Friends of the Grand River

This year has been a big one for projects and policy at FOGR. There will be presentations on all the projects and a chance to plan for the new year. Come and see the executive and meet other Friends.

Fall Gathering

Sunday, October 19 @ 2p.m.

Wellington Terrace Home for the Aged

Cuthbert Street, Elora

Here is a link to the map

Friends of the Grand Supports the Spey Clave

Great Times at the Grand Opportunities Forum

Friends of the Grand Help the Other Fishers on the River

Many of us have been treated to the stirring sight of the ospreys fishing on the Grand River. As part of FOGRs conservation efforts Terry Ryckman and crew were out in Belwood Conservation Area installing a nesting platform so that more breeding pairs of osprey will be attracted to the Grand River valley.

Our nesting platform is modeled after other successful nesting platforms installed in Florida. The structure consists of a telephone pole with a baffle near the mid point and a wooden pallet on the top to support the truly massive osprey nest. We hope to have a nesting pair of ospreys using the platform within two or three years so that more folks will be treated to the sight of the mighty fishing eagles.

Fall 2002 Events for Friends of the Grand

We hope you've received notice of the annual FOGR Fall Gathering, to be held at Wellington Terrace Seniors Home (lower floor meeting room) from 2:00-4:30 pm on Sunday 20 October. We hope you can make it out for the meeting to review the year's work and make plans for 2003. We'll also have available the popular (and attractively priced at $55, taxes incl.) FOGR Columbia fleece vests that are a great layering garment for fall steelheading -- or leaf raking!

Before the afternoon meeting, we'll have the final 2002 Adopt-a-Road Cleanup. Please meet at 8:00 am at the Fergus Arena parking lot off Belsyde Drive (Old Orangeville Road) in Fergus.There will be two important fall projects for volunteer participation this year, and these will be discussed in more detail at the meeting. Two days after the fall meeting, on Tuesday 22 October, we'll be stocking the Grand River with 25,000 small fingerling brown trout. The actual time of meeting is yet to be arranged, so expect another email with those details closer to the date. But based on past experience, a late-morning rendezvous at the parking lot of the Zehr's Supermarket on Hwy. 6 at the south end of Fergus is a good bet. The second project, with a weather-dependent date, will be a fall spawning redd count for our Grand River browns. We need clear, relatively low water, as well as spawning fish, so the date for this project will be announced with fairly short notice, probably in the first week of November. We'll also post details on projects to the FOGR website.Please indicate your interest in participating in these projects on the sign-up sheets at the Fall Gathering. See you there!

There's More News in the Newsletter

Grand Opportunities Forum 2002

The Grand Opportunities Forum that wrapped up last weekend was the biggest success to date. Classes were generally full and the "Foundations" series of classes were sold-out. The equipment swap had by far the most amount of gear sold since the swap was inaugurated. We expanded our offerings to a dinner in the Hampton Barn after the day's classes and about 40 supporters showed up for some country cooking on a beautiful evening.

The following are a few pictures of the classes and displays that went on at this year's Forum.

Check Your Tickets!

Many of the folks at the Grand Opportunities Forum participated in the Bucket Raffle. All of the prizes have been claimed except for two.

Complete with fly line, backing, leader and a Springbrook single rod & reel Stream case.

Email Larry McGratton to pick up your prizes if you have the winning ticket. Prizes must be claimed before Dec. 31, 2002 or they will be raffled off at the AGM in the Spring.

Jim McCaw Wins the Sage Rod Draw for 2002

The winner of the 2002 SAGE Fundraising Raffle in support of FOGR's conservation efforts is Jim McCaw, of Burlington, Ontario. Jim has been a member of the Friends of the Grand River since 1996, and has been a strong supporter of FOGR conservation projects, both with volunteer time and annual donations.

