Trail visits down at Royal Botanical Gardens

After a pandemic-induced surge in visitors to Hamilton's natural areas, there are signs that interest in the great outdoors is waning - and, according to some conservation experts, that might be a good thing.

An estimated 350,000 people walked Royal Botanical Gardens trails in 2022, down significantly from at least 450,000 in 2021, but still above pre-pandemic levels of about 200,000.

Tys Theijsmeijer, head of natural areas for the RBG, said the striking" change from last year is a welcome break after unprecedented demand during the pandemic caused, in some cases, irreparable damage to natural habitats.

Not only were there fewer people on the trails, but behaviour has changed, Theijsmeijer said. Visitors are following the rules and seem to be littering less.

It's pleasant to have almost everybody behaving responsibly and enjoying and recognizing they're sharing the world with others," he said.

Birds have started returning to their nesting grounds and habitats closer to the trails, and staff are working to rebuild trampled nature trails, like those in the popular Hendrie Valley between Plains Road West and Highway 403, a sanctuary containing several ecologically significant floodplain wetlands

But Theijsmeijer also said the pandemic nature boom may have been a taste of things to come.

We expect pandemic visitation levels is what things will be like on a day-to-day basis within a decade, given population growth in the GTA," he said. We have some planning and adjusting to do to change the impacts."

Meanwhile, growth in visits to the Hamilton Conservation Authority slowed in 2022. An estimated 1.77 million people walked trails, visited waterfalls and used campgrounds, a modest increase from 1.64 million the previous year.

In 2020, an estimated 1.32 million people used HCA lands.

HCA uses attendance data from gatehouses and parking payments, as well as observations from staff, to derive its estimates.

More than 80,000 of last year's visits were to Wild Waterworks, which had been closed for several years amid the pandemic, said Gord Costie, the director of conservation area services for the HCA.

There's lots of influences and factors that can affect visitation from one year to another," he said.

Last year was a Goldilocks summer" with near perfect sunny weekends," which may have contributed to the modest increase in visitors.

Costie also said demand softened" near the end of last year and into the first quarter this year.

There is a bit of a shift going on," he said. But it's still too early to predict."

Still, use of conservation areas remains up 35 per cent over 2019, indicating, perhaps, that people who discovered nature close to home continue to enjoy it more than before COVID. Staff are preparing for lingering pandemic influence" as the busy summer season gets underway.

Once discovered, never forgotten," Costie said. People are just putting so much more value to our conservation areas near and far."

Costie also said the HCA has tried to minimize" reservation requirements this year.

During the pandemic, the HCA, along with other conservation areas in the province, introduced a reservation system for its busiest locations, like Spencer Gorge, which is home to Dundas Peak, Tew Falls and Webster Falls. In 2021, reservations were required on all weekends during the summer season, and seven days a week during the colour season" in the fall.

This year, reservations are required only on holiday weekends and daily when canopies turn from green to red, orange and yellow. Reservations are also required at campsites and new cabins at Valens Lake.

Kate McCullough is an education reporter at The Spectator. kmccullough@thespec.com