Mayor Nuttall signs executive order to protect natural land in Barrie

Today is Earth Day, and the City of Barrie has local land in mind.

A noon media event at Little Lake Park saw Mayor Alex Nuttall sign an executive order to create a conservation trust to protect the land around the lake and other "environmentally sensitive" areas in Barrie.

A release from the Office of the Mayor says the order directs city staff to report to general committee on the framework, budget, and authority to function by 2026.

"We always talk about how blessed we are in the City of Barrie to have the picturesque environment, we have Lake Simcoe, Kempenfelt Bay, we have Little Lake, we have Sunnidale Park, we have the Ardagh Bluffs, there's the Bear Creek wetlands ... Hewitt's Creek, Whiskey Creek, and it's important we ensure these are preserved for the future," Nuttall said at the event.

"In consultation with council, we are recognizing that we have over 300 hectares of park space, 88 kilometres of public trails, and today, we're doubling down to protect our natural environment. The City of Barrie has previously acquired lands around Little Lake to preserve them as natural heritage and to eventually create a trail system similar to what's been done at Kempenfelt Bay."

Nuttall says city staff have been instructed to identify and prioritize lands for long-term protection and to report back with exact locations and designations of the protected lands. He says the conservation trust will act as an independent board and "ensure these lands will be environmentally protected in perpetuity."

Members of the trust include Mayor Nuttall, Deputy Mayor Thomson, Councillor Kungl, Councillor Nigussie, and Councillor Harvey, "and staff will be asked to report back on the appropriateness to include the Mayor of Springwater and member(s) of the public," the release read.

"There's also the potential if other neighbouring municipalities would like to be included," added Nuttall.

The City of Barrie has 4,261 acres of environmentally protected land, as per the current official plan.

The mayor says the city owns roughly 340 acres of land at Little Lake, and it will take "a long period of time" to create the trail system.

"But, what this will do is allow a group of individuals to get together to work on it, to fundraise for it, and to move forward with a plan that's going to protect our natural environment and, at the same time, allow for our residents to enjoy the natural environment that is Little Lake," explained Nuttall.

"I think that citizen-led approach is something that we need to include in conservation around the city. We have organizations like Youth for Lake Simcoe ... that do a ton of good work ... that we need to be able to tap into to collaborate with and to ensure that we're able to make the trails in the right places."

Barrie 360 asked Mayor Nuttall how do you balance creating trail infrastructure while making sure land remains natural and not harmed by development.

"I don't think it's as simple as just creating a trail," replied Nuttall. "I think that we need to understand the importance of each of these areas. We need to understand what we can do, as well as what are our limitations. We don't want to be creating trail systems that we can't actually keep current, keep safe, keep going.

"I think we also need to look at the accessibility to the trails. Is it close to a car park[ing lot]? Is it close to a place where residents can actually go and use it? That's one of the beautiful things about the investment that we're making here at Little Lake with regard to the in and out of kayaks and canoes that was in this year's budget. It's making it more accessible for people in a way that respects the local environment. I think we've got to take that approach to this."