Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail News

An Ezine Produced by the Waterfront Regeneration Trust

CIBC* COIP*The Lake Ontario waterfront municipalities, conservation authorities and community groups*The Eastern Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Waterfront Working Group MapArt* Niagara Freewheelers Bicycle Touring Club* Regional Niagara Bicycling Committee St. Lawrence Cement* Tilley Endurables

April 2005

In this issue:

• Waterfront Trail in the News:
  • Waterfront Trail Profiled in GO Transit News
  • Green Tourism Association Launches New Edition of Tour Green Map
• Join Us for a Tour of the Waterfront Trail, Sunday June 12th
• City of Toronto’s Bike Week Events
• Learn Proper Cycling Techniques
• Storytelling: LaSalle Park, Burlington
• April’s Featured Community Group: Friends of Second Marsh
• Upcoming Events:
  • OTC Conference
  • Thickson’s Woods Breakfast and Bobolinks, Saturday May 7th
  • Ride for the Rouge, Saturday May 14th
  • CharterAbility’s Cruise for a Cause, Thursday May 26th
  • May’d in Canada Bike Tour 2005
  • Spring Events with the Bay Area Restoration Council
  • Spring Events With Toronto Bay Initiative

Waterfront Trail in the News:

Waterfront Trail Profiled in GO Transit News

A newsletter produced for GO commuters – GO News - recently added a new feature called GO Travel to highlight some of the many destinations people can explore via the GO Transit system. In the Winter/Spring 2005 edition the Port Credit section of the Waterfront Trail was profiled. The article features a description about the location as well as directions for getting there. This is a great start to a potential new relationship between the Trust and GO to promote weekend tourism possibilities for the Trail and the Lakeshore GO line. The newsletter is available on the GO website at www.gotransit.com as well as in all of the GO stations and on GO vehicles.

Green Tourism Association Launches New Edition of Tour Green Map

April 22nd - this past Earth Day, the Green Tourism Association launched its 2005 edition of the Green Map. The map features the “green” side of Toronto, highlighting the cultural and natural assets of the City. This year the map has expanded to display recreation information for York Region. Approximately 150,000 maps will be distributed in the GTA.

The Trust is proud to be a member of the Green Tourism Association and would like to thank them for their continued promotion of the Waterfront Trail. As part of the media coverage of the map’s release, the Waterfront Trail was featured on the front page of the GTA section of the Toronto Star last Friday. The coverage included a picture of the central section of the Green Map – which displays the Waterfront Trail alignment and the Trail’s logo. According to the Star’s circulation count, it’s estimated that the paper reached 1.2 million daily readers. In addition, the Waterfront Trail is identified on the Green Map as well as profiled on the Association’s website at www.greentourism.ca. The Trail was also featured in the Spring 2005 edition of TourGreen Times: go to www.greentourism.ca/newsletter/tourgreen_spring05.htm.

The last Green Map was chosen from 225 maps from around the world as one of 10 to be showcased in the New York City - based Green Map System, www.greenatlas.org.

Congratulations Green Tourism Association!

To get your copy of the Green Map or for more information go to www.tourgreen.ca

Join Us for a Tour of Toronto’s Section of the Waterfront Trail

In celebration of the City of Toronto’s Bike Week we are organizing a guided cycling tour of Toronto’s Waterfront Trail, in collaboration with the Green Tourism Association. The ride will take place on Saturday June 12th from 11am to 1pm. The tour will start at the corner of Rees St. and Queens Quay and travel east along the Lake. Bike/helmets will be available to rent from Wheel Excitement. Hope you can join us!

To register call Green Tourism at 416-392-1288, or email: info@wrtrust.com

City of Toronto’s Bike Week Events

Each year the City of Toronto along with various organizations and community groups organize a week to raise the profile of cycling issues in Toronto and to promote Shifting Gears, the Toronto Bike Plan. Due to the nearly 100 cycling events scheduled for this year’s celebrations, Bike Week will now take place over to two weeks, from Monday May 30th to Sunday June 12th. The new 2005 City of Toronto Bike Map will be launched. The map includes the Toronto section of the Waterfront Trail and indicates that the route continues both east and west of the city. The map is expected to reach an audience of at least 80,000 cyclists in the GTA. The Trust will be actively participating in the Bike Week activities.

