Bruce Trail Club opens new parking lot in Mulmur
Members of the Bruce Trail Club (BTC) celebrated an important milestone last week, with the opening of a new parking lot to service the Dufferin Hi-Land trail section. The lot, located near Prince of Wales and 15 Sideroad Kilgore, provides access to the Kilgorie, Pine River and Meladonna loops.
Carl Alexander, a long time Bruce Trail volunteer, said the club has been using the property since the 1980s by means of a handshake agreement with the owners.
“The Van Nostrand family had purchased this 90-acre property in the early 1950s and built a lovely weekend cabin. However, as the family evolved and spent less time here, the cabin was vandalized and the property was abused by off roaders and garbage dumpers.”
Alexander worked with the family for several years to secure a permanent location for the trail, and eventually to transfer ownership to the Bruce Trail Conservancy.
Directly west of the Van Nostrand property is 90 acres of forested land, which at one time was overrun by off- roaders, and was a favourite Saturday night bush party site, according to Alexander.
“This annoyed the property owners on the north side of 15 Sideroad. When the property was offered for sale, they generously agreed to financially support BTC in acquiring it, on the condition that the off-roaders had to go, and the land had to be rehabilitated,” reports Alexander. “There must have been over 1,000 beer cans and every other kind of debris and litter you can imagine including a partially burnt large boat, furniture and many tires. It took hundreds of hours of picking up trash, putting up signage, fencing and positioning donated concrete barriers and large logs to create what is now the wonderful Pine River Nature Reserve encompassing the 180 acres between 15 Sideroad and the Provincial Fishing Area. This is a true community treasure.”
Alexander commended the Van Nostrand family for their stewardship of the land.
“They had the property professionally logged every 25 years, harvesting mature trees and removing blemished ones,” he said. “Look around this lot surrounded by beautiful mature maple trees and thank the visionary Van Nostrands. This illustrates how we think we own the property for the now, but really we are its stewards for future generations.”
Alexander says more than 1,500 volunteers are involved with stewarding conservancy lands, adding, “This is an efficient, effective land trust as well a trail organization.”
The new parking lot, roughly 70 by 140 feet, was built on an existing clearing.
“We tried to maintain the original contours to make it look as natural as possible,” said Alexander. “I have always promoted the building of parking lots that provide safe trail access and reduce roadside parking that can annoy nearby landowners.”
BTC undertakes many projects beyond trail building such as school outreach, invasive species control and resistant species planting. It has now added four new parking lots, and expanded another lot to serve the trail.
Bonnie MacPherson photos: Carl Alexander cuts the ribbon Oct. 1 to officially open a new Bruce Trail parking lot in Mulmur.
Carl Alexander is the first recipient of the Jack Morgan Award, presented by volunteer coordinator Rhiannon Carruthers. Morgan, a long-serving volunteer for the BTC, was known for his dedication and hard work securing landowner agreements on the Bruce Trail. The award recognizes Alexander’s contributions to securing land to grow the trail system.
