Achievements

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TRAIL MAINTENANCE & PROJECTS

Miscellaneous

• Initiated the what3words CHALLENGE and then met a group of hikers from the Thames Valley Trail Association to award them their patches.
• Discover The Trails is now called Youth Education on our website.
• Lots of trimming and blazing this year on many trails
• Bog Line cleanup

Huron Street Portage

• Installed a new bracket system to allow Mud Creek floating dock to rise and fall with water level along with stabilization cables.

Ausable River Valley & Mystery Falls

• Replaced a number of broken boards on the ground level foot bridges leading to  Mystery Falls.
• Installed map kiosk at the end of MacDonald that will hold the map for the new loop trail to the north.
• The walkway and embankment at the bottom of the stairs at Mystery Falls has been rebuilt and reinforced to help reduce erosion and make for a safer passage.
• The new loop trail north of MacDonald has been trimmed, blazed and officially mapped. More adjustments will occur in 2025.
• Installed a Wind Phone beside the trail along the river side portion of the Mystery Falls loop trail.
• Added an additional step at bottom of Mystery Falls stairs.
• The vertical Mystery Falls on Elm Tree has been repainted.   

Port Franks Heart of the Trails

• A number of the owls and Seven Grandfather Teachings carvings have been restored to address insect infestation, cracks, and fading.
• The benches around the Circle of Life have been sanded, stained, and the front lip has been painted accordingly - black, red, yellow, and white.
• Installed the Helping Hands carvings in recognition of all the volunteers who have help work on the trails.
• Planted 20 trees along the green tunnel behind the community centre.
• Added a new layer of  chip dust from the parking lot to the Circle of Life.
• Installed an I-naturalist sign at trailhead.

Ausable River Cut Conservation Area

• Added more chip dust to the stairs to top it up.
• Cemented the hole in foundation of the old cinder block building.
• Fixed a broken fence from a car crash on Northville Rd .
• Installed a new, routed handrail topper along the river through the sand dune.
• Closed the dune portion of the main trail and rerouted accordingly.
• Planted dune grass for the 4th consecutive year.

Forest Trails

• Added additional screws to pollinator boxes to tighten up ends that were coming apart.
• Transplanted some vegetation at the trailhead.
• Added metal corner brackets to the bottom of railroad crossing signs in Forest to protect the wood from being hit by the lawn cutting machines.
• Installed a Love Lock Stand.
• Mulch was added to trailhead area, trees and Love Lock Stand.
• Trimmed the sides of the Grand Trunk Trail.
• Hickory Creek cleanup involved removing 150+ pieces of steel from the creek bottom.
• Installed two historical plaque stands and plaques at the train bridge - Naming of Forest, Significance of Hickory Creek
• Held an Open House event to celebrate bridge refurbishment and Love Lock Stand.
• Cut and removed train rails & extra steel pieces from Hickory Creek.

L-Lake

• Replace the L-Lake map sign with a laminated version.

Ipperwash Dunes & Swales

• Installed new “Welcome Visitor” signs on the 3 map kiosks.
• Made temporary boardwalk fixes until more comprehensive changes can be made.
• Installed 6 split rail fences to close off unauthorized side trails.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Youth Nature Challenge: Launched late in 2022, a new badge program encourages our youth to use the trails during every season. Family and friends are encouraged to help our youth rise to this challenge! Young hikers can earn four seasonal badges by completing the nature challenge over the course of a full year. Each season, hikers use clues to figure out the "challenge" trail and, during the hike, find and solve the puzzle posted along the trail. Finally, they need to draw a picture in their brochure. Once hikers have completed the challenge for all seasons, they can submit their brochure to claim their badges.

Adopt-a-Road: We conducted our annual cleanup of the 5.5 km stretch of Bog Line from Hwy 79 to the Ausable River Bridge as part of the Lambton County Adopt-a-Road program. We collected too many garbage bags of other people's garbage!

what3words CHALLENEGE:  Being prepared for hiking is essential for ensuring safety, maintaining health and fitness, minimizing environmental impact, navigating effectively, responding to emergencies, and maximizing enjoyment of the outdoor experience.

The what3words CHALLENGE is an opportunity to learn and utilize a valuable FREE safety tool while hiking the Ausable River Valley and Mystery Falls Trails. Once a hiker has collected the what3words for all eight (8) map signs they can claim your FREE patch. 

Environmental Symposium:  LSNT was fortunate to host four engaging speakers at our Environmental Symposium, “Bee Aware – Plant With Care”: Nathan Schoelier of ABCA, Mike Smalls, Nancy Vidler of LSPCG and Jamie Corcoran of Lakeshore Eco-Network. Each speaker addressed a distinct topic, but all emphasized the importance of supporting the natural environment, whether it’s by planting native species or eradicating invasive ones! Our guests demonstrate a true passion for their roles as advocates and action-takers for our precious ‘Gems of Nature’.

• Built a volunteer pool' of 65+, an email list of 140+ and a Facebook followers list of 2,500+. Partnered with local Landowners, Municipal Council & Staff, local Community Service Groups and donors.
• Constructed and/or upgrade trails, installed trail signage & painted blazes, and re-naturalized damaged  areas.
• Built substantial trail infrastructure including ATV barriers, boardwalks, benches, floating dock and  portage for canoes & kayaks, small bridges over gullies, and stairs on steep embankments.
• Created extensive public awareness of  the critical need to protect & preserve our remaining 'Gems of Nature' through public meetings, monthly newsletters, newspaper articles, presentations to community groups, networking, brochures, badge programs, website and social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram).
• Maintaining 20+ km of nature trails on over 2300 acres of the some of the most environmentally sensitive lands in Lambton Shores and vicinity beyond the  confines of our treasured Pinery Provincial Park and Rock Glen Conservation Area.
• Ongoing efforts to protect the  natural diversity of Lambton Shores and vicinity. This includes projects such a tree planting and pollinator boxes.
• Implementing  changes that make trails available for those who use mobility aids. We have laid a packed chip & dust  surface on three trails, totaling more than 3 km in length. This includes one of  the few accessible trails through a Carolinian Canada forest in southwestern  Ontario. We have also built an accessible viewing platform overlooking the Ausable River Cut, in the heart of the Port Franks designated “Important Bird and Biodiversity Area”.
• Being part of the larger community "Beyond the Trails".  We are a proud member of the County of Lambton Adopt-A-Road Program; cleaning Bog Line from Northville Rd. to the county boundary. We have also partnered with the North Lambton Community Health Centre to lead hikes on area nature trails.