Trails are the big winner this year with all the infrastructure funding announced to stimulate the economy. In Ontario alone, Trans Canada Trail has approved just under $1M for trail development this year. Recreational Infrastructure in Canada (RInC) has recently invested over $7M in TCT trails in Ontario. We are waiting for the final announcement from the National Trails Coalition (NTC) funding. We are glad that trails have been recognized as one of the valuable resources that will stimulate the economy. Go Trails Go!

As we start another year of trail planning and building, we have been asked by some trail groups about educational resources for the next generation of trail users.  We have collected some educational resources from trail groups and have posted them under the Library section of our website. Rainbow Routes (www.rainbowroutes.com), Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve (www.fabr.ca) and Kawartha Green Trails Alliance (www.greentrailsalliance.ca) all have educational programming. Check out their websites for more information. If you have resources you would like to share, please pass them along and we’ll post them too.

Take Care,

Kirsten Spence

Regional Trail Committee Coordinator

Trans Canada Trail Ontario, the Ontario Trails Council and the Ministry of Natural Resources will be hosting another series of workshops. For those who attended a workshop in the winter/spring 2008, we will be building on that content to offer Trail Building, Communications/Marketing and Fundraising resources. The Trillium Trail Network and the provincial mapping strategy will also be explored. All workshop are free to attend by you must RSVP to attend. Once the venues have been determined, we will be sending out invitations. If you would like to attend, please email Kirsten.

We will be holding “follow up sessions” for the following locations:

*Sault Ste Marie September 12th *London October 3rd - workshop

*North Gower November 14th *Barrie November 21st

*Peterborough December 5th

New workshops will focus on Regional Trail Committee development, Trillium Trail Network and the Ontario Trail Network:

*Sudbury January 16th * Sarnia February 6th

*Niagara Region February 13th *Thunder Bay February 16th

In planning are workshops/community meetings in North Shore Lake Superior, Cochrane, Atikokan, Dryden and Kenora – dates to be determined.

If you would like to arrange GPS training (hands on), please contact Carol-Anne Albertson from the Ministry of Natural Resources (carolanne.albertson@ontario.ca) to arrange.

Kirsten

On Tuesday, October 7, the Kawartha Trans Canada Trail Association will host events in Omemee and Lindsay to celebrate the official opening of the eastern section of the trail. Valerie Pringle will be the featured guest and presenter for the day. Music, including a song commissioned for the event, will be provided by songwriter/ composer/ playwright David Archibald.

The celebration will kick off in Omemee at Lady Eaton P.S. at 2:00 p.m. All 500 students from the two Omemee schools with schoolyards adjoining the trail will assemble along the trail for the official ribbon-cutting, along with parents, other community members and guests. Local photographer Mark Ridout will be passing overhead taking pictures from an airplane

The second public event will be in Lindsay at 7:00 in Fleming College’s Glenn Crombie Theatre. The one-hour event will include slide show, Valerie’s presentation, music, and free draws for two 6-speed bicycles suitable for the trail as well as Trans Canada Trail merchandise.

Join Valerie Pringle in Sault Ste Marie on September 13th at 2PM for the Trans Canada Trail pavilion opening. We will be celebrating with the City of Sault Ste Marie and the Voyageur Hiking Association as the newest Canadian pavilion will be unveiled, thanking donors for their contribution to this legacy project. Bring your GPS and join in the geocaching event or try your eye at “Signs, signs, everywhere are signs” to win great prizes like Voyageur Trail guidebooks, memberships and great Trans Canada Trail merchandise. The pavilion is located at Clerque Park on the waterfront. See you there!

In partnership with the Ontario Trails Council, TCTO will be conducting 5 regional workshops for trail organizations. The focus of these workshops will be to provide information around Regional Trail Committees (rationale, governance, funding, partnership development, trail construction, event planning and sustainability). There will also be a segment on GPS training and the Ontario Trail Network Agreement provided by the Ministry of Natural Resources. Your neighbouring trail groups will be attending which will provide a great chance to meet and greet. The workshop schedule is as follows: January 18th (Barrie), February 1st (Merrickville), February 8th (Peterborough), February 15th (London) and February 29th (Sault Ste. Marie). Invitations and more details will be coming shortly.

Thanks!

Kirsten Spence

Regional Trail Committee Coordinator, Trans Canada Trail Ontario

We are adding a few new photo gallery categories to the TCTO website. We will be adding the categories of Signage, Solutions and Canoe Routes to the existing Urban, Remote, Rural - Developed and Rural - Undeveloped.

We have received pictures from some groups but we are still looking for other examples of TCT trail. If you have any pictures that you would be willing to share to our gallery, please email them to me (kirsten@tctontario.ca). Please include a small blurb on the name and location of the trail.

Thanks - Kirsten

Hello Everyone,

I hope you find our new website useful for your Regional Trail Committee (RTC). This website is for trail builders and trail organizations.

We have been working hard over the past year to support and develop the concept of RTC’s across Ontario in partnership with the Ontario Trails Council (OTC). When we started this process about a year and a half ago, there were 5 RTC’s in Ontario. Currently we are working with over 40 RTC’s.

TCTO is committed to working with existing and emerging RTC’s along the Trans Canada Trail. If you have any questions, require assistance or feel that you might have some experience to share to help others, please let us know. As Regional Trail Committee Coodinator, I am available to help groups with organizational and operational questions and challenges. We would like to use this website as the medium which groups can communicate through, share resources and good news stories. Please feel free to send along anything you would like to share with others. Many challenges have been solved in other jurisdictions and I strongly believe in not reinventing the wheel and borrowing from others. There is lots of collective brain power out there so let’s use that to our full advantage. This blog is a great example of how we can communicate with each other. If you would like a login, please send me an email and we will set you up and we can start that network within the Trails Community that has been sorely lacking in past years. We all build trail for the common good, lets share our experiences.

Thanks,

Kirsten Spence

Regional Trail Committee Coordinator, Trans Canada Trail Ontario