Province puts $1 million into turning old Talisman ski hill into a nature reserve

The Ontario government is putting $1 million toward turning the former Talisman Mountain Resort near Kimberley into a nature reserve, the province announced Friday, Oct. 30.

The money comes through Ontario's Species Conservation Program and goes to the Bruce Trail Conservancy's Talisman Forest Nature Reserve project, according to a provincial news release. It's being delivered to the conservancy through the Ontario Land Trust Alliance.

The project covers 123 acres (50 hectares) along the Niagara Escarpment in the Beaver Valley. The release says the conservancy will remove the old ski lift and resort buildings, reforest the ski slope, clear invasive species and restore habitat for species at risk. The work will also permanently add a new section of about one kilometre to the Bruce Trail, with free public access.

Talisman welcomed skiers and visitors until it closed in 2011. The property sat empty for more than a decade before the Bruce Trail Conservancy bought it in 2025. The province says it is joining private donors in supporting the project.

"The Bruce Trail is one of Ontario's greatest natural treasures, and adding a new, permanently protected nature reserve along its route is a generational opportunity to expand on our natural heritage while breathing new life into local tourism economies," Todd McCarthy, Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, said in the release.

Michael McDonald, the conservancy's chief executive officer, called the protection and restoration of the Talisman lands "a monumental milestone for the Beaver Valley and the entire Niagara Escarpment corridor," in a statement included in the release.

Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound MPP Paul Vickers said in the release that protecting the property "ensures that an important part of the Beaver Valley's natural heritage will be preserved for generations to come."

The Bruce Trail runs nearly 900 kilometres from Niagara to Tobermory, and more than 70 per cent of it is on permanently protected land, according to the province.

Source: Government of Ontario news release, Oct. 30, 2026.