By Linda Reader
The Beaver Valley in Grey County, itself carved into the escarpment by the last glacier, exposes the underlying bedrock in a formidable, eroded face overlooking the village of Kimberley. Known as Old Baldy, tourists and Bruce Trail hikers like to have their pictures taken with it as a backdrop. But perhaps what they cannot see is the weak heart of the Escarpment and the erosion that caused the exposure of the cliff face over time.
Many in the village fear there is more that threatens the Valley. Two subdivisions are on the books, with one proposed for the old Talisman Mountain Resort in Grey Highlands and another near Blue Mountains.
With 1000 year old cedar trees clinging to the rocky cliffsides and an array of habitats from alvars to eastern North America’s oldest forests, it is no accident that the Niagara Escarpment is celebrated in Canada as a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve.This stoic precipice that forms the shoreline of Georgian Bay has the greatest species diversity of all Canada’s UNESCO reserves. It is a credit to the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC) that has managed development and land use proposals to protect the region.
When the NEC was formed in 1973 to protect the Niagara Escarpment, the Talisman Mountain Resort, near Kimberley, was the largest ski resort in Ontario. Established in 1963, it did not fit the new codes of protection of the NEC, but it was grandfathered in. Talisman eventually succumbed to competition from newer and larger resorts, declaring bankruptcy in 2011. Subsequent owners did not fare much better and surrendered the property to the Municipality of Grey Highlands for tax arrears of about $2,000,000 in 2014 .
Two parcels, a 59-acre plot at the top of the hill and the 75-acre golf course at the bottom, were sold in 2021 by the Municipality to what would become the Beaver Valley Development Group (BVDG), for housing and recreation development. Opposition was immediate. Beaver Valley residents were dismayed by the size of the changes being proposed and the apparent disregard for the sensitive environment of the Escarpment. The BVDG proposed a subdivision of 370 units on the lower portion of the property, but details for the upper portion have not yet been released.
But that wasn’t all. In August 2024, plans were announced for a four hundred million dollar investment in a eight hundred room hotel and nordic spa with nine hundred underground parking spots. The owners proposed investment in Talisman to restore it to the premier resort destination it once was.
The Escarpment is not the only part of the Rural Voice readership area that is facing development pressure these days, but it might be the most fragile. Beneath the plans for the Talisman site (literally) is a highly sensitive karst aquifer that provides drinking water for the region. Many in the community also fear the destruction of one of the most unique areas in southern Ontario.
If completed, will the two subdivisions, and now a massive international spa development planned for the original Talismans site be the catalyst for economic development in the area or the destruction of ecological diversity in the Beaver Valley?
Boon for the township?
It is understandable that a rural municipality would be interested in this surge of investment, with its potential for jobs and development. In 2021, the Council voted unanimously to sell the upper and lower parcels of the Talisman land to a development company later named the Beaver Valley Development Group. Deputy Mayor Dane Nielson explains that they hoped that the old Talisman site could be rejuvenated into a thriving business once again. He also said that they felt confident that the controls and regulations set by the NEC would be sufficient to protect the local environment.
“In its prime, Talisman employed over 300 people and drew countless visitors to Grey Highlands,” explains the Deputy Mayor, “many of whom chose to make this community their permanent home.”
Deputy Mayor Nielson is earnest and thoughtful about the potential of the development of the Talisman lands to benefit the local community, support local businesses and grow the municipality’s tax base.
Opposition to both projects continues and has increased since the formation of the Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA) in 2021. The ECA proposes protecting a larger geographical area than the NEC, to preserve natural areas, watersheds and the underlying bedrock of the Niagara Escarpment and Beaver Valley.
But, it is not just the environment that is a concern for ECA, the group is also concerned about the enormous costs to provide municipal services to accommodate sewage and water treatment from the Talisman site, along with rebuilding roads and bridges for increased traffic. The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) says it best: “It is far easier and cost effective to create sustainable and resilient communities through thoughtful planning than it is to rehabilitate natural systems that have been destroyed.”
Local perspectives
Ben Caesar, owner of Fiddlehead Nursery, credits the work of the NEC for protecting the Escarpment and special places like the Beaver Valley. Rural Voice readers may remember him from Lisa’s story in the June 2022 issue.
“For the past 100 years, settlement, residential growth and business development in rural Ontario has taken up so much of nature, it is like death by a thousand cuts,” says Ben.
He is afraid that what has happened elsewhere in the province could happen in the Beaver Valley if it uses outdated approaches to development. He fears the loss of all that is special about the region, all that the NEC has worked to protect. The preservation of nature in the Valley is what drew him to the area in the first place.
Finding his 30-acre farm north of Kimberley was a happy accident, says Ben. He saw the Beaver Valley while visiting some friends in Kimberley, and knew this is where he wanted to move his farm business. He bought the property in 2010.
“Only two acres are cultivated,” he states. Most of the land remains in trees and plants. On the two acres, he grows a wide variety of common and rare perennial vegetables, fruiting vines and trees, salad greens, and other permanent edible plants that he sells from the greenhouse. Ben’s passion for his land extends to the health and preservation of all Ontario’s ecosystems.
“When diversity is lost, the health of the whole province is at stake,” he concludes. Many who are outspoken opponents of the proposed development are long-standing residents of the Beaver Valley. Mary and Peter Ferguson have lived in Kimberley for 35 years, and moved close to Talisman Mountain Resort during its snowboarding heyday in the 1990s.
