Events & Services
Get involved with one of our 200+ members across Ontario and join the many volunteers making a difference in your community. We'll promote and list your contribution at no charge.
Planning and Development
We'll get your community to support you! We'll get your community leaders to fund you. If we don't we'll assist in writing grants (for a fee) to get you the money you need to develop the trails you want.
Trail Management Services
We'll help you develop a Regional Trails Council, Incorporate, we provide governance guidance and education to staff and volunteer. We'll help you define projects, secure funds, and we'll bring other knowledge experts in to assit you!
"Trailhead" Brand Conferences and Meetings
We'll help you plan, invite, secure and present, on your trails! Use the power of our network to bring experts to your community, where your leaders can learn about latest practices, trail successes and opportunities. - From 40-140 people, we bring media and marketing of your work home to you! Investment Requred, OTC Earnings and Return on Revenue Offered.
PLUS! Award-winning WEBSITE Marketing
The Ontario Trails Council lists you, your trails, and your latest events, news about your work. Our award winning website gets people to Ontario Trails better than just stand alone!
Friday, July 15, 2016
Ontario Trails News - news from all around Ontario about Ontario's Trails, trail activities and trail locations.
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A glimpse into Toronto ravines: The secret ‘remnants of wilderness’ that have been left behind
Chris Selley | July 8, 2016 4:34 PM ET
Toronto’s ravines “are the shared subconscious of the municipality,” Robert Fulford once argued in the National Post. It’s a lovely turn of phrase. These improbable green tears in the skin of the city are where a few of the rivers and streams Toronto co-opted and buried still get to announce their presence, however briefly, which in turn reminds us how we got here. With money and hard work and ingenuity, we built this place up from a wilderness into a great metropolis, mercilessly erasing and starting over — and too often forgetting — as we went.
Laura Pedersen/National PostEvergreen Brick Works in Toronto, Ontario on Thursday, July 7, 2016.
Yet “remnants of wilderness have been left behind,” as Anne Michaels wrote in Fugitive Pieces. “Through these great sunken gardens you can traverse the city beneath the streets, look up to the floating neighbourhoods, houses built in the treetops.” They are rarely visually spectacular or even, to the average citizen, particularly interesting beyond their very existence as quiet forests in an unlikely place. They are islands of urban tranquility of a type that few cities can offer.
Toronto makes excellent use of the upper Don Valley, our biggest “ravine.” Like much of this city, Thorncliffe Park is socially and commercially vibrant but esthetically rather bleak. Yet residents are minutes away from acres of lush river valley parkland, and on weekends it teems with multi-generation families from myriad backgrounds loving life.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA pedestrian enjoys the quarry at the Evergreen Brick Works ravine.
We seem far less sure what to do with the ravines proper: Moore Park Ravine, for example, which runs from the east side of Mount Pleasant Cemetery to the Brickworks; Rosedale Ravine, which runs from the west side of the cemetery, across Mount Pleasant Road and then into the valley; and Cedarvale and Nordheimer ravines, which take you from near Eglinton West station all the way down to Poplar Plains Road.
Even the official paths are haphazardly pavement, gravel and mud. Signposting is all but non-existent: identical-looking paths diverge without notice; stairs offer egress to parts unknown; this week I accidentally found myself on the east side of Rosedale Ravine, scrambling north toward the cemetery.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA broken storm sewer at the Rosedale ravine.
I wouldn’t recommend that hike, but it does offer some impressive views of Yellow Creek. You’ll see collapsing retaining walls and a phenomenal amount of soil erosion, which has fractured an enormous cement storm sewer pipe. You’ll see a heck-load of garbage, including not one but two discarded shopping carts.
And if you want to get there from Moore Park, you’ll find the stairs gated shut. A storm blew over a tree, which crushed the steps, explains Robert Spindler, a local resident who has launched a petition to fix the mess.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA broken storm sewer is seen surrounded by caution tape at Rosedale Ravine in Toronto.