"I was so pleased to present this SAGE outfit to Jim", said FOGR President Larry McGratton: "He was disbelieving at first, then like a kid finding himself locked in a candy store for the night!" Jim's surprise at winning the SAGE SLT rod, and SAGE 3200 large arbor reel and line was equalled by Larry's surprise as Jim presented him with a donation of $500 for FOGR. Jim says that FOGR is the best conservation organization he's ever joined, and asked Larry to commend the Board of Directors of FOGR, and all volunteers, on a job extremely well done!

The SAGE Fly Fishing Company, of Bainbridge Island, Washington, has been a willing supporter of FOGR's conservation fundraising efforts for 3 successive years, through their Ontario/Quebec representative Bob McKenzie Agencies, and area SAGE tackle retailers. The 2002 SAGE fundraising raffle generated $3850, and is FOGR's most successful to date! Over the past 3 years, SAGE's generous donations of raffle prizes have raised nearly $10,000 in conservation funding for Friends of the Grand River.

Conservation projects funded by these efforts include water quality monitoring, biological inventories of the fish and invertebrates of the Grand River, and studies on improving recruitment of wild brown trout into the popular tailwater fishery. More details on these projects are available on the website.

Trout Stocking- 2002

This year Friends of the Grand were provided with 23,872 1 year plus Brown Trout in the Main Grand. There were also 16,500 yearling Brown trout in Carroll and Swan Creek Tribs for a grand total of 40,372 Brown Trout stocked this year.

As in the past years we used 36+ sites to distribute fish through out the river. Average size was 71.684 gr or 7 in. The fin clip is a right ventral, however due to over crowding during the OPSUE strike both ventral and pectoral fins were damaged.

Thanks to everyone who could spare a weekday to get those fish in the river- your help makes it all possible.

We're Baaack

As many of our web page users may have noticed (we hope you noticed!) our web pages were down for about three weeks. We are changing over to a new service provider Golden Triangle On Line who have offered us free web space. We are very grateful to the folks at Golden who will be working with us to keep our pages up and accessible.

TREE PLANT 2002

FOGR's 2002 Tree Plant Day occurred on a beautiful day along Swan Creek, upstream of the Elora-Guelph Road, on Saturday 04 May. Swan Creek is an important cold-water tributary to the Grand River. We had a about 2 dozen folks planting a variety of hardwoods and softwoods in the fertile ground of flood plain.

All the tree planters had a chance to look across the road at last year's trees. It appears that about 90% of the trees planted last year "took" and there will be a beautiful grove of trees along the Swan soon.

Grand Opportunities Fly Fishing Forum- The Best Show By a Dam Site

Friends of the Grand River and the Grand River Conservation Authority are jointly presenting their annual Grand Opportunities Fly Fishing Forum at Belwood Lake Conservation Area on Saturday, June 8, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Eighteen seminars will be held throughout the day on specialized fly-fishing topics. Seminar leaders are well-known in the fly-fishing community both here in southern Ontario and in the United States.

Bruce Richards, a fly-line designer with Scientific Anglers, a subsidiary of the 3M Corporation, will be a guest at the Forum and keynote speaker at an evening dinner. Although better known for Scotch tape and Post It notes, the 3M company manufactures top quality fly lines and markets an entire range of medium-priced fly-fishing equipment.

Friends of the Grand President Larry McGratton said "This is our fifth forum, and we're expecting a better turnout than ever. Nowhere else in Ontario will you find an outdoor education event like this. From novice to 30-year fly fishers, they all find something to challenge them."

A kids programme will introduce youngsters to living bugs, fly tying and casting their flies.

A women's introductory class runs all afternoon, and a new series of foundation seminars will appeal to the newcomer to the sport. No experience or equipment is needed to take these seminars.

Many of the seminars will be held right in the river so instructor can demonstrate their techniques in actual fishing conditions.

As the seminars are being held, a silent auction and used equipment sale are held in the Hampton Barn in the conservation area. At the end of the day there will be a short regular auction. Funds raised will go to conservation and river improvement projects of Friends of the Grand River.

