Big City Trails: Planning for Forest Protection

A Poster presentation

This poster session presentation summarizes the process of developing the City of Toronto's Natural Environment Trails Strategy and its outcomes.

by Mike Halferty, Natural Environment Specialist, City of Toronto - Urban Foresty Branch

As Toronto grows and the population increases, the pressure from recreational use on our natural areas intensifies. As the fourth largest city in North America,Toronto boasts over 11,000 hectares of forested ravine area, which in turn contains an extensive network of single track dirt trail (over 200 km). Much of this is unregulated and unmanaged.

Trail planning and maintenance helps to alleviate the damage caused by the daily wear and tear of various recreational uses. In order to protect the natural environment, ensure the long-term sustainability of our trails and encourage safe trail experiences, we developed our Natural Environment Trails Strategy (NETS).

This award-winning strategy used city-wide trail mapping, trail user counts and extensive public consultation to create a document that guides planning, construction, maintenance and community engagement for natural environment trail projects. This poster will summarize the process of developing NETS and its outcomes.

About the Author

Mike Halferty is a Natural Environment Specialist with the City of Toronto's Urban Forestry Branch. His work involves planning and implementing natural environment trail projects in Toronto's extensive ravine system, with a strong focus on community engagement and involvement. He holds a Master of Forest Conservation from the University of Toronto.

More articles in this category

Gwinnett Countywide Trails Master Plan

posted Aug 16, 2023

Gwinnett County is currently the second most populous county in Georgia with more than 936,000 residents and also has a minority-majority population. By 2050, estimates project Gwinnett could grow to as many as 1.5 million residents, making it the most populated county in the state.

Top 10 Requests for Trails and Outdoor Recreation Master Plans

posted Apr 2, 2023

Tony Boone and Jon Altschuld are both Board Members of the Professional TrailBuilders Association (PTBA), and both will be presenting at the 2023 American Trails/PTBA International Trails Summit. Their companies, Tony Boone Trails, and Chinook Landscape Architecture are Sierra-level sponsors for the conference.

Trail Design & Maintenance

posted Jul 15, 2022

For trails to be considered “sustainable” they must meet these recreational needs while providing adequate protection to the environment while minimizing trail maintenance.

Environmentally Sustainable Trail Management

posted Jul 15, 2022

This guide considers the environmental impacts of particular activities, viz., hiking and camping, off road vehicles and recreational boats, as well as impacts specific to certain ecosystems.