‘Rain or shine, we’re going to be out here’: Conservation area in King sees uptick in users during pandemic

OurChangedWorld: Pandemic has people flocking to the natural world

yorkregion.com
Laura Broadley
Feb. 22, 2022

COVID-19 is arguably one of most seminal events of the past century -- one that divided all our lives between before and after.

The pandemic changed our world and while the long-term impacts are yet unclear, it’s safe to say we’re facing a new normal.

With this story, we’re taking a look at how our lives have already been affected and what might be in store for us in the coming weeks, months and years.

Many people are seeking a reprieve from the indoors and heading outside as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Friends from Newmarket, Lynda Draper and Sheila Arnston, headed to Cold Creek Conservation Area in King township recently to get outside with their dogs.

“We’ve been out more since the pandemic,” Arnston said. “We can’t travel or anything and you don’t want to be inside so, what a perfect way to get outside.”

Draper and Arnston go out hiking no matter what the weather is like.

“We come on our day off so we’re going to come no matter what the weather is,” Arnston said.

“We like the snow, we like the outdoors and we don’t care, rain or shine, we’re going to be out here,” Draper said.

Brian Kemp, general manager of conservation lands with the Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority, said the conservation authority, which covers a portion of King, is not much different than other conservation authorities across the province in terms of use by the public during the pandemic.

“We’ve seen a marked increase in use. Our visitation rates, our visitation numbers, have been growing over the last few years, which is a great thing. People have discovered our properties and that’s great because that’s why they’re there,” he said.

Parkland and other green space gives people the ability to stay active and to help keep their mental health in check, Kemp added.

Trails are seeing more traffic than prior to the pandemic, and therefore Kemp said conservation authority staff are keeping a closer eye on maintenance.

“We have certainly seen that and a lot of our colleagues have certainly seen that. And, of course, with that comes pressure on the properties. We’re doing things differently to ensure continued management of our properties,” he said.

Staff monitor the properties to make sure they’re handling the increased use.

“We keep a close eye on our properties to ensure the safety of our visitors, both from a numbers perspective, how many people are there and any restrictions that come into play,” Kemp said. “Maintaining our trails to ensure visitor safety so whether it’s periodic closure because the conditions are icy or there’s closures because we need to deal with hazard trees.”

Those maintenance measures aren’t different than what the conservation authority was doing before the pandemic but the frequency of those checks has increased.

The conservation authority knows there are more people using the trails and other green space by observation and anecdotal evidence as well as trail counters.

“We see our parking lots are filled,” Kemp said. “(Trail counters) give us a snapshot of our usage ... so we can see patterns. Certainly, there’s a direct correlation between a nice winter day and a cold blustery day and what our numbers look like.”

There can be negative impacts on the environment from more people using the conservation areas but Kemp said it depends on the maintenance regime of the conservation authority.

“From a litter perspective, there are users that don’t respect things and we need to stay on top of that as an organization to make sure we’re keeping our properties as litter-free as possible,” he said.