The Forum also has the biggest equipment swap and sale around. Everyone is encouraged to bring their old fishing, camping and outdoors gear to the Hampton Barn first thing in the morning. The gear will be tagged and sold with a small share going to the Friends of the Grand. There are always some great deals.

Belwood Lake Conservation Area is located on Wellington County Road 18, about three kilometres east of Fergus. Admission to the park is $3.50, and there is no additional fee to attend the Forum. The event will go ahead rain or shine.
For more information, contact Larry McGratton at (519) 843-3102.
(John Dadds)

If you would like the complete brochure for the Grand Opportunities Forum and you have the Adobe reader click here.

If you would like the poster for the Grand Opportunities Forum and you have the Adobe reader click here.

Top ranked kayakers coming to Elora; river flows will be adjusted for races

Some of Canada's best kayakers will race through the Elora Gorge the weekend of May 11-12 when the annual Elora Down River Race and Elora Slalom competitions are held.

The kayakers are attracted by the natural rapids in the river as it races through the gorge in the Elora Gorge Conservation Area, operated by the Grand River Conservation Authority.

Entrants in the Elora Down River race will be competing for the Ontario championship. In addition, the weekend's events have attracted three members of the Canadian national team, who will be using the event as a tune-up before attending the world championships. A national team development coach will also be present to conduct clinics for younger racers.

In order to assist the kayakers, the GRCA has agreed to make adjustments in the amount of water released from the Shand Dam reservoir upstream from Elora.

(The adjustments will only happen if reservoir and watershed conditions permit.)

In normal conditions, the discharge from the dam is about 4 cubic metres per second (cms). On the days of the competition, the discharge will be about 11 cms from about 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The increased flows will, however, make the river less suitable for fishing, particularly flyfishing.

In earlier years, the kayak competition was held the last weekend in May, which is the American Memorial Day holiday, a busy time for flyfishing on this stretch of the Grand. The kayak race organizers agreed this year to move their event ahead two weeks in order to minimize the impact on fishermen, outfitters and guides.

FOGR River Watch Program in High Gear

The Friends of the Grand River's award winning River Watch has been stepped up to deal with reports of poachers on the river. The poachers are trying to take advantage of the lack of Conservation Officers brought about by the OPSEU strike. The members of the River Watch program have mobilized to give coverage of all of the areas likely to attract the law breakers and have worked out a continuous schedule of patrols.

The River Watch Guardians are trained to inform the poachers of the rules and take down information on their appearance, time of the offences, fishing gear and licence plates of the malefactors. This information is then used when the poacher is charged. In the absence of conservation officers OPP officers can be called in to enforce the Fish and Game Act and Conservation Officers can still be called in for emergencies.

With any luck the river will stay at unfishable water levels until our Conservation Officers return and COs, Guardians and the fisherman of the Grand can work together to keep an eye on illegal activity on our river.

Grand Opportunities Saturday June 8 at Belwood Lake Conservation Area.

Fifteen of the top instructors/speakers in the region will be presenting various fly fishing topics on the river. This unique format is a great venue to learn more about the Grand River and to improve your fly fishing skills. What other school allows you to catch trout in class?

New this year is a "Foundations Section" These seminars are designed for people new to the sport. Learn to cast, reads the river or tie your first fly, all in a friendly outdoor setting.

Book your seminars early so you are not disappointed. Prices at the door are also more expensive.

Also, there is a dinner following the event at the Hampton Barn. The dinner costs $35 per person and proceeds go to help Friends of the Grand River's Conservation efforts. keynote speaker Bruce Richards of 3M Scientific Anglers will share some of his experiences with the dinner crowd and there will be some great auction prizes, including an Original Al Hassall watercolor painting that is featured on the Grand Opportunities posters.

