Laying in between residential neighbourhoods along Mountainview Road and Eighth line is a hidden natural gem that may even rival large provincial parks. The Hungry Hollow Ravine is a sensitive ecosystem of marshy wetlands, creeks (specifically Silver Creek) and forest tree canopies.
This array of natural habitats creates a wide range of biodiversity. Hiking trails snake through the ravine, allowing residents of the area to experience this diversity first hand. Species such as snapping turtles, tri-coloured bats and large toothwort (a plant) call the area home.
“The Town's been progressively building trails in this area basically since 2007,” said Mark Taylor, the municipality's senior landscape architect.
A 1.7-km trail, which includes a boardwalk, was recently completed just northwest of West Branch Park, ending back on Main Street. The path goes through some of the more marshy areas where there is a large assortment of flora and fauna. A second phase of the project, which will create a trail from Cedarvale Park to Main Street, will start later in 2022.
“So when we were designing the trails, [we were] really trying to make them blend within the natural environment [with] as minimal disturbance as possible,” Taylor said. "The Town has a trail steward program that is basically volunteers from the community that can come out and assist Town staff with inspecting and checking out the trails."
He added: "They provide an extremely valuable service to the Town because they're reporting back to us. So, like with the windstorm that just recently happened here, they're letting us know if there's fallen trees and things like that."
Halton Hills Council began exploring the idea of adding a recreational element such as hiking trails to the ravine about two decades ago. At the time, council named the Hungry Hollow Management Plan as their guiding document.
Between 2007 and 2021, 5.5 km of trails were built. However, considerable delays were experienced as far back as 2013. A tiny, minnow-like fish, called the redside dace, halted construction of a section of the trail.
The redside dace was added to the endangered species list in 2009, which came up again during a recent council meeting.
“We’ve been waiting for this for a long time. It’s the final link in our whole system through Hungry Hollow,” said Councillor Jane Fogal, who chairs the Active Transportation Committee. “It’s been delayed quite a long time because of the redside dace.”
Fogal was responding to Councillor Bryan Lewis’ reservations about awarding a roughly $565,000 tender to Hawkins Contracting Services Limited of Stouffville for phase two. Funding is subject to approval of a grant from the federal Active Transportation Fund. “I think right now, looking at it and knowing what we are asking our taxpayers to pay, I’m going to have to put this in the nice [instead of need] category,” Lewis said.
Parks and Recreation Commissioner Warren Harris assured Lewis that staff is confident the Town will receive the Infrastructure Canada Active Transportation grant, and that the municipality has been successful in the past in getting approvals.
