Displaying items by tag: chapman mills

MANOTICK, Dec. 15, 2022 – Baxter and Chapman Mills conservation areas are fast becoming some of Ottawa’s most inclusive natural parks thanks to more than $429,000 in recent funding from the federal government. 

Nepean MP Chandra Arya announced the funding through FedDev Ontario's Canada Community Revitalization Fund on Dec. 15 at the Manotick headquarters of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA), which it shares with its charitable foundation, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation (RVCF).

Baxter Conservation Area in Kars will receive a total of $279,900 from the fund to help replace its decommissioned marshland bridge with a state-of-the-art accessible span over the Baxter marsh. The funding also supports wheelchair-accessible learning platforms attached to the bridge to make the site’s outdoor education programs more inclusive.

Chapman Mills Conservation Area in Barrhaven will receive $150,000 from the same fund to replace its north-end pedestrian bridge with a safer, more accessible span.

“These projects would not have been possible without this incredible federal support,” said RVCA Chair Pieter Leenhouts. “We are excited to reopen both bridges to so we can properly welcome people of all ages and abilities to our beautiful sites.”

Work has already begun on both projects. 

Nature For All

A dedicated volunteer committee has spearheaded the Nature For All project at Baxter Conservation Area, pursuing their goal to create Eastern Ontario’s most accessible nature destination. 

Those efforts have included liaising and advocating within the community to increase support for the project. We thank our valued community and corporate sponsors for their support, including generous financial contributions from: 

• 100 Women Who Care
• 1^stGreely Cubs
• City of Ottawa (Rural Community-Building Grant)
• Fjällräven
• Fedex Canada
• Girl Gone Good
• The Gosling Foundation

Being in nature is good for body and soul, but people with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from outdoor spaces because they’re inaccessible, unsafe or both. The RVCA has worked with renowned accessibility consultant Marnie Peters to create a matrix of the world’s best outdoor accessibility solutions and apply them to their infrastructure projects where possible going forward.

“Nature and wilderness should be for everybody,” said Mike Nemesvary, founder of the Nature For All committee and long-time accessibility advocate. He has been visiting Baxter in his power wheelchair for 20 years, after a training accident in his 20s left him paralyzed on his path to becoming a world champion freestyle skier. 

His motivation to transform Baxter began with “a sincere desire to share with everyone of all ages and abilities this underutilized gem of a local park with its 80 hectares of interpretive education centre, boardwalks, trails, sandy beach, camp site, wilderness and multi-layered ecosystems - all within Ottawa’s city limits,” Nemesvary said at the funding announcement on Dec. 15. 

“Every idea starts with a dream, and that dream must be manifested by bringing together the right group at the right time who share attainable objectives,” said Nemesvary. “We fundamentally knew it would be a challenge, but we plowed ahead methodically with our planning and research. Slowly but surely, others started to see how much more we could do.”

To learn more or donate to the Nature For All and Chapman Mills projects, visit www.rvcf.ca.

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MANOTICK, Dec. 15, 2022 – Baxter and Chapman Mills conservation areas are fast becoming some of Ottawa’s most inclusive natural parks thanks to more than $429,000 in recent funding from the federal government. 

Nepean MP Chandra Arya announced the funding through the FedDev Ontario's Canada Community Revitalization Fund on Dec. 15 at the Manotick headquarters of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA), which it shares with its charitable foundation, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation (RVCF).

Baxter Conservation Area in Kars will receive a total of $279,900 from the fund to help replace its decommissioned marshland bridge with a state-of-the-art accessible span over the Baxter marsh. The funding also supports wheelchair-accessible learning platforms attached to the bridge to make the site’s outdoor education programs more inclusive.

Chapman Mills Conservation Area in Barrhaven will receive $150,000 from the same fund to replace its north-end pedestrian bridge with a safer, more accessible span.

