If you are like me, one of the things you value about living in Leaside is the wide range of attractions that lie within walking distance of your doorstep. You can literally have a night on the town at Yonge and Eglinton on Saturday night and follow up the next morning with a hike or bike ride in the natural setting of one of our spectacular nearby ravines. And your car never has to leave your driveway.

I am pleased to have been asked to join in an exercise aimed at protecting and improving one of our most unusual local trail systems:  Beltline Trail linear park. Leasiders are uniquely situated to explore the Beltline Trail in either of its two distinct components: the somewhat urban park walkway that extends north from Moore Avenue and across Mount Pleasant Road and Yonge Street over to Allen Road or the part I particularly appreciate: the return-to-nature experience that lies to the south of Moore and extends almost to Bloor and then back up to Yonge and Merton. All in all, the system is about seven miles in length, easy to cover in about three hours at a comfortable pace.

Not long ago, the system was a thing of cult-like secrecy with maybe 10,000 visits per year. That figure is now pushing 250,000. This is obviously a good thing. But it comes at a cost: the natural environment is suffering stress, and so are the various user groups whose interests conflict. This gives rise to my cur-rent project: protecting the natural environment that lies within our city as well as getting more residents out and enjoying it. A goal I encourage all Leaside and Bennington residents to share.