Trans Canada Trail Ontario Blog

Dryden Meeting For Canoe Routes Steering Committee

admin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 17:39:07 +0000

Trans Canada Trail Ontario is hosting a Steering Committee meeting to discuss the Connection Northwest Canoe Routes Project on January 10th, 2011 at 1PM CST. The purpose of the meeting is to bring together the steering committee and meet with Hap Wilson, project consultant. This meeting is the kickoff of the project.

If you have any information you would like to share with us about possible routes, partners or opportunities, please send us an email. Kirsten Spence - kspence@tctrail.ca or Hap Wilson - ecotrailbuilders@gmail.com

Northwest Canoe Routes Project

admin — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:15:35 +0000

The Northwest Canoe Routes Project is a trail completion initiative of Trans Canada Trail Ontario (TCTO) supported by the Trans Canada Trail (TCT) and the Economic Development Offices of communities in Northwestern Ontario. Our goal is a connected blue and greenway, winding 600 km from the shores of the largest of the great lakes – Superior through the heart of the continent (Northwestern Ontario) arriving at the border with Manitoba. Six provincial parks have already registered 200+km of blueway-canoe route and the communities of Thunder Bay, Atikokan, Ignace, Dryden and Kenora provide for greenway experiences in communities. This, the first of three project phases, aims to determine the best-fit route and connection alternatives to arrive at a continuous, sustained and outstanding trail experience like no other in Ontario. The
development of this route will connect visitors to the regions cultural past and tourism future. The Northwest Canoe Routes initiative is an ambitious project that encourages, not only, the physical healthy lifestyle of trail participants, it also supports the vitality of the communities through education, supportive tourism diversification and economic development of local areas. Once complete, the route will serve as a backbone template for connecting myriad canoe routes and endless quality return experiences – a destination icon in Ontario. Most importantly, it will provide much needed route data to determine the most desirable experience for participants, ensuring a sustained connection from Thunder Bay to the border with Manitoba.

We have hired Hap Wilson to undertake the investigation part of this project. Please check back regularly as he will be providing updates of the project even while out in the field.

We look forward to working with Hap and all the communities in the upcoming months!

Infrastructure Funding Flowing for Trails in Ontario

admin — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:40:45 +0000

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!

Trail Educational Resources

admin — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 14:05:30 +0000

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

Picture Call

admin — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:13:42 +0000

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

Welcome!

admin — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:48:02 +0000

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