If you are looking for some equipment or trying to turn that old piece of fly fishing gear you no longer use into some cash you should get involved with the Used Equipment sale. We will also have a live auction and silent auction for new rods, reels and other great gear.

There will also be children's conservation and fly fishing activities. and Don't forget Terry & Larry's BBQ extraordinaire!

It is always a great time for all since there is fishing in the stocked pond on site for kids, hiking and swimming in Belwood Conservation area for the non-fishing partners.

For more information e-mail Steve May at g.r.flycompany@sympatico.ca pick up a brochure at you local fly fishing club or retailer or attend the AGM for further information.. Updates on Grand Opportunities, forms for the gear swap and other details will posted right here.

If you would like the complete brochure for the Grand Opportunities Forum and you have the Adobe reader click here.

If you would like the poster for the Grand Opportunities Forum and you have the Adobe reader click here.

FUND RAISING RAFFLE 2002: A full SAGE Outfit worth $1580.00*!

Generous donations of fund raising prizes from SAGE Fly Rods and Bob McKenzie Agencies in the past 2 years have allowed us to raise $6000 for conservation activities on the Grand, and there have been 2 very happy winners of top-of-the-line SAGE rods in our membership.

This year, in recognition of the great volunteer efforts by FOGR members in conservation activities, SAGE and Bob McKenzie Agencies and Ontario Sage dealers have been even more generous in their support! The outstanding prize in this year's Conservation Fund Raising Raffle is a complete SAGE outfit ideal for fishing our Grand River or packing into your suitcase for flying to a dream fishing destination:

A maximum of 450 tickets will be sold, at $10 per ticket. Renew your membership or join FOGR at the same time as purchasing your tickets and receive a $5 discount on a one-year membership in the Friends of the Grand River. The draw will be held at FOGR's Grand Opportunities Fly Fishing Forum, Saturday 08 June.

MORE TROUT RESEARCH IN THE GRAND

Over the past 14 months, we've been carrying out some research on a number of projects on the Grand tailwater fishery with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and additional support from Sage Fly Rods through the annual fund raising raffle. We've also had a lot of assistance from our project partners at Wilfrid Laurier University's Biology Department, and from the OMNR and GRCA.

FOGR volunteers have been working together with university students and faculty to study the fish and insect community in the Grand between the Shand Dam and the Westmontrose covered bridge. Also, water chemistry and temperature data have been collected on the main river and tributaries to monitor conditions for trout spawning and survival, and a student from Niagara College took on the project of integrating our redd count data into a GIS (Geographic Information System) database to simplify access to these surveys. We were all pretty excited to find clear evidence of successful spawning of brown trout in the main river on our electrofishing survey in October, 2001.

Your Board of Directors had a meeting to discuss the results with local OMNR staff in late January. The data, which will help to evaluate trout habitat and prioritize locations for everything from tree planting to fish stocking, were much more extensive and valuable than OMNR had hoped for. A draft report will be out for discussion this spring and the conclusions of these studies will be invaluable in the design of the Belwood Reservoir Tailwater Fishery Managment Plan, which is now underway.

A big THANK YOU is due to FOGR members and partners who contributed 993 hours of volunteer time in the cold and heat of the field, and 112 hours at the microscopes and computers!

VESTED INTERESTS

We've got some snazzy Polar Fleece vests to keep our members warm on volunteer days and early season fishing trips! The deep blue vests are embroidered with your FOGR logo on the zippered chest pocket. There are 2 other zippered exterior pockets, plus an interior pocket, and a drawstring hem and high zip collar to keep out the cold.

These are top quality Columbia "Titanium" MTR fleece vests in their "Tech" series, which means they can also zip into other compatible Columbia Tech clothes for that great layering effect. Best of all, as a special THANK YOU! to all members in appreciation for the more than 1500 volunteer hours accumulated on FOGR projects last year, these vests are available at the lowest price you'll ever see -- this is not a fund raising item.