For more information on Bike Week go to: www.toronto.ca/cycling/bikeweek/index.htm

Learn Proper Cycling Techniques

With the warmer weather upon us, it’s a great time to get out on your bike and enjoy the trails. Make sure you learn the proper techniques for riding your bike such as rules of the road, proper signaling and skills for group riding. Through the CAN-BIKE safe cycling skills program cyclists develop skills that allow for assertive, but safe and responsible behaviour. CAN-BIKE Courses teach defensive riding skills, traffic analysis skills, and collision avoidance techniques. The courses also provide the basics on safe equipment, and a basic bike inspection. Regardless of your experience, CAN-BIKE will make your cycling more effective, and give you a greater sense of confidence and control when riding.

Contact your local parks and recreation department to see if CAN-BIKE is available in your municipality. For Toronto, go to: www.toronto.ca/cycling/canbike/index.htm

Check out the Ontario Cycling Association for more information on cycling safety:
www.ontariocycling.org/web_pages/edu_index.php

Storytelling: LaSalle Park, Burlington

The Bay Area Restoration Council of the Hamilton Harbour recently held a storytelling event at La Salle Park. John Hall from the Canada Centre for Inland Waters shared a story highlighting a bit of the history of the Hamilton Harbour - we thought we’d share it with you:

Walk and Imagine!
When building the fishway at Cootes Paradise we aligned the Waterfront Trail to follow the route of a mud road that connected a former shanty community of homes and boathouses. Just behind the interpretive sign, as the trail turns to enter the Desjardins Canal, is an open area where a boathouse foundation is preserved below ground. One of Frank Panabaker’s paintings, hanging in the boardroom of the Hamilton Port Authority, shows this boathouse.
Walk and imagine!

At La Salle Park, when constructing the boardwalk, we encountered a cobble stone beach about half a meter below ground. This may be the beach that LaSalle landed on as recorded in his journal, “a beach covered in black snakes and behind the beach rattle snakes as large as a man’s forearm”. Walk and imagine!

The wildlife islands north of the Canada Centre for Inland Waters were built, in part, to replace habitat common to the sand spit recorded in Lady Simcoe diary. The land under the Skyway is all fill placed in the harbour. The site of the Ministry of Transportation Yard is the former Brant’s Pond named after Chief Joseph Brant. Walk and imagine!
Just off shore, at the bend in the Waterfront Trail from Bayfront Park to Princess Point (south end of the rail yard), there are posts underwater, part of an old siding that connected the railway with steam ships. Walk and imagine!

The Desjardins Canal reminds us of a time when waterpower was the magnet for industry and Dundas an industrial heartland. Stand on the harbour end of the floating walkway and take the tiller of the barge you are about to direct through the canal to Dundas. Look to your right and you will see the mouth of Grindstone Creek, a creek that once boasted over sixty mills; water power from the Niagara Escarpment. Walk and imagine!

Princess Point was home to a native settlement and Coots Paradise is named for Captain Coote, an officer stationed at Fort George in Niagara. It was his favourite hunting ground. Walk and Imagine!

April’s Featured Community Group: Friends of Second Marsh

Second Marsh, the largest remaining wetland in the GTA, is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario in the southeast portion of Oshawa. The Waterfront Trail passes through the Second Marsh Wildlife Area off Farewell Street from Lakeview Park, allowing the public and nature enthusiasts to access the diverse habitat of the Marsh. With an area of 123 hectares, Second Marsh is designated as a “Provincially Significant Wetland” and Provincially Significant “Area of Natural and Scientific Importance”. The marsh functions as a home for around 102 species of nesting birds, 360 species of vascular plants and as a part of the migratory route for salmonoids.

Friends of Second Marsh is a partnership of citizens devoted to protecting and promoting the Second Marsh and its watershed. They offer a variety of events and opportunities for volunteers to participate in projects aimed to educate the public and restore the Marsh and surrounding watershed.

Upcoming volunteer opportunities include:

• Garlic Mustard Event, May 7, 9am to noon –assist with the removal of this invasive woodland plant species
• Miles for the Marsh, Sunday June 26 – volunteers needed for various duties associated with this event

For more events and activities and information about Friends of Second Marsh, check out their website: www.secondmarsh.com or call 905-723-5047.

