Bruce Trail group acquires five nature reserves along Niagara Escarpment
HAMILTON - The Bruce Trail Conservancy says it has added five new nature reserves in Ontario to the corridor of land it has secured for permanent conservation.
The Bruce Trail, described as Canada's oldest and longest footpath, stretches from Niagara to Tobermory, Ont.
The reserves, acquired following a successful $1.3-million fundraising campaign, highlight the diversity and natural beauty of the Niagara Escarpment, said the non-profit conservancy. They include wetlands, mature forests and "the soaring and iconic" Pinnacle Rock, "a geological textbook holding prehistoric wonders," the group said.
Located in Beaver Valley 150 kilometres north of Toronto, Pinnacle Rock is a "stunning reserve (that) will give geology buffs the opportunity to explore a unique piece of escarpment dolostone up close."
The new acquisitions, totalling 118 hectares, also include Songbird Nature Reserve in Caledon; Cedar Springs Woods, Burlington; Fairmount Wetland, Epping; and Kimberley Springs, Kimberley. They can now be explored by nature enthusiasts, the conservancy said.
Getting the five reserves was the initial goal in the conservancy's 50th anniversary project, announced in November, to secure and preserve more than 2,000 hectares of Niagara Escarpment land over the next five years.
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Online: http://brucetrail.org/
