Join the Garlic Mustard Team and members of the Ganaraska Hiking Club for an early Spring walk looking for garlic mustard rosettas and generally learning about this invasive plant and the varied forest floor vegetation at risk. They may even pick some rosettes.
Date April 22, 2023. Meet at P2 off Ingram road at 9:30 am. Plan for a 3 hour hike and bring some snacks and water.
Please pre-register by calling or texting Carol at 705-238-1905.
Over the past two years, many community residents have reached out to Copeland Forest Friends Association expressing concern about the continued building of single-track trails in the Copeland Forest, despite it being already saturated with trails.
Copeland Forest Friends Association (CFFA), a not-for-profit organization charged with conserving the natural integrity of the forest, has recently received approval from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to take on a more active stewardship role over the Copeland Forest. Given the accelerated and damaging increase in trail building and use, particularly since the beginning of the pandemic, CFFA is imposing a moratorium on all new trail builds, effective immediately.
According to Brad Turner, CFFA Board President, “Currently, there are approximately 54 km of single-track trail in the Forest. The MNRF has always prohibited trail building of any type without prior authorization, but the message has maybe not been as clear as it could be. This ‘no-new-build’ moratorium will remain in place while the organization’s new Trail Committee reviews and updates the existing framework and makes recommendations to the Board.”
The Trail Committee will also be mandated to focus on new, unauthorized trail builds as well as trail maintenance. To facilitate this, a process will be established whereby the Trail Committee oversees all trail maintenance in the Copeland Forest and reviews all new trail requests before presenting them to the Board for a decision. Ray Gingras, Vice-President of the Board, said, “This process will be transparent, consultative and will put the ecology of the forest first.” Gingras notes, however, that this process will not be required for regular trail maintenance (removal of logs and clearing of an existing approved trail).
The Trail Committee will also be recruiting representatives from all CFFA user groups as well as other stakeholders and members of the community to offer a fuller perspective to trail use and related issues for consideration by the Board.
Finally, with the moratorium now in place, the Committee is actively encouraging users to report any new trail builds to the CFFA. Gingras is requesting support from the community to help monitor any unauthorized activity: “If you see any trail building activity that does not have a Copeland Forest Friends sign, please photograph the area of concern and email your photos to trails@copelandfriends.ca.”
A recent edition of the online newspaper, Barrie Today, reports that active surveillance in 2018, by the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit, has found blacklegged ticks in the Amos Tract, part of the Copeland Forest. Blacklegged ticks may be infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.
The Amos tract runs west off the 5th Concession of Oro-Medonte, and is literally in our back yard! Please take appropriate precautions if you are walking, hiking, birdwatching, hunting, or mountain biking, etc. in the Copeland Forest or other areas within a 20 Km radius.
Here is the link to the most recent edition of an excellent 8-page brochure, on ticks and Lyme disease. It is written by John D. Scott, one of Canada’s foremost Lyme disease researchers: http://lymeontario.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Lyme-Disease-In-Ontario-Brochure-Sept-2018.pdf
When entering the Copeland Forest you will see some new signs installed recently by the landowner, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Please note that target shooting is no longer permitted in Copeland Forest.
Do you love to step out into Copeland Forest and admire the trees, adorned in lichens and mosses, their branches swaying high above you? Hear the gentle bubble of water as it emerges from a hidden spring? Listen to the chorus of birds in the canopy above you? Inhale the rich aroma of the soils, where earth and water and plants come together in a combination that is absolutely rejuvenating? If you share this feeling about Copeland, then our Ecology & Sustainability Committee is seeking your help. We are in need of volunteers like you to help us take care of this special place. Why not join other like-minded Copeland enthusiasts and join the E&S Committee and use your passion to help us keep this Forest healthy. Please contact Pat Woodford at strix.woodfordii@sympatico.ca for more information. We look forward to hearing from you.
We are pleased to announce that our winter parking plans have expanded. We have a signed agreement with a local contractor to plow Parking Lot #2 (on the south side of Ingram Road, just east of Line 4 North). When there is a snowfall of 10 or more centimetres, the lot will be cleared of snow for your parking convenience. The lot has been plowed over a dozen times this winter, and it’s only mid January!
Thank you to the Township of Oro-Medonte for their financial assistance with this project. The snow removal contract represents a sizable portion of our budget and we have plans to install a donation box at the parking lot. In the interim, any donation would be greatly appreciated and can be done on our website.
Our winter season in Copeland Forest is off to a great start and the snow conditions are good for a winter outing in the forest. Please note that the parking lots on Ingram Road at Line 3 and Line 4 are NOT plowed. However, the Township of Oro-Medonte will continue to provide two lay-by parking areas: one on Ingram Road at Line 3 (marked as P1 on our trails map) and also a second one on Line 5, north of the train tracks (marked as P3 on our trails map). The trails map can be downloaded from our website www.copelandfriends.ca or purchased for a toonie at these locations: in Craighurst, the Esso, Loobie’s Restaurant and Woodside Pottery & Gallery. In Barrie, at Bikeland, Greenhawk and Sojourn. In Orillia at The Birdhouse Nature Company and the Couchiching Conservancy. CFFA members receive a free copy of the map with their membership.
