With the start of the new year, Kawartha Land Trust (KLT), the Kawarthas’ regional, charitable land trust, celebrates 25 years of protecting and caring for natural and working lands for future generations.
Originally named Kawartha Heritage Conservancy (KHC), Kawartha Land Trust was founded in 2001 when a group of concerned citizens came together with the goal of permanently protecting nature and working lands in the Kawarthas.
A quarter of a century later, those first conversations and steps toward conserving nature have grown into a leading regional land trust that has been supported by thousands of volunteers and donors throughout its history.
KLT’s first protected property was the Schipper Gamiing Nature Centre Conservation Easement Agreement (CEA) in 2002 with their first donated property being the Dance Nature Sanctuary in 2006). The first property they purchased and protected through a community fundraising campaign was Christie Bentham Wetland in 2020
“KLT is achieving many of the dreams we held when we founded it 25 years ago,” shares Ian Attridge, one of the charity’s founders and its first Executive Director. “We’ve worked with the community and partners to care for a growing network of lands across this distinct landscape.”
Today, Kawartha Land Trust protects over 8,700 acres of land across the Kawarthas. In the past five years, the charity has almost doubled its conserved lands through community, partner, and funder support. In late 2023, the charity protected its largest property to date — the 1,412-acre Hammer Family Nature Preserve in Lakehurst, which is home to wetlands, remnant oak savannah, forests, fields, and natural shoreline along Pigeon Lake.
“The habitat protection results of the conservation land trust community, including Kawartha Land Trust, over the past 25 years have been very gratifying,” shares Barbara Heidenreich, who served as KLT’s first Chair.
KLT is one of 150 local and regional land trusts in Canada — organizations that work with their respective local communities to protect and care for nature, conserve critical habitat, provide nature-based climate solutions, and contribute to national goals of respecting Indigenous rights and conserving 30% of Canada’s lands and waters by 2030.
It’s a growing sector that has protected 630,000 acres across the country since the first land trust was established in 1919.
“Canadian land trusts play vital roles in protecting nature across the country and combatting the interlinked global crises of climate change and biodiversity loss,” said John Kintare, Executive Director.
“From the Atlantic to the Pacific, communities have come together, as they have here in the Kawarthas, to conserve and care for nature in their own regions, making a monumental impact for the important ecological lands that sustain us and the wildlife we cherish.”
Throughout 2026, KLT will celebrate its 25th anniversary through events, articles, and opportunities to get out on the land, all culminating in a celebration event in November. To stay informed, sign up for KLT’s e-newsletter at kawarthalandtrust.org/subscribe.
Thousands of residents and visitors enjoy nature throughout all four seasons on KLT’s more than 50 kilometres of trails across its nature reserves that are open to the public year-round.
In 2026, KLT will launch its fourth annual Passport to Nature—a series of events and adventures in nature free for the community to enjoy. This year also marks two additional milestones for KLT — the 20th anniversary of the protection of KLT’s first donated property, Dance Nature Sanctuary, and the 10th anniversary of the opening of its Stony Lake Trails trail network in North Kawartha, a popular destination for residents and visitors to the region.
