Bruce Trail Conservancy

About Bruce Trail Conservancy:

Bruce Trail Conservancy (BTC) is a membership-based charity working to preserve public access to the Niagara Escarpment, as well as maintain and restore its natural habitat. The charity’s nine Bruce Trail Clubs maintain, steward and promote public use of the Bruce Trail, a conservation corridor along the Escarpment. The Niagara Escarpment is a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, meaning that it is legally protected from development. It is one of only 15 biosphere reserves in Canada. Despite Bruce Trail Conservancy’s work, 40% of the Bruce Trail corridor is not permanently protected from development. Bruce Trail Conservancy runs four core programs – land acquisition, land stewardship, trail development and maintenance, and membership.

Through the Land Acquisition program, BTC assumes ownership of land donated by landowners and purchases land using cash donations to expand the Bruce Trail and increase protection levels of the Escarpment. In 2016, BTC reports creating 9 new nature reserves and securing 2 new land easements. These activities equate to 290 acres of newly preserved land on the Escarpment.

Bruce Trail Conservancy currently preserves 10,222 acres of land along the Escarpment, containing 145km of the Bruce Trail’s Optimum Route – this refers to routes in desirable locations along the Escarpment that do not run close to, or cross, roads. The Bruce Trail’s main trail is 895km, with an additional 435km of side trails – 63% of these trails are secure, meaning they are permanently protected from urban development.

Bruce Trail Conservancy’s Land Stewardship program monitors and takes care of land acquired through the Land Acquisition program. BTC states that as of 2016, it stewards over 9,100 acres of preserved land. Within the year, BTC recorded 185 new occurrences of rare or endangered species on its preserved land.

Bruce Trail Conservancy reports a 4% increase in membership in 2016, reaching a 30-year high of 9,358 memberships. BTC reports that 82% of members renewed their membership, 26% enhanced their support by donating and 1498 members enrolled in automatic membership renewal during the year.

Bruce Trail Conservancy’s Trail Development and Maintenance program completes projects to improve regions of the Bruce Trail needing upkeep. In 2016, BTC completed its largest trail development and maintenance project – a complete replacement of the charity’s longest boardwalk in Cape Croker, running for 3,000 feet.

Financial Review:

Bruce Trail Conservancy is a medium-sized charity with donations of just under $3.0m in F2016. Administrative costs are 11% of revenues and fundraising costs are 13% of donations. Per dollar donated to the charity, $0.76 goes towards its programs, which falls within Ci’s reasonable range for overhead spending. The charity’s funding reserves of $2.9m can cover annual program costs for 1.4 years.

Bruce Trail Conservancy’s financial statements were restated in F2016 and no longer report land donations. Ci used F2015 donated land of $161k and F2014 donated land of $240k from the charity’s F2015 statements, including the figures in goods in kind and program costs.

This charity report is an update that is currently being reviewed by Bruce Trail Conservancy. Comments and edits may be forthcoming.

Updated on May 29, 2017 by Katie Khodawandi.