The FOGR vests will be available to current members only, while supply lasts, at $55 (tax included), in men's sizes M, L, XL, and XXL. Please, only 2 vests per family. Look for them at the FOGR booth at the Izaak Walton Forum, and -- if they last that long -- at the Annual General Meeting. While you're picking up your vest, don't forget to renew your membership for 2002 and support the SAGE fund raising raffle.

Belwood Reservoir Tailwater Fishery Tailwater Management Plan

The meetings around the Belwood Reservoir Tailwater Fishery Tailwater Management Plan (mercifully shortened to BRTFMP) will occur in Cambridge on December 5, 2001. It is of great importance that FOGR members attend and push our program of habitat restoration and sound management practice. We had an excellent turnout at the last meeting in Fergus and really made our thoughts known.

The meeting will be Wednesday, 05 December, 7-9 pm at the Grand River Conservation Authority head office (400 Clyde Road, Cambridge). Click here for a map

We are currently soliciting the membership for ideas to bring forward at the meeting. Please send along any issues or ideas that you have about the tailwater fishery to our President, Larry McGratton . We will soon come up with a list of the best bets for the meeting incorpoarating reccomendations from you and the FOGR board of directors.

WILD BROWN TROUT RETURN TO THE GRAND RIVER TAILWATER

After 12 years of stocking trout, Friends of the Grand River (FOGR) volunteers and Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Guelph District staff have found conclusive evidence that wild brown trout are re-establishing themselves in the Grand River below Belwood Lake.

Previous studies by FOGR and government agencies found that stocked brown trout spawn in large numbers in some areas of the river, and that some eggs survive to hatch into young trout beneath the gravel where they are laid. However, no evidence had been collected to determine whether natural spawning produces wild trout of catchable size. Wild trout would be an important contribution to the famous tailwater fishery in the 25-km stretch of the river downstream from Belwood Lake. The fishery draws fly fishing anglers to the area from across the continent, and contributes more than $1.3 million annually to the local economy.

Of three locations surveyed with a backpack electroshocking unit in early October, 2001, brown trout were captured at two locations. Electrofishing efficiency was low, because of fairly high flows and discoloured water, and the ability of trout to avoid the shocker.

Most brown trout shocked and released were fish stocked in the spring of 2001, now measuring about 25 cm (10 inches). "One 10-centimetre (4-inch) brown, captured near a major spawning area, was the result of parent fish spawning in October, 2000", said biologist Ian Martin, FOGR's volunteer director of biological projects. This is the first definitive evidence of wild brown trout contributing to the fishery.

The young trout was captured within a few metres of experimental habitat structures placed in the river by FOGR in spring 2001 to provide a refuge for newly hatched trout fry.

As the saying goes, "one swallow does not make a summer", but the results of 02 October's electrofishing are an encouraging sign that anglers can expect to catch wild brown trout in the Grand River.

Based on the ratio of stocked to wild fish captured, a preliminary estimate can be made of approximately 2,875 wild brown trout in the Grand River tailwater fishery resulting from spawning activity in the year 2000 alone.

It will be necessary to further investigate the numbers of wild brown trout in the Grand River tailwater fishery to verify the accuracy of this estimate. But with proof of successful spawning and now, successful recruitment to catchable size, FOGR and partner regulatory agencies (MNR, Grand River Conservation Authority, and the federal Department of Fisheries and Ocean) can also discuss ways to maximize the contribution of wild trout to the excellent fishery that already exists.

These studies were made possible by a grant from Ontario's Minister of Natural Resources Fish and Wildlife Protection and Enhancement Fund, and by a donation from SAGE Manufacturing Company and Bob McKenzie Agencies.

The Winner of the Sage Rod is Bob Speers

The winner of the Sage 489-5SP Rod draw for 2001 was Bob Speers of Fergus, Ontario.

