“The land is an important and delicate ecosystem,” says Michael Tucker, president of the Durham Conservation Association, “and it needed more aggressive management to protect it."

The 1,500 hectares running from the Brock Tract through the Walker Woods and Glen Major Forest were being abused and overused, damaged by hikers trekking in from all directions and others who were taking in their ATVs, snowmobiles and motorbikes. So in 2002, the Durham Conservation Association (DCA), a group of area landowners concerned about the region’s development, decided to get involved. They partnered with the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) to construct a comprehensive trail system, and the two organizations began working together to try and preserve their small and important slice of the planet.

“The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) played an important role in helping to protect this area,” Tucker explains. A grant for $69,800 was provided in 2006 to help increase safe access to the recreational trails.

Walker Woods and Glen Major Forest are part of the Duffins Creek Watershed on the Oak Ridges Moraine, one of the most critical river systems in the Toronto region. Stretching from the Niagara Escarpment to the headwaters of the Trent River, the moraine is unique in its geology. It was created by ancient mile-high glaciers that retreated 10,000 years ago and left thick layers of gravel, sand and clay in their wake. These act as filters, cleaning and recharging the water that feeds Lake Ontario and hundreds of ponds and streams along the way, providing a habitat for a large variety of environmentally sensitive flora and fauna at the same time.

The OTF grant, Tucker says, advanced the construction of a parking lot by two-to-three years, giving nature enthusiasts a designated place to gain access to the area from the west and southwest. The funds allowed more trails to be constructed and upgraded, and also paid for trail-head signs, interpretive signage and even a printed guide and map of the system.

“We reached out to recreation and activity groups that wanted to use the area in less damaging ways,” Tucker continues. “Mountain bikers, hikers, equestrians – they all had an interest in protecting the area and were very keen to volunteer and work with us.” Acting together with the TRCA, the DCA was able to get more than a hundred people involved in planning the work and then working the plan. Experts like Tucker, who is himself an engineer, rolled up their sleeves to design a sustainable trail system that needed minimal maintenance but still had maximum respect for the region and its protection.

“Collaborative efforts like this one between TRCA and DCA and their user-volunteers are dynamic, results-oriented projects,” says Tara McMurtry, program manager at the Foundation. “Volunteers have contributed hundreds of hours to build the system of trails. OTF funding is helping to create sustainability – for the DCA as a volunteer organization, for a recreational area that thousands of people use, and for a very important natural environment.”

The positive changes can already be seen. Private owners in the area are agreeing to put conservation easements on the titles to their land so it will be preserved in its natural state forever. The abuse and littering has stopped, and school children on nature hikes are learning early that there’s a price to be paid for having this reserve available for their use and enjoyment and to be responsible for its preservation.

“The key is the relationship the community has with conservation,” says Tucker. “We can’t stop all human activity, but if we all do our part, we can have this wonderful area for many years to come and make sure the plants and animals have it for their use, too.”