“These projects would not have been possible without this incredible federal support,” said RVCA Chair Pieter Leenhouts. “We are excited to reopen both bridges to so we can properly welcome people of all ages and abilities to our beautiful sites.”

Work has already begun on both projects. 

Nature For All

A dedicated volunteer committee has spearheaded the Nature For All project at Baxter Conservation Area, pursuing their goal to create Eastern Ontario’s most accessible nature destination. 

Those efforts have included liaising and advocating within the community to increase support for the project. We thank our valued community and corporate sponsors for their support, including generous financial contributions from: 

• 100 Women Who Care
• 1^stGreely Cubs
• City of Ottawa (Rural Community-Building Grant)
• Fjällräven
• Fedex Canada
• Girl Gone Good
• The Gosling Foundation

Being in nature is good for body and soul, but people with disabilities are disproportionately excluded from outdoor spaces because they’re inaccessible, unsafe or both. The RVCA has worked with renowned accessibility consultant Marnie Peters to create a matrix of the world’s best outdoor accessibility solutions and apply them to their infrastructure projects where possible going forward.

“Nature and wilderness should be for everybody,” said Mike Nemesvary, founder of the Nature For All committee and long-time accessibility advocate. He has been visiting Baxter in his power wheelchair for 20 years, after a training accident in his 20s left him paralyzed on his path to becoming a world champion freestyle skier. 

His motivation to transform Baxter began with “a sincere desire to share with everyone of all ages and abilities this underutilized gem of a local park with its 80 hectares of interpretive education centre, boardwalks, trails, sandy beach, camp site, wilderness and multi-layered ecosystems - all within Ottawa’s city limits,” Nemesvary said at the funding announcement on Dec. 15. 

“Every idea starts with a dream, and that dream must be manifested by bringing together the right group at the right time who share attainable objectives,” said Nemesvary. “We fundamentally knew it would be a challenge, but we plowed ahead methodically with our planning and research. Slowly but surely, others started to see how much more we could do.”

To learn more or donate to the Nature For All and Chapman Mills projects, visit www.rvcf.ca.

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BARRHAVEN, July 13, 2022 – Chapman Mills Conservation Area needs a new, state-of-the-art accessible pedestrian bridge – and we hope its many visitors will help make it happen. 

The current wooden bridge near the northern trailhead of Barrhaven’s most beloved boardwalk has reached the end of its life cycle. Over the years, the busy span has helped hundreds of thousands of visitors access the beautiful Rideau River from Chapman’s popular free-of-charge trail. 

But the bridge has also presented several accessibility issues: it’s not wide enough for two people with wheelchairs or strollers to pass, for example, leaving one person to back up beside the path’s steep shorelines. 

The narrow bridge also led to temporary park closures in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic because adequate physical distancing couldn’t be maintained – leaving many local residents without their go-to nature escape just when they needed it most. 

Taking advantage of the bridge’s need for replacement, the Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation (RVCF) has launched a new fundraising campaign to ensure the new bridge is also built to the gold standard of accessibility standards – not just to legislated minimums. 

“We believe strongly in building inclusive outdoor spaces that welcome the entire community, and we hope residents will support the project to help us get there,” said Diane Downey, executive director of the RVCF. 

With help from renowned accessibility consultant Marnie Peters, staff from the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority have applied a metric of the world’s top outdoor accessibility policies to the new bridge design. This includes a wider deck, more gradual slopes, accessible sight lines and longer ramps. 

Individuals can donate to the bridge campaign directly at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/73114. The Foundation is also actively securing grants and other funding, and welcomes corporate partnerships, sponsorships and donations in support of the project. 

To learn more visit www.rvcf.ca/ways-to-give/chapman-mills-accessible-bridge or contact Diane Downey at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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The Rideau Valley Conservation Foundation is a registered environmental charity working to help protect and conserve the lands and waters of the valley of the Rideau River in Eastern Ontario. For more information visit www.rvcf.ca.