That was three years ago. In the meantime, he says, a group of residents simply fixed the stairs themselves and installed stumps to help climb over the fence. City staff took the stumps away; residents put them back; and eventually, Spindler chuckles, city staff gave up.
To be clear, most ravines are in far better shape. But surely such a state of affairs wouldn’t be tenable in the first place if more people knew about them and used them. “Torontonians really don’t have a sense or appreciation of what a remarkable treasure our ravines really are,” says Jason Ramsay-Brown, who published a book last year about their history and ecology. “They’re 15 per cent of the city of which most Torontonians know nothing about.”
When I was a kid, the ravines were seen as threatening, especially at night: bad teenagers did bad things under the bridges; heaven knows what the men who lived rough down there might be capable of; the Vale of Avoca, part of the Rosedale Ravine, was a popular spot for gay men at a time when that was enough to impugn the topography itself.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA sign marking that the steps are closed is seen at Rosedale ravine.
Nowadays the stigmas have lifted, but the ravines are still obviously underused — whatever you think they ought to be used for. To engineers, they are drainage ditches. To naturalists like Ramsay-Brown, they are rare and endangered ecosystems, plagued by invasive species and full of rare urban fauna. To the average citizen, they might be anything from a jogging track to an unofficial mountain bike park or off-leash area. Not all of those uses are compatible.
The city is putting together a “ravine strategy,” to better coordinate the multiple agencies responsible for them and seek public input on how to protect, celebrate and attract investment to ravines. (They strike me as ideal potential targets for philanthropy.) Notably it proposes informing people in the ravines where they are and where they’re going — what a concept — which might attract more people all on its own.
Laura Pedersen/National PostA shopping cart lies in the water at the Rosedale ravine.
More people are a potential problem, though, and the strategy clearly has a bias toward protecting and restoring the natural environment over expanding human uses beyond simply visiting and appreciating. (Ramsay-Brown says dogs off leash can spread invasive species, and unofficial paths can disrupt nesting sites.) That seems entirely appropriate to me.
There are plenty of places to have a barbecue or ride a mountain bike or play Frisbee golf, as Ramsay-Brown says. “But nature has such specific requirements in order for it to thrive, and we have such limited space for actually doing it, that I don’t think it’s outrageous to say: ‘this far and no further.’”
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Thursday, July 14, 2016
Ontario Trails News - a news archive of daily news about Ontario's recreational trails, today ATV
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TRAILS SMARTSouthgate Supports Grey County’s ATV PolicyJULY 7, 2016 9:12AM
Southgate has endorsed a Grey County decision allowing ATV-type vehicles on county roads in the municipality.
Southgate already has its own bylaw allowing ATVs on township roads.
Southgate will continue with its ban on ATVs on sidewalks and municipal parks, but Deputy Mayor Norm Jack says there are still some off-road vehicles roaring down sidewalks in Dundalk.
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Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Ontario Trails News - trail safety through Trail Smart, trail signage, and The Trillium Trail Network.
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| TRAIL SMART |
Peterborough, our trails are becoming unsafe for pedestrians
Douro Street crossover
Jamie Steel
The current crossover on Douro Street at the Rotary Trail.
Peterborough This Week
To the editor:
I couldn`t agree more with L.J. Jackson [July 6] regarding the safety for pedestrians on our trail system in Peterborough. I walk the Rotary and Parkway trials every day. Recently it has become dangerous to do so because of inconsiderate and rude cyclists who have no regard for those walking or pushing strollers.
Indeed, there are a few signs posted regarding cycling etiquette on the trails, but the signs are not very visible, and moreover, are ignored by most.
Last week a cyclist almost hit a toddler .The biker was going so fast that he had to skid and turn 90 degrees to avoid hitting the little girl. He was riding at such a furious speed that no one even saw or heard him coming.
I reported this incident to the police and was told they would look into the matter. When is that going to take place? After a child or a senior has been seriously hurt by a speeding bicyclist?