Friends of the Grand River in its efforts to improve the Grand River Brown Trout Tailwater Fishery. We raised almost $3,500 for our conservation efforts

Friends of the Grand go to School

Friends of the Grand River volunteers teamed up with GRCA staff to take an electrofishing certification workshop on 11 July, 2001. The workshop was organized by FOGR, hosted by GRCA at the Belwood Conservation Area offices, and taught by OMNR biologists Al Murray and Art Timmerman. FOGR volunteers were previously certified in CPR and First Aid as a prerequisite to enrolling.

The additional pool of certified crew leaders will be used to do shocking surveys in search of naturally spawned young brown trout late this summer as part of FOGRs ongoing studies on improving the Belwood Reservoir Tailwater brown trout fishery.

What's that in the River?

For all those people walking the river and wondering what the large green pails and wood pallets are doing in the water, here is an explanation.

The pails and pallets are part of the research into the hatching, swim up and habitat use by young of year (YOY) brown trout. Last fall, brown trout eggs successfully hatched in the river redds (see the Newsflash Archive). This year, the focus is on whether the fry are able to swim up out of the gravel and where they go after they get out of the gravel.

The green pails are swim up traps designed to catch some of these swim up fry as they come out of the gravel (see the picture below in "Busy Times for the FOGR"). The pails are located on top of redds from last fall. Thanks to everyone who helped in the redd count since we can only measure swim up fry because we know where the redds are located.

The wooden pallets are set up to provide potential habitat for juvenile brown trout. Trout juveniles require woody debris for protection and food production. These pallets are woven with tree branches into the middle of the pallet and weighted down with rocks in slow moving pools below known spawning riffles. Thanks to all the volunteers, that came out on the May long weekend to get this structures in.

There will be follow up electrofishing in July around these structure to see who is using them and hopefully answer if the Grand River has native brown trout.

Keep checking in to the Newsflash pages because we will be posting all of our results.

Magic Show for the FOGR

The Centre Wellington High School is holding a magic show on Thursday May 24, 2001 at 7.30 pm, the proceeds are going to be donated to FOGR. It is a honor that the environmental projects that have brought us the success, are being recognized by the community youth . I would encourage you to attend if possible.

Busy Times for the Friends of the Grand

FOGR Family Tree Plant 2001: Members and their families turned out on Saturday, 05 May to plant trees along Swan Creek -- a cold water tributary to the Grand River. Beautiful weather and willing hands aided in the planting of hundreds of cedar, ash, maple, and cottonwood saplings. A crew of students from the Univ. of Guelph were a great help too!

Swim-up Fry Traps: Prof. Ed Kott (Wilfrid Laurier Univ.) and Derek Parks (Univ. Waterloo), install traps over known spawning redds of Brown Trout in the Grand River. If young trout successfully emerge from the gravel, we hope to trap them in the net bag attached to the trap. The nets will be checked frequently until mid-May for evidence of successful swim-up.

The Fish are Coming Early

On May 7 the first tanker truck of fish from the Normandale Fish Culture Station will arrive at Tim Horton's in Fergus at about 1:00 p.m.. We will meet in Fergus at the Zehrs parking lot across from Tim Hortons on Tower street, please try and be early (11.00 -11.30) as there is a lot of pre organization that needs to be completed prior to the fish arriving.

A total of two vehicles (1 with 3 tanks and 1 with 1 tank) will come that day. Each tank will hold about 4,500 brown trout so we will receive about 18,000 fish the first day. Fish are expected to average 67g.

On May 8 another truck will leave Normandale with 3 tanks of fish. One tank wil contain 2,000 fish which will be transfered to someone in Cambridge for stocking in lower Mill Creek. The truck will continue to Fergus with 2 tanks containing approx. 2,500 fish each (total of 5,000 fish). Arrival time at Tim Horton's may be a little earlier than on May 7.

