Bruce Trail, Dundas, ON

Biosphere Reserves like the Niagara Escarpment provide excellent examples of sustainable development, and are valuable reference sites for environmental research, monitoring and educational activities.
It is said that there has been more change to the Niagara Escarpment during the past 100 years than in the previous 9, 000 years. As a result of the tremendous urban and recreational development of natural lands, people became motivated to ensure access to green space where they could walk and reflect. People came together and built the Bruce Trail. The 725 kilometre long Niagara Escarpment began to take shape over 450 million years ago as the bed of a tropical sea. During the millions of years that followed, the sediments were compressed into rock, mainly magnesium-rich limestone (dolostone) and shale. The progressive action of glaciers, water flows and the elements caused the more resilient dolostone to weather at different rates than the shale, resulting in the very dramatic land forms that we see today: sea stacks, karst formation caves, deep valleys, scenic waterfalls, rugged hills, and perhaps most remarkable, the spectacular cliffs along the Niagara Escarpment itself. The Niagara Escarpment is one of the few world biosphere reserves to be protected by legislation. The Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act established a planning process to ensure that the area would be protected for future generations. The Niagara Escarpment Plan, approved in 1985 and revised in 1994, serves as a framework of objectives and policies that strike a balance between development, preservation and the enjoyment of this important natural area.