On the same note of safety - what is the law regarding motorized vehicles on the trail system? The sign says none are allowed. I was also almost run over by a motorized cycle whizzing down a hill to get to the path. I stopped and told him no motorized vehicles were allowed on the trails.
He replied that his bike ran on batteries. I think we all know batteries power motors.
Finally, I would like something done about individuals who ride their wheelchairs on the wrong side of the road and cross roads everywhere except at designated traffic lights and safe crosswalks.
Do they not have to obey road rules too? It is ridiculously dangerous for a car to have to swerve to avoid these people and yet that is too often the case.
Our trail system is one of the finest in Ontario but our trails and roadways must be monitored now so that all can enjoy them safely.
L. Schuett
Peterborough
NOTE: - The Ontario Trail Council has asked for funds for provincial trail signage, we have our trail safe program "Trail Smart" and we developed the Trillium Trail Network Plan for trails to promote all trail safety and best practices, but it was derailed by trail organizations.
NOTE: - The Ontario Trail Council has asked for funds for provincial trail signage, we have our trail safe program "Trail Smart" and we developed the Trillium Trail Network Plan for trails to promote all trail safety and best practices, but it was derailed by trail organizations.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Ontario Trails News - trails news about Ontario Trails, today highlights cycling on Almaguin
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Add Your EventAlmaguin cycling group not just spinning wheels creating hub HAPPY VENTURE
Almaguin in Motion is hosting Tuesday evening rides through the summer around restaurants throughout the area.
Almaguin News
ALMAGUIN – Newly formed local cycling advocacy group Almaguin in Motion has had a busy spring.
Since the group founder Dave Wright approached Magnetawan town council in late March with ideas promoting cycling in the area, the group has been busy getting the word out.
One of the main goals of the group is encouraging businesses to become "bicycle friendly" by installing bike racks and registering with Ontario by Bike, a provincial bicycle tourism organization.
Also on the agenda of Almaguin in Motion is mapping out preferred cycling routes throughout the region on both paved and gravel roads, putting up bicycle route signage, installing bicycle racks and, eventually, starting a bike share program.
Courtney Rizzo and Dave Gray, local economic development officers have been instrumental in spreading the group’s message to the local municipalities and have met with great success.
Wright says, "Magnetawan really jumped on board, embraced the group’s ideas and enabled us to start implementing immediately. The council here is very progressive. By Canada Day, Magnetawan will have 15 brightly painted bike racks spread throughout town, 50 ‘bike route’ signs posted on our best cycling routes with over a dozen great routes starting and finishing in Magnetawan already available online."
And you don't have to be a bike fanatic to enjoy riding in Magnetawan. One of the routes is only eight kilometres long, which takes in highways 520, 124 and 510.
Not only has the Magnetawan Central School painted eight of the bike racks, they also painted the first "bike share" bicycle, which will available for anyone to use in town. This bike is one of many the group "AIMs" to have in bike racks around Magnetawan this summer.
AIM already has a Facebook page and is going to create a website tying the region together and will enable cyclists from southern Ontario to discover the great riding here and where to stay, eat and shop.
Almaguin in Motion was formed in April and already has members throughout the Almaguin area and is growing daily.
According to Wright, "We have keen local riders from throughout Almaguin who are coming together and electronically mapping out the best cycling routes from Novar in the south to west of Dunchurch and north of South River. These routes can then be downloaded onto smartphones and bicycle GPS units right off the internet and used by anyone. "
Not only is cycling a great way to enjoy the outdoors and beautiful scenery Almaguin has to offer, it's also a good form of exercise. Cycling is very easy on your joints and can be a great cardiovascular workout.
The most common complaint about bike riding is the seat is uncomfortable. This can dramatically improved by having your seat height and angle adjusted correctly and installing a gel seat cover or by wearing padded cycling shorts.
AIM has a social group ride every Tuesday night at 6 p.m. starting and finishing at a local restaurant/pub. The ride is open to anyone and there is a wide range of ability levels of participants. The location of the next group ride is available on the AIM Facebook page or by emailing Dave at davewright1406@hotmail.com.
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