A stretch of forest and wetland overlooking the Pine River Valley is the latest slice of a growing conservation corridor in the southern Georgian Bay region of Ontario.
The Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA) has acquired Black Bank Highlands, a 152-acre property in the Municipality of Mulmur that combines regenerating and mature mixed forest, white cedar swamps and open meadow habitat. The property is the ECA’s second acquired nature preserve since it transitioned into a land trust last year.
Located in the broader south Georgian Bay corridor (roughly 30 km inland from the shoreline), Black Bank Highlands provides habitat for a variety of wildlife, including several species at risk, while helping maintain ecological processes across the landscape.
The property borders the Pine River Valley along a section of the Niagara Escarpment where forests, wetlands and headwater systems remain relatively intact. Conservation groups in southern Ontario, including the ECA, have increasingly focused on protecting these connections between natural areas, recognizing that isolated pockets of habitat are often less resilient in the face of intense development pressures and a changing climate.
“Each property we preserve strengthens the long-term resilience of this landscape,” said Jarvis Strong, executive director of the ECA. “Black Bank Highlands is another critical piece in building a connected ecological corridor across South Georgian Bay. We are deeply grateful to the supporters, donors, and funders helping make this work possible.”
Related content from ML:
“Each property we preserve strengthens the long-term resilience of this landscape…”
For hikers, the property also offers a direct link to one of Ontario’s best-known trails. The Bruce Trail follows the western edge of the preserve and the ECA plans to develop a new side trail that would provide public access into the property.
Connie Hunter donated the property in memory of her late husband, Bryce Hunter, a birder and advocate for land stewardship. The donation was facilitated through the Government of Canada’s Ecological Gifts Program, which encourages the protection of environmentally significant lands through tax incentives for landowners.
Additional funding for long-term stewardship costs was raised through the Peggy Staite-
Wong Foundation, the Ross Mitchell Family Foundation, John and Victoria Tremayne, the Ontario Conservation Accelerator and community donors. The ECA secured funding for immediate stewardship needs through the Government of Ontario’s Greenlands Conservation Partnership program, administered by the Ontario Land Trust Alliance.
The acquisition marks another step in the ECA’s long-term effort to create a connected network of protected lands across its 212,000-hectare area of influence in the southern Georgian Bay area. Through science-based planning, the organization has spent years identifying key properties that support biodiversity, wildlife movement and ecological resilience.
As development pressure continues to reshape parts of the region, projects such as Black Bank Highlands offer a reminder that conservation is often less about protecting a single property than about safeguarding the links between natural landscapes.
Check the ML Podcast!
