The Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) is a member-driven, volunteer-based charitable organization committed to caring for the Bruce Trail and to preserving land along its route within the Niagara Escarpment UNESCO World Biosphere. The BTC is both a trail association and one of Ontario’s largest land trusts.

Member-driven & Volunteer-based

The Bruce Trail Conservancy is supported by over 10,000 members. BTC members provide year-round, stable support for the work of the BTC and its Clubs, directly contributing to the maintenance and improvement of the Trail and the stewardship of land in our care.

The BTC is governed by a 19-member Board of Directors, elected by the BTC membership. Nine of these board members are recommended for nomination by each of the nine Bruce Trail Clubs.

Volunteers are the driving force behind the Bruce Trail. Currently, more than 1,400 volunteers donate their time and talents to the Bruce Trail Conservancy and its nine member Clubs.

Conservation Work

Many people don’t realize that the Bruce Trail is not permanently secure. Roughly one-third of the Bruce Trail corridor is still vulnerable to development.

The BTC is working to create a continuous conservation corridor along the Niagara Escarpment by purchasing land with funds raised and receiving donations of land. Each year, with the support of donors, the BTC comes closer to its vision of the entire Bruce Trail secured within a permanently protected natural corridor.

To date the BTC has been responsible for the protection of over 16,000 acres of Niagara Escarpment land. These protected natural areas preserve a diverse array of habitats – including forests, wetlands, karst systems, caves, meadows, scarp edges and alvars – and provide home for over 84 species of conservation concern.

As land comes into the care of the BTC, it is managed though our Land Stewardship program. Involving hundreds of volunteers and a two full-time ecologists. it is the largest program of its kind run by a non-government organization in Ontario.