Decade Award honours trail groups
Ausable Bayfield Conservation recognizes trail groups in watershed with Decades Award
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) honours trail groups in watershed community with Decades Award during ABCA 80th anniversary
Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has recognized the work of local community groups building, enhancing and maintaining trails. ABCA presented a Decade Award to recognize local trail groups for their dedicated efforts to provide the public with opportunities to experience the great outdoors.
ABCA is presenting Decade Awards in honour of the conservation authority’s 80th anniversary (1946-2026). The most recent award (the seventh of nine to be presented in 2026) recognizes work in the decade of the 2000s and onward.
Recognized were: Bayfield River Valley Trail Association; Lambton Shores Nature Trails; Friends of South Huron Trail; and Friends of North Middlesex Trails.
Nathan Schoelier is Acting General Manager at ABCA. He thanked the trail groups for their hard work which benefits the entire community.
“We’re fortunate to have access to nature trails across the whole watershed,” he said. “These are places where people can connect with the environment and with each other. These trails are a reflection of community spirit in the watershed and are supported and maintained by dedicated volunteers.”
The preservation and maintenance of trails in Ausable Bayfield watersheds is possible thanks to a strong local partnership between ABCA and trail groups along with donors and landowners.
Ray Chartrand is Chair of the ABCA Board of Directors.
“I would like to thank all the volunteers with these trail groups and everyone who supports these trails with donations,” he said. “These valuable community assets are available for public use because of the community, because of the volunteers, and because of the generous donors.”
ABCA previously honoured, with Decades Awards, the following recipients:
1. 1940s – Member municipalities, for vision in forming Ontario’s first conservation authority and for continued partnership in the decades that have followed.
2. 1950s – Ontario Parks – For establishing and stewarding Pinery Provincial Park.
3. 1960s – Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (formerly Department of Lands and Forests) for a lasting local legacy of reforestation.
4. 1970s – Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation – For work in the community since ABCF was formed in 1974.
5. 1980s – Local community service groups, recognizing decades of strong partnerships in our watershed communities.
6. 1990s – Innovators for soil.
ABCA will continue to honour recipients during the ABCA 80th anniversary year (2026).
PHOTO CAPTION:
AUSABLE BAYFIELD CONSERVATION RECOGNIZES COMMUNITY TRAIL GROUPS WITH DECADE AWARD – Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority (ABCA) has presented its latest ABCA 80th Anniversary Decade Award. An announcement and presentation ceremony was held on Tuesday, August 25, 2026 at Bayfield River Valley Trail Association’s Varna Nature Trail. Shown in photo, from left to right, are: Nathan Schoelier, ABCA Acting General Manager; Ross Atkinson, Lambton Shores Nature Trails (LSNT); Norm Eckel, South Huron Trail Mobile volunteer driver; Tracey Puchala, Friends of North Middlesex Trails; Jim Hayter, Trail Mobile volunteer driver; Kelly Vader, Bayfield River Valley Trail Association (BRVTA); George Finch, Friends of South Huron Trail; Roger Lewington, BRVTA; Ray Chartrand, Chair, ABCA Board of Directors; Mary Lou Tasko, LSNT; Ed Hunter, LSNT; and Dave Frayne, Friends of South Huron Trail.