Gunn’s Hill LP Provides $20,000 for Hodge’s Pond Trail Improvements in 2024
For the last nine years, the Cedar Creek Collaborative, made up of the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA), County of Oxford, Stewardship Oxford, and Oxford County Trails Council, has been working on Cedar Creek enhancements, wetland building, forestry projects, and trail building on the Hodge’s Pond Property south of Woodstock.
The work has been supported by a variety of funding sources, federal and provincial agencies, corporate funds, and private donations. Constant through it all has been Gunn’s Hill Limited Partnership, a green energy partnership that operates the wind farm neighbouring the Hodge’s Pond property. This energy partnership includes Oxford Community Energy Cooperative, Six Nations of the Grand River Development Corporation, and Prowind.
Gunn’s Hill LP has just provided an additional $20,000 to be used this year on a trail bridge installation, trail surface improvements, and bench installation. This donation brings Gunn’s Hill LP’s total project contributions to $185,000 since 2018 and has made them the leading funder of the project activities on site. Their funding has been consistent, generous, and crucial for leveraging additional monies. They have also supported the projects with staff and investors volunteering on plantings days, clean ups, and trail events.
The Hodge’s Pond property and this section of Cedar Creek have been transformed over the past decade through the hard work of the project team and volunteers, and the tremendous support from funding partners. The ecological enhancement started with a dam removal project in 2016 and has continued with the construction of more than a dozen wetland cells, in-stream habitat improvements, thousands of trees planted, and installation of several wildlife nest structures. Public access to the property has been improved through the development of over 2 km of trails, installation of a trail bridge (soon to be two), and construction of a parking lot and trailhead kiosk.
All the work after the dam removal has been supported through yearly donations from Gunn’s Hill LP, and the project team could not be more appreciative of this support.
Contact: Brad Hertner, Coordinator, Community Partnerships