The OAC continues to increase its visibility among stakeholders by participating at this year’s Niagara Escarpment Leading Edge Conference, held October 24 at Country Heritage Park in Milton, Ontario. The Niagara Escarpment Commission hosted the conference in partnership with the Ontario Professional Planners Institute and celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Niagara Escarpment Planning and Development Act (NEPDA). The NEPDA aims, in part, to provide for outdoor recreation. Stakeholders at the event included the Niagara Escarpment Commission, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario Parks, the Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority and Parks Canada. Presentations and panel discussions ranged from how to revitalize quarry sites to the intangible values of Escarpment lands.
At the conference, the OAC displayed its informational bouldering poster, typically housed at the Niagara Glen Nature Center. The poster generated a lot of interest in the state of climbing in Ontario and the OAC’s role in protecting climbing environments. Overall, the conversations were progressive and positive. The OAC hopes that continued representation at this conference will bolster collaborative efforts between climbers and land managers in Ontario to make climbing a more sustainable and accepted form of outdoor recreation along the Niagara Escarpment.