New sign for Beltline Pond
I passed by the Beltline Pond the other day and noticed that a new sign has been placed beside the trail. This pond and the adjacent ravine was one of the first small wetland projects performed by the Task Force to Bring Back the Don.
The pond suffers from anoxic conditions in the summer and fall and there is still the threat of invasive species. Overall it's in pretty good shape compared to the rest of the Moore Park Ravine which is pretty degraded, mostly due to overuse by dog walkers who allow their dogs to run off leash which is not allowed.
Beltline Pond, Spring 2005
2 comments:
I think trail signage is crucial especially for those who don't know the area well and want to learn more. I hope it doesn't get spray-painted over. I am doing some research about on behalf of the Ontario Trails Council [OTC] curious to know if you have any thoughts on the new geocaching trend of late...notice them more?
Cheers
Sonja
Ontariotrails.on.ca
Hello Sonja,
I have actually done some geocaching. You can view a donwatcher post
I made on the subject in Nov. 2005.
There is certainly been an increase in the number of caches in the Don Valley since then but not a huge increase. The folks at www.geocaching.com try to limit new caches to be at least 500-800 metres from the nearest existing cache (I don't know the exact guideline). However, there are also other geocache type games which I have not done. These may overlap the official geocache sites.
I don't have any data on how often the caches are visited. I just found a cache in the Don by accident. I checked the log and it has been visited about once or twice a month. Some of the more accessible ones are visited more often.
That's all I can tell you. I'd be interested in hearing the results of your study.
Regards,
Don Watcher
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