Bruce Trail Conservancy donors achieve milestone

March 30, 2016 · 0 Comments

More than 278 acres of Niagara Escarpment land have been recently preserved, thanks to the generosity and commitment of Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) donors.
Spanning the Escarpment from Terra Cotta to the Bruce Peninsula, six new properties are now part of the Bruce Trail’s growing Conservation Corridor, creating greater connectivity of green space and a natural oasis in an increasingly developed Southern Ontario.
The parcels of land the donations have allowed the BTC to secure include two six (plus) acre properties in the Caledon Hills section. One of these properties completes a continuous corridor of land between Airport Road and Mountainview Road — a corridor now conserved entirely by BTC. The other keeps the Bruce Trail off road and protects important talus slope habitat. Together they secure 585 metres of the Bruce Trail along its Optimum Route.
Preservation of these lands has brought BTC to a significant milestone: The Conservancy is now responsible for the preservation of more than 10,000 acres.
A registered charity, BTC is one of Ontario’s largest land trusts, and its work in conserving and preserving Escarpment land is of growing importance.
This latest fundraising effort was launched with a $200,000 gift from the Gosling Foundation. Dr. Philip Gosling, a founder of the Bruce Trail, has demonstrated a longstanding and committed effort to further the mission of the BTC. In addition to Gosling’s gift, individual donors contributed more than $500,000 to ensure critical Niagara Escarpment landscape remains in its natural state for everyone to benefit from in perpetuity.
“At the Bruce Trail Conservancy, we are committed to realizing the vision our founders set over 50 years ago — a vision of a protected Escarpment landscape that allows ecosystems to flourish and people to enjoy the benefits of these natural lands,” BTC Executive Director Beth Gilhespy observed. “With these additional 278 acres, our donors have furthered our mission, and allowed us to achieve an incredible milestone of 10,000 acres preserved since 1974. We are mindful of the responsibility we take on when we preserve natural spaces, and will be attentive stewards of the land our donors have entrusted to our care.”