Lake Simcoe Conservation Preserve

The Lake Simcoe Conservation Preserve is the Conservation Authority’s most recent land acquisition. The property is 890 acres of forest, grasslands, active agricultural fields, and extensive wetlands located in the Town of Georgina. Given the property’s size, and the fact that it has not been managed for decades, the Conservation Authority has begun an assessment of its features to determine how to manage it into the future. The name "Lake Simcoe Conservation Preserve" is temporary until a permanent name is selected during the Comprehensive Planning (i.e., long-term planning) process.

Until such time the property has been fully mapped, and a Comprehensive Plan created it is not open to the public. Please respect the no trespassing signs. This is for safety and legal reasons as well as to protect natural features and species that live there.

This is a multi-year project that will eventually include consultation with the public. On this page you can review work carried out to date, and sign up for updates to receive notification of when public consultation will commence.

Fall 2024 Activities

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Staff from Cambium and the Conservation Authority review a map on a site visit.
Indigenous Engagement continues to be led by Cambium Indigenous Professional Services to deepen the Conservation Authority’s understanding of the property from an Indigenous Lens to develop a two-eyed seeing approach. Two-eyed seeing is an approach that challenges people to look at an issue through multiple lenses--in this case, taking both an Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge, as well as a western science-based approach. As part of this process, an Indigenous Knowledge Carrier Council was created and a fall site visit was carried out to better understand the property’s transformations through a different season. The first gathering of the Knowledge Carriers Council took place in November 2024. At this meeting, a plan for how this group will be involved in the engagement process was created.
Summer 2024 Activities

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Conservation Authority staff examines a patch of phragmites
Invasive species control efforts were implemented to reduce phragmites on the property. All patches that were

identified and mapped in 2023 were controlled in September 2024 using a foliar application of herbicide.

As part of the Conservation Authority’s new watershed wide terrestrial long-term monitoring plot program, a deciduous forest monitoring plot was set up and surveyed on the property. This program aims to determine the current status of and identify long-term trends in the health of our watershed’s forests.
Boundary inspections continued this season, with additional property boundaries being followed to find iron survey bars and to look for any encroachment or other issues.
Progress towards a Traditional Knowledge report and the Land Relationship Visioning exercise continued, guided by the project Cambium Indigenous Professional Services, and included Indigenous community engagements and a summer site visit.
Winter and Spring 2024 Activities

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A spring view of the conservation preserve.
Retained an Indigenous Consulting firm, Cambium Indigenous Professional Services, to walk us through a Land Relation Visioning exercise that will result in a Traditional Ecological Knowledge Report, that will feed directly into the creation of the Comprehensive Plan. Boundary inspections continued to occur on sections of the property which had not yet been inventoried by Authority staff.
Summer and Fall 2023 Activities

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Flowers in bloom found on the Preserve.
Continued installing fencing and gates in the areas where they were needed to protect the property from unsanctioned access.

Conservation Authority staff conducted a three-season botanical inventory to add to our knowledge of the plant species present on the Preserve properties. This included finding a number of regionally rare and sensitive species.
A Contractor was hired to conduct a thorough invasive species inventory on the lands to monitoring the species, spread and density of terrestrial invasive plants on the lands. This information guides Conservation Authority staff in how to proceed with property management and provides insight into priority control areas and management activities.
Spring 2023 Activities

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An eastern red-backed salamander held by Conservation Authority staff.
A second year of breeding bird and amphibian monitoring was completed, with multiple survey rounds completed in the recommended timing windows. Staff inventoried 47 breeding bird sites, and 21 breeding amphibian sites. Dozens of bird species were recorded through both visual surveys or calls and breeding amphibians were recorded, including gray tree frogs, chorus frogs and green frogs.

This photo is an example of an eastern red-backed salamander, a species common in mature Ontario woodlands. You can learn more about this species on Ontario Nature's website.
Winter 2023 Activities

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The Conservation Authority received the final documents from the Consultant, including the Baseline Documentation Report, Stewardship Plan, and Opportunity and Constraint Mapping. These documents can be found in the “Documents” section on this page. This collection of documents outlined the baseline conditions that existed on the property at the time of the inventories, as well as provided guidance and stewardship recommendations.
Fall 2022 Activities

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A survey stake marking the property boundary
While still trying to gain a better understanding of the property, the Conservation Authority retained a consultant to complete a series of studies and inventories on the property, including a Baseline Documentation Report, Stewardship Plan, and Opportunity and Constraints Mapping. This included conducting a full inventory of the lands utilizing the Ecological Lands Classification framework, to understand the vegetation zones throughout the property.

Property boundary inspections occurred, which included identifying areas of encroachments and unsanctioned access points. A Contractor was retained to install perimeter fencing and gates at key locations to protect the property from unsanctioned uses and prohibit access to the property temporarily.
Summer 2022 Activities

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Gray tree frog camouflaged on a leaf.This was a busy season for Conservation Authority staff while they were trying to better understand the property, and the features and species it contains. A number of site visits were conducted to document property features and identify immediate actions, such as the installation of signage and fencing. Signage was installed along the property perimeter to identify the lands as owned by the Conservation Authority and to prevent access (through red dots).

Staff utilized a mix of desktop exercises to review landcover layers, and conducted multiple site visits to better understand the variety of ecosystems and species present throughout these large properties. This included conducting a round of breeding amphibian surveys and breeding bird surveys, which provided key ecological knowledge. A thorough inventory of vernal pools was also completed, as those are crucial habitat features for frogs and salamanders.
Property History and Acquisition (Spring 2022)

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Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority officially became owner of the temporarily named Lake Simcoe Conservation Preserve lands in March 2022, through an approved Minister’s Zoning Order. The parcel is 890 acres (359 hectares), and consists of wetlands, woodlands, York Region Greenlands, as well as some agricultural lands. This brings the landholdings owned by the Conservation Authority to 4835 acres (1957 hectares).