Ontario Investing $1 Million to Expand the Bruce Trail at Former Talisman Resort

Ontario is putting $1 million toward turning the former Talisman Mountain Resort near Kimberley into a protected nature reserve, with a new 1-kilometre section of the Bruce Trail running through it.

The project, called the Talisman Forest Nature Reserve, covers 123 acres (50 hectares) of ecologically significant land along the Niagara Escarpment. The Bruce Trail Conservancy acquired the property in 2025, and the land is now permanently protected. The province announced the funding in a release dated October 30, 2026.

The resort opened in 1963 and drew skiers and snowboarders from across the province until it closed in 2011. The property sat empty for more than a decade, with its lifts and resort buildings still standing. A Toronto-based development team bought part of it in 2014 with plans for an upscale hotel and spa, but those plans never materialized and the site stayed shuttered.

The Conservancy plans to remove the ski lift and resort infrastructure, reforest the ski slope, and carry out invasive species removal and habitat restoration. The work is aimed at forest and meadow habitat for species at risk, and it will close a forest gap in the Beaver Valley. Access will be free.

The money flows from the province to the Conservancy through the Ontario Land Trust Alliance, under the Species Conservation Program. The program's annual funding has grown from $4.5 million to $20 million, and the Land Trust Alliance has received more than $12.5 million over five years.

Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks Todd McCarthy called the Bruce Trail "one of Ontario's greatest natural treasures."

It also does not include a response from the Bruce Trail Conservancy.