In 2021, when the Municipality of Grey Highlands asked for expressions of interest for both parcels. Mary reached out to her colleagues in the village, at local agencies, the University of Guelph and the Escarpment Biosphere Conservancy to prepare a collaborative proposal. They formed a group, Friends of the Beaver Valley (FOBV), and proposed a hub for small businesses, social enterprises, community gardens and small farms producing food.
Mary’s enthusiasm for the proposal is still evident. “It was obvious the Municipality wanted development,” she said. “Our proposal would be development, but community economic development.” Their ideas were educational and sustainable but they needed time to set up governance and financial protocols, so they asked the municipality for six months to get rolling.
“Unfortunately,” Mary continues, “even though we offered more money than the municipality eventually accepted, they preferred a residential development proposal”
History of development
Settlement of the Beaver Valley is not new; it began with the Indigenous peoples. The rivers, streams and fertile plains were rich with game and food, something that was appreciated by the early settlers who would break the ground for farms. In the 1850s, farms in Ontario were shipping enormous amounts of wheat out of Great Lakes ports to Europe. The ports in the Georgian Bay region did a lively trade from the Beaver Valley, Grey County and Simcoe farms. And farming, mostly beef and other livestock, continued in the Valley.
Ralph Walsh farms 450 acres in the Valley. He has a cow-calf and cash crop farm and, since the ski resort closed, he has pastured cattle on Talisman’s upper level, though it is now owned by the BVDG.
“It is mostly weeds now,” he says, “as all the topsoil was removed to build the golf course.” He has firsthand knowledge of the fragility of the Escarpment and especially its water systems in the karst bedrock. He notes many sinkholes in the nearby fields he rents, and a stream that crosses his land then disappears down a sink hole to reappear miles away.
He says he is ambivalent about the development but laments the loss of farming in the Valley. “In the last 30 years it has slowly changed so that we hardly noticed,” he says. “But today there may be only five beef farms left in the Valley.” With the loss of farm families, Ralph says there has been a loss of community too.
Ralph’s sadness is palpable, but there is resilience too. His son, Charlie will carry on with the family farm, despite its challenges
Escarpment Corridor Alliance
Community opposition to large-scale development at Talisman was swift but became fragmented after Grey Highlands sold the property to developers. Brewing away towards Collingwood, a group was coming together to oppose a similar project (Castle Glen). The two groups connected and local businessmen - Bruce Harbinson, Tom Eisenhauer and Stephen Griggs- came up with a plan to create a land trust to protect the area from inappropriate development. Together they formed the Escarpment Corridor Alliance (ECA) in 2021. It became a registered charity and a land trust with an enviable fund-raising program, an 11-member board, a staff of six and a strategic plan to work alongside the NEC and bring the watersheds of south Georgian Bay into a protected corridor.
Jarvis Strong, CEO of ECA, describes the area of focus for a connected ecological corridor along South Georgian Bay. Although the actual conservation areas have not been fully delineated, a preliminary study area of 185,000 hectares in 2014 indicated that approximately 64 percent of the corridor was farmland. ECA hopes that farmers and homeowners will participate in the land trust by placing conservation agreements on their properties, if suitable.
Some farmers like Ben Caesar are in favour of additional protections. Others aren't so sure. Ralph Walsh was quite wary of a formal conservation agreement. Both Jarvis and co-founder, Tom Eisenhauer, acknowledged that some confusion exists about the impact on landowners and that they plan to have more discussion with both agricultural business and farmers next year to further explore the intersection of agriculture and conservation in the area.
The NEC speaks
While the community and Council disagreed about the development for a few years, the NEC finally weighed in.
“The NEC trumps everything,” says Mary Ferguson.
In 2024, the NEC sent a letter to the Municipality of Grey Highlands stating that a Niagara Escarpment development permit would be required before any Planning Act approval. Any new development must be in accordance with outdoor recreational use, as it was originally grandfathered in by the NEC upon its founding in 1973. It allowed the BVDG to re-submit a new plan in accordance with the NEC’s terms. To date, it has been quiet.
A conservation economy?
Meanwhile, the ECA continues its work. And the community continues to imagine and fight for the future it wants.
Is the Beaver Valley too beautiful for its own good? This is a common situation for destinations around the world; they are ruined by the very people that want to see it or live near it. The term “destination stewardship” has been used in the Valley over the last few years. Its goal is to manage visitor impact on an area, and through careful planning and collaboration, it aims to preserve the quiet, welcoming town of Kimberley and the ecology of the region.
ECA prepared a Conservation Economy and Toolkit report showing that 60 percent of business owners choose to operate in the South Georgian Bay region because of the small town, active and nature-based lifestyle. An additional 20 percent note that the active outdoor lifestyle further attracts employees and clients.
Can nature really outperform the economic benefits of residential development or traditional tourist activities and resorts in a location like the Beaver Valley? Research shows that yes it can. Destination Ontario stated in 2021 that nature was the prime motivator for travelers in Ontario. Walking and hiking in nature is still one of the most popular activities.
Will residents and the Council find a good balance between economic growth and the preservation of the region? Time will tell, but we hope - for the sake of the community in Beaver Valley - that they do. ◊