The late December ice storm has resulted in a massive cleanup job on Grand River Conservation Authority properties.
As of Jan. 3, just two GRCA parks were open, and only for ice fishing: Shade’s Mills, Avenue Road in Cambridge and Belwood Lake near Fergus.
Shade’s opened Jan. 3 for fishing and will be open from 8am to 4:30pm on weekdays and 8am to 5pm on weekends. Ice hut rentals begin Saturday. Belwood Lake has been open since late December and is available daily from 8am to 3:30pm.
Two other parks that offer winter activities remain closed, while GRCA staff assess damage and remove downed or hanging branches and trees: Laurel Creek, Westmount Road, Waterloo and Pinehurst Lake, Pinehurst Road, north of Paris. Three nature centres have been open for winter day camps during the holidays: Laurel Creek in Waterloo, Guelph Lake and Apps Mill (Brantford).
With the return of school classes at these three nature centres and a fourth at Shade’s Mills in Cambridge, staff are working to ensure that all areas used by students are available for programs.
All other GRCA trails, parks, and natural areas remain closed due to the threat posed to visitors. Branches and trees that were damaged during the ice storm continue to fall and there is a risk that visitors could be hurt by falling debris.
GRCA staff are aware some people are going into these areas to remove downed branches so they can use the properties. However, hanging branches and trees still pose a danger so the GRCA is asking the public to stay out of the areas.
The closed facilities as of Jan. 3 included:
– Elora-Cataract Trailway, Cambridge-Paris Rail-Trail, SC Johnson Trail (Paris to Brantford) and Brantford-Hamilton Rail-Trail; and
– other GRCA paid-admission parks, which are normally closed for the winter are: Conestogo Lake, Elora Gorge, Elora Quarry, Guelph Lake, Rockwood, Brant and Byng.
In its cleanup efforts, the GRCA has been giving priority to securing hundreds of residential properties on its land. Most of these are cottages at Belwood Lake and Conestogo Lake parks. Trees have fallen on cottages and taken out power lines, making the cottage areas unsafe to visit.
Thousands of trees on GRCA property have fallen or been damaged, many of them in areas that are usually open to the public.
Dozens of GRCA staff, supplemented by outside tree and electrical contractors, have been working on ice storm damage.
