PRESS RELEASE
August 22, 2024, DUNDAS, ONTARIO – The Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) is excited to announce the creation of Sunrise Shores Nature Reserve, which will preserve 64 acres of mature forest and sensitive ecosystems on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula. This newly protected area also secures over 600 metres of the Bruce Trail along the shores of beautiful Georgian Bay.
Sunrise Shores Nature Reserve will forever preserve vital habitats, including a mature Sugar Maple forest, cliff and talus features, and an aquatic transition zone, and completes a 560-acre conservation corridor from Rush Cove to Barrow Bay. Maintaining connected ecological corridors such as this is critical to helping increasingly isolated wildlife, such as Black Bears and Fishers, and species at risk, such as Eastern Wood-Pewee and Wood Thrush, thrive.
“This land provides a home to biodiversity that needs our protection,” said Marsha Russell, Vice President of Fund Development for the Bruce Trail Conservancy. “With the meaningful support of our Bruce Trail community, over 600 metres of Georgian Bay shoreline is now preserved forever, available for the public to explore and enjoy via the iconic Bruce Trail.”
The creation of Sunrise Shores Nature Reserve was made possible by a lead gift from the MapleCross Fund; a dedicated partner of the BTC and champion of Escarpment conservation. The BTC is also a proud recipient of a five-year, $7.3 Million Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund grant from Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), which supported the conservation of this land together with the tremendous response from our dedicated community of donors and the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club.
The Trail has traversed the land of the new Sunrise Shores Nature Reserve since 2007 courtesy of a handshake agreement with the previous owner. As we work to secure all 900 km of the Bruce Trail, we remain grateful to the landowners on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula, and across the entire Bruce Trail, who graciously allow the Trail to cross their property. Without handshake agreements with generous landowners, the continuity of the Bruce Trail would be in jeopardy.
For over 60 years the Bruce Trail Conservancy has been the only charitable organization working to preserve sensitive Escarpment lands, while making them accessible for the people of Ontario by way of the Bruce Trail. This new nature reserve will be stewarded by the dedicated volunteers of the Peninsula Bruce Trail Club.
About the Bruce Trail Conservancy
The Bruce Trail Conservancy is one of Ontario’s largest land trusts that secures, protects, and restores the vulnerable habitat and biodiversity of the UNESCO Niagara Escarpment Biosphere. For more than 60 years, we have responsibly connected people to nature through the Bruce Trail. We are a member-driven, volunteer-based, charitable organization governed by a 19-member Board of Directors. Working with each of the nine Bruce Trail Clubs, we are committed to caring for the Bruce Trail and to preserving land along its route. The Bruce Trail Conservancy is a leading Canadian environmental charity and has been named one of the 2023 Top 100 Charities in Canada by Charity Intelligence.
About the Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund
Canada’s Nature Smart Climate Solutions Fund (NSCSF) is a $1.4 billion, ten-year fund (2021–2031) administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada to help conserve, restore, and enhance the management of ecosystems such as wetlands, forests, and grasslands, in order to help tackle the dual crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The NSCSF will focus on three main objectives: (1) conserving carbon-rich ecosystems at high risk of conversion to other uses that would release their stored carbon; (2) improving land management practices to reduce their greenhouse gas emission-causing impacts on Canada’s ecosystems; and (3) restoring degraded ecosystems. Overall, these projects will contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and increased carbon sequestration, while also providing benefits for biodiversity and human well-being.
