To grow our greenprint by 2025, the Connected Campaign will invest in outdoor spaces and experiences that make our watershed greener, healthier and more resilient. Join us in shaping the future.
What is Conservation Halton’s “greenprint”?
Our greenprint extends from the Lake Ontario shoreline to the Niagara Escarpment and beyond, reaching across Burlington, Oakville, Halton Hills, Milton, and parts of Puslinch, Hamilton and Mississauga. It includes 10,000 acres of forests, streams, creeks, wetlands, and meadows and the many outdoor recreation and education experiences that our conservation parks provide.
How does our greenprint benefit local communities?
Research has shown us (and continues to demonstrate through new findings) that human health and ecological health are intimately connected. When nature thrives and greenspaces are abundant and accessible, our communities are able to flourish.
By conserving and restoring thousands of acres of park lands and natural areas, Conservation Halton is working to build a healthier watershed where all community members can access the outdoors and its many benefits. Our restoration and conservation work allows us to safeguard natural assets and ecosystem services, supporting habitat preservation, carbon sequestration, stormwater management, urban heat mitigation, air quality improvement, and more. Meanwhile, our eight unique parks help us serve around 1.5 million people each year, including over 70,000 students through curriculum-linked school programs. These spaces provide unparalleled opportunities for outdoor recreation and learning. They inspire local connection and environmental stewardship, and they are an essential part of Halton.
Why are we growing our greenprint?
Conservation Halton works in one of Ontario’s fastest growing regions. By 2041, the population of our watershed is expected to surpass one million. Our campaign aims to ready our parks and programs for the future while doing more to meet the current needs of our communities.
Demand for nature has been rising steadily for over a decade. In fact, our parks welcome twice as many visitors today compared to ten years ago. In response, we have grown our school tour capacity, launched new partnership initiatives and events, and expanded our network of parks with the opening of Area 8, which followed a 20-year restoration project to transform a former quarry into a greenspace teeming with life. With government and private sector funding, we have invested in new lakeside boardwalks, high-traffic trails, accessible park facilities, and other park features and outdoor spaces to make nature more available and accessible to all.
But this work is only the beginning. To serve our growing communities and promise future generations the kinds of outdoor spaces and experiences that everyone should be able to enjoy, we need to do more to grow our greenprint today.
Over the next three years, Connected will help us fund significant projects and initiatives in three priority areas: Parks and Greenspaces, Biodiversity and Resilience, and Education and Community.
Donate today to be a part of this work, or contact us to learn more about the Connected Campaign.