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Explorer

Past stories Living off-the-grid New Brunswick's Saint John River Ontario's Bruce Trail Canadian Ski Marathon Elk Island National Park Rallying for rallysport Montreal - Circus city Beluga Bytes Dawson - a musical adventure Bald Eagle Confederation Trail Boning up on the badlands Ukkusiksalik National Park Geocaching Discover Cypress Hills Saint Joseph's Oratory A walk through Stanley Park Sudbury's science centre Acadia continues Toronto's underground world

PHOTO: From The Niagara Escarpment by Sandy Bell, Vic MacBounie and John MacRae

Despite the designation of the Niagara Escarpment as a World Biosphere Reserve in 1990, less than half of the Bruce Trail falls on protected lands. The remaining 53 per cent is on private land, and the Bruce Trail Association, a group of recreational hikers and property owners who manage the trail, whittles down that figure each year by buying up parcels of land. But it is a slow process, made even more difficult by the rising price of real estate in the region. The association hopes to own exactly half of the trail by 2008, but it will cost $2.5 million to purchase the 25 kilometres of trail necessary to bring the association up to a full 50 percent.

"It's a difficult task because the average price per kilometer is about $100,000," says Beth Kümmling, executive director of the Bruce Trail Association."Eventually, we want to secure another 400 kilometres of trail, so we're talking $40 million to 60 million. Obviously this is going to take some time."

PHOTO: From The Niagara Escarpment by Sandy Bell, Vic MacBounie and John MacRae

Today, about a quarter of the trail passes on roads because the association does not own land or have agreements with area landowners. The association's acquisitions are aimed at getting as much of the trail as possible off the roads and onto the "optimum trail route," which members have identified as the ideal final path. Last spring, the association purchased 29 acres at Rush Cove near the village of Barrow Bay, Ont. The purchase will allow about 4.5 kilometres of the trail to move off a road and closer to the much more scenic Georgian Bay.

The association also relies on donations from landowners and periodically receives matching grants from government funds. Last spring, the association received its largest donation of land when a long-time member of the association donated 11 hectares worth $1.2 million.

PHOTO: From The Niagara Escarpment by Sandy Bell, Vic MacBounie and John MacRae

In 1960, Ray Lowes, Robert MacLaren, Norman Pearson and Philip Gosling realized that they could preserve the area by securing a trail along the Escarpment. Gosling negotiated access by knocking on doors in the communities lining the Escarpment, and he reached his first agreement with a private landowner in 1962, also the year the first trail marker was blazed. By 1963, the foursome had established trail organizations in several communities, and the process of reaching handshake agreements with landowners on the planned route was well under way.

In 1967, a stone cairn was erected in Tobermory, commemorating the completion of the trail, though its existence relied almost entirely on informal agreements with landowners. But slowly the Bruce Trail Association grew in size and in the late 1970s and early 1980s it was able to begin purchasing lands to build a permanent and protected Bruce Trail.

NIAGARA ESCARPMENT A Photographic Journey From Niagara Falls to Tobermory By Sandy Bell, Vic MacBournie and John MacRae James Lorimer & Co. 128 pp., $55 hardcover

Bell , of Hamilton, Ont. and fellow photographers Vic MacBournie and John MacRae have captured the Escarpment's untouched charms in Niagara Escarpment: A Photographic Journey from Niagara Falls to Tobermory. The three photographers spent a year and a half catching quiet moments with nature and documenting how people interact with the rocky landscape. They hope the book will become one of many tools used to educate the public about the need to protect the Escarpment from future development.

"We want people to appreciate what they have in their backyard," says Bell."One day I was on the Credit River and I sat and talked with a fly fisherman while he fished and I photographed him. It was just so quiet and so beautiful. That is something I'll always remember."

Read an excerpt of the January/February '07 Explorer.