Web Pages Knocked out for a Week

As many of you noticed our web pages were down for the second week of April. Everything was wiped off of the server so it will take some time to reassemble the parts. Be patient with links that don't work and pictures that aren't coming up. Everything will be fixed in a few weeks. Essential news will still be posted and updated frequently.

Grand Opportunities Forum- the Place to be in June

Grand Opportunites Fly Fishing Forum will be held on Saturday June 2, 2001 at Belwood lake Conservation Area. This year we will have a variety of events to keep the avid or beginner fly angler occupied. Our unique in-river seminars are a big hit. These educational seminars feature some of the best instructors in Canada and the USA. Ian Martin, Rick Kustich, Ted Knott, Ken Collins, John Valk, Ian James, Larry Halyk, Barney Jones, Ted Shand, Sue & Sherry Robins, Bill Christmas and more will be featured. There will aslo be a showcase of some of the best fly tyers in the region whipping up some wonderful creations. There will be fly tying and fly casting lessons for the kids and the barbeque will keep you from getting hungry.

Don't forget to bring your unwanted equipment to enter in the used equipment sale and make sure you enter one of the raffles and draws or participate in the auction.

To help out at the forum contact Steve May at 519-741-4176. If you are interested in helping Terry with the barbeque contact him at 519-843-3806. For more information see the brochures in all the fly fishing shops or contact Larry at 519-843-3102

Look for the brochure that describes all of the speakers and costs involved. To register for the equipment swap click here

It is always a fun day so come on out to Belwood to check out this year's Grand Opportunities.

FOGR Interim Report on Conservation Work

Friends of the Grand have carried out lots of great research work in the last year, much of it funded by member's support but some also funded by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Fish & Wildlife Protection & Enhancement Fund. Read the whole interim report by clicking here.

There's No Excuse for Not Finding the River

Access points along the Grand River tailwater fishery were first identified and improved in 1998-1999 with funding from OMNR. A $20,000 grant was used to survey the river and identify usable public accesses for fishing and other recreational activities. Access points on the river above Fergus (the Hydro Lines and Vette Shop accesses) were improved by road widening, to allow parking farther from the traffic flow. Without this widening, the county roads department had proposed to post the entire section as No Parking, eliminating two of the most popular access points on the river.

Further off-road parking accesses were constructed at Inverhaugh (Blondie's Lunch) and at the north side of the rail trestle access between Fergus and Elora. This latter access also serves the popular Elora-Cataract walking/cycling trail, with large timber steps from the parking lot up to the trail. Trees were planted, and access trails were surfaced with wood chips. Kiosks were installed to allow disposal of litter, with the help of funding from user groups such as area fishing clubs and businesses.

Signage for the access programme was developed in consultation with OMNR, GRCA, and the Municipality of Centre Wellington. Smaller road signs with a Heritage River symbol will be used to direct traffic to approved public accesses, and large signs with a map of the Grand River will identify suggested recreational uses at each access. Production costs of nearly $30,000 for the signage were donated by Simpson Screen Print of Bloomingdale, Ont.

In the autumn of 2000, FOGR volunteers installed large access programme signs at 9 locations along the river, with funding from a $6000 grant from OMNR. An early winter stalled the finishing of the signage, but this will wrap up in the spring of 2001 with several more work days to provide additional convenience and information at these popular recreational accesses.

1. GRCA Belwood Park Conservation Area
2. Garafraxa 2nd Line Bridge
3. County Road 18 (Eisen's/Vette shop/Chip Wagon)
4. County Road 18 (Hydro Lines)
5. North Side Rail Trestle access (Elora-Cataract Trail)
6. GRCA Elora Gorge Conservation Area
7. Inverhaugh (Blondies Lunch)
8. GRCA Pilkington Overlook access
9. Pilkington Con. 7/8 (Wilson's Flats/Twin Bridges)

"Dedicated to Preservation and Conservation on the Grand River"

ACTIVITIES ARCHIVES

News of the River

Time for the Fall Gathering