Next Month’s Feature: Toronto Bay Initiative

Upcoming Events:

Ontario Trails Council Conference, Friday April 29th to May 1st

This weekend the Ontario Trails Council will be hosting its annual Trail conference and general meeting in Peterborough. “Sharing the Experience – Experience the Sharing” is a 3-day conference for trail enthusiasts. A wide range of stakeholders in trail issues will be attending to share their experiences on trail building.

For a complete agenda and details about how to register, visit: www.ontariotrails.on.ca/conference2005.htm or call Bill Bowick at 1-877-668-7245.

Thickson’s Woods Breakfast and Bobolinks, Saturday May 7th

Help support Thickson’s Woods Land Trust by attending their spring breakfast event, 9am - noon. Work up an appetite during a free guided birding tour of Thickson’s Woods Nature Reserve. Afterwards, browse the bakesale, bucket raffle and silent auction. Native plants will be available for sale.

For more information, go to their website: www.thicksonswoods.com or phone (905) 725-2116.

Ride for the Rouge, Saturday May 14th

The Rouge Valley Foundation is organizing its 12thannual ride for the Rouge bike challenge. Two route options, 25km and 50km take riders on quiet city streets and scenic country roads around the Rouge Valley. There will be a free lunch, entertainment and prizes. All proceeds go to the Rouge Valley Foundation for education and rehabilitation projects.

For more information and to obtain a pledge form visit: www.rivernen.ca or call 416-282-8265.

CharterAbility’s Cruise for a Cause, Thursday May 26th

Join CharterAbility as they set sail on a 4-hour dinner Cruise for a Cause from the shores of Port Credit. Proceeds will support the building of Ontario’s first fully accessibility charter boat for groups of people of all ages with disabilities or mobility impairments. Pre-cruise treats will be provided by Fish Bones Oyster Bar and Grille and La Villa Fine Foods.

For more information/or to order tickets call: 905-844-7208 or go to www.charterability.com

May’d in Canada Bike Tour 2005

Urban Expeditions has created a 3-day, 2-night bike experience from May 27th to 29th. The trip involves a program of three cycling outings in the Toronto area and one in Niagara Region. Shuttles will take participants from Toronto to Pelham Estates Winery in Niagara.

For more information contact Urban Expeditions at 416.606.7227 or visit their website at www.urbanexpeditions.com/bike_week/

Bay Area Restoration Council Spring Events

BARC is focused on the restoration and protection of the environmental health of Hamilton Harbour and its watershed. In order to involve the community in harbour issues, BARC organizes a variety of events in the Bay Area.

To access a calendar of their spring events, go to: www.hamiltonharbour.ca.

Toronto Bay Initiative Spring Events

TBI is a non-profit, charitable community organization dedicated to a cleaner, greener, healthier Toronto Bay. One way to assist their initiative is to join them at their events. They offer an array of tours, restoration and naturalization projects for all ages to participate in.

For a complete description of events, check out: www.torontobay.net/events.htm.

Happy Spring!

Vicki Barron, Executive Director;
Marlaine Koehler, Program Director;
and Nikki Rendle, Editor Lake Ontario Waterfront Trail News

The Waterfront Regeneration Trust
372 Richmond Street West, Suite 308
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 1X6
Tel: 416-943-8080
Fax: 416-943-8068
Email: nr@wrtrust.com
www.waterfronttrail.org

Visit www.waterfronttrail.org to download 90 online colour maps of the Waterfront Trail, from Niagara-on-the-Lake to Brockville!

Thank You to our Supporters!:

• CIBC
• The Lake Ontario waterfront municipalities, conservation authorities and community groups
• The Eastern Lake Ontario St.Lawrence Waterfront Working Group
• MapArt
• Niagara Freewheelers Bicycle Touring Club
• Regional Niagara Bicycling Committee
• St. Lawrence Cement
• Tilley Endurables
• The Trust would also like to thank the Canada-Ontario Infrastructure Program (COIP) for its generous support of the 51 projects that comprise the Lake Ontario Waterfront Investment Program.