Properties

THE LAND TRUST REGION

The Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust covers an area that extends from the western part of the City of Ottawa in the east to Lake Mazinaw and Highway 41 in the west, from Sharbot Lake in the south to the lower Madawaska River in the north.

MMLT currently has 12 properties entrusted to its care, covering over 3,384 acres of lands with significant ecological value.

The Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust stewards land and conducts its activities wholly within the traditional and unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People, also known as the Omàmiwininì. This territory spans much of the Ottawa River watershed in Ontario and Québec. Thirty-six thousand square kilometers of the territory is currently subject to the largest land claim being negotiated in Ontario. Our land trust is committed to working with the Algonquin Anishinaabeg People, in the spirit of reconciliation between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada, and with mutual respect for the gifts of nature including land, water, and the biological diversity indigenous to our region.

Significance of the Region

  • The Land Trust is centrally located within the Algonquin to Adirondack corridor and immediately adjacent to the Frontenac Axis Biosphere Reserve (a designated UNESCO site).
  • The region is geologically complex and variable, with both shield and highlands of granite, marble, gravel ridges, and lowland clay plains.
  • Both upland natural areas and wetlands still abound, making the region as a whole vital to wildlife preservation and to species and ecosystem diversity.
  • Significant areas are undisturbed which enables natural qualities to continue uninterrupted.
  • Lanark County includes some 12,000 acres of County forests and significant parcels of Crown lands. Roads are often limited or absent from the more remote and rugged highland areas.
  • The region has a rich cultural and historical background.
  • Areas away from concentrated human settlements have relatively small population pressures and hence threats to the wilder areas are not yet as great as they are bound to become.

Bon Echo Provincial Park, the Purdon and Palmerston-Canonto Conservation Areas, and the Mississippi Lake National Wildlife Area and Bird Sanctuary all fall within this watershed. Most land in the region is privately owned. Protection of many beautiful and ecologically valuable parts of this region is at the discretion of private landowners. Owners may choose to take this opportunity to preserve their ecologically valuable land in perpetuity. This is the unique and principal role of land trusts in Ontario.

NATURE TRAILS

The Mississippi Madawaska Land Trust strongly believes in connecting people to nature for physical and spiritual well-being.

The Land Trust offers recreation opportunities such as hiking and snowshoeing on five properties: Blueberry Mountain at cliffLAND, High Lonesome Nature Reserve, Poole Family Nature Sanctuary, Rose Hill Nature Reserve, and Marble Woodlands.

Group visits welcome! If your group would like to visit one of the public properties listed above, please read our Public Access Policy and complete the Access for Organized Groups Form or contact us at 613-253-2272 or admin@mmlt.ca.

For group access to Blueberry Mountain, contact Howard or Jean Clifford at 613-259-3412.

Access is free at all locations; however, a donation from visitors to help offset property maintenance costs is always appreciated.

All MMLT properties are privately owned, preserved for the protection and enjoyment of nature.  You are welcome to use trails on the MMLT properties that are open to the public at your own risk.

Trail User Code:

  • Stay on marked trails.
  • Pack it in, pack it out. The trails are maintained entirely by volunteers so please leave the trail cleaner than you found it.
  • Any activity that causes disturbance or harm to the area and its inhabitants is not permitted.
  • Leave flowers, plants, trees, rocks and wildlife undisturbed for others to enjoy. Take only photographs, memories, and gratitude.
  • Where dogs are permitted, keep dogs on a leash and under control at all times. Please remove pet waste.
  • Bicycles, motorized vehicles (e.g. ATVs), and horses are not permitted.
  • Camping, hunting and fires are not permitted.
  • Drone use is not permitted.
  • MMLT does not actively maintain canoe or kayak access on water bodies on its reserves.
Link to What We Do Page
Link to What We Do Page
Public Access:
To optimize protection of the ecological health of sensitive habitats while fostering connections between people and the natural world, the reserves are classified into three categories.
OPEN: open to the public with a designated, maintained trail system.
CLOSED: site is temporarily closed to facilitate management and ensure public safety, or due to factors beyond the control of MMLT.
RESTRICTED: these properties are ecologically sensitive, therefore access is by permission or guided tour only.

LEARN ABOUT OUR PROPERTIES