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Show Your Love by Submitting a...

Note to the Land You Love
in the Kawarthas

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How has nature played a part in your favourite memories? What do you love most about the land around you?

Join us in this writing exercise to consider and reflect upon our relationship with the land, share stories, and come together to appreciate the natural and working lands of the Kawarthas that we cherish so much.

Dear Big Boyd Chiminis Island. I love standing back and looking out at your vastness knowing that you are protected forever. - Thom. Image of shoreline of Big Boyd Chiminis Island

Write about the land you love

We love learning more about the land you love, the aspects of the land that speak to you, and the personal connections you have to the land. Our goal with this initiative is to share how our region is meaningful to many people and holds our stories and memories.

With the support of our volunteers, donors, and partners, KLT is dedicated to protecting the land you love and appreciates your contributions to this initiative. Submit your land love note below.

Bench along hiking trail at Kawartha Land Trust's Ingleton-Wells Property at Stony Lake
Dear Ingleton-Wells: I haven’t seen you in a while. I’ve missed your nesting bluebirds and all the little bluebirds that hatch. – Al

Get involved:

  • Read the love notes
  • Write your own note
  • Share this initiative with a friend
  • Publish your love note on your social feeds
  • Encourage others to submit a note
  • Tell someone about KLT

Let's spread the word of Kawartha Land Trust's work to protect (more) land in the Kawarthas.

It takes a village to protect ecologically-important and significant lands in our region. Join us as we share our mission and work towards protecting even more land in Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough County for future generations.

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Write a letter
- To the Land You Love -
KLT staff looking at mature tree

We want to know more about the land you love.

Complete the form to submit your love note. It could be about a lake, trail, Kawartha Land Trust property, or the Kawarthas in general. There are no rules on length, so share as little or as much as you feel. 

We can’t wait to read your note!

Submit Your Love
Note to the Land

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Read Submissions

Get some inspiration for your own letter or grab a coffee or tea and enjoy the love notes of others. Scroll over or tap on the images to reveal the notes below.

Dear John Earle Chase Memorial Park,

I love hiking your trails in all four seasons – there is always some new, subtle magic to behold.

- Dani

Dear Kawartha Lakes,

You have been my home for a long time now. Yet every year, you become more beautiful somehow. Your leaves are more green, your skies more blue. Thank you for all that you give and do.

- Oriona

Dear Kawarthas,

I appreciate all that you provide — fresh air, clean waters, fertile soils. I am grateful for the life that grows here, from the smallest mushrooms to the towering White Pines. I am thankful to be a part of this ecosystem and I hope I can honour the landscape by working to protect the best and improve the rest.

With love, Rachel

Dear Christie Bentham Wetland,

I love wandering your trails while listening to birds and marvelling at your limestone ridge.

- John

Dear Kawartha Forests,

I love the quiet conversations we have together. The ones that amble and meander between the wind in the leaves, rustling shoes in pine duff, chatter in the canopy and slow breaths on exposed granite. Those moments of listening always help me feel welcomed and I hope we can keep learning about each other more.

-Hayden

Dear Dance Nature Sanctuary,

I love the peace you bring to my life.

- Melanie

Dear Sturgeon Lake,

While we sometimes despair at the global environmental challenges facing our planet, we take pride in making a small contribution to environmental health by keeping our own small patch in good shape. Every little bit helps, and we hope future generations of our family continue with that legacy. We are thinking globally, and acting locally. We love our land and lake.

- Chris

Dear Nature,

Love is transcendent, and with you I keep learning more layers that bring me beyond my current bounds of space and time. Frostbitten edges of a walnut, the angles of shade and sun. Last year it was the flowers, the one before the leaf scar. In your presence cars, mosquitos, or other so-called distractions sink into this feeling of being part of it all.

- Elliott

Dear Kawarthas,

I love exploring your forests and finding your amazing hidden gems.

- Alissa

Dear Ballyduff Trails,

The weight of the world is lifted off my shoulders when I walk to your hilltop overlooking the Tallgrass Prairie. Thank you for your beauty and serenity.

- Abigayle

Dear Peterborough / Nogo,

Thank you for forest and land for everything!

- Angel

Dear Kawarthas,

I love, value, and appreciate the change of seasons and especially the wildflowers

- Love Susan

Dear Mother Earth (Turtle Island),

You are beautiful, your water is life. Nya:weh/Miigwetch.

- Cassandra

Dear Yankee Bonnet,

Thank you so much for part of who I am. I will always love and remember you.

- Jesse

Dear Cavan Hills,

Thank you for giving me a safe place to be a mom. Somewhere a bit wild, where my kids can explore and connect with bugs and trees. Somewhere to put a garden and have some chickens and make little dreams come true. #alwaysgrateful

- Amanda

Dear Douro-Dummer,

I appreciate your beautiful lakes that shine in the sun. I enjoy walking your fields that hold generations of work. Your forests and wetlands are lush habitat that nurtures life. Thank you for all you offer.

- Heather

Dear Ston(e)y Lake Trails,

I love kayaking to the Jeffrey-Cowan / Ingleton-Wells KLT land and having a picnic and hiking. So very lucky to enjoy this on Stoney and Clear Lakes!

- Tina

Dear Pigeon Lake,

I thank you for the last 35 years of enjoying your peace, your vastness, your beautiful sunsets, and all the wildlife that you present to us.

- Paul

Dear Jackson Park,

Thank you for welcoming me to Canada. For giving me hope and happiness when my home is so far away. Walking through your space always brings a smile to my face and gives me peace, calm, and connection to nature. You remind me of the reason why I studied environmental studies and why we should keep protecting nature.

- Montse

Dear KLT properties with swamps,

A song by me: I know a place where I can go. It's down in the swamp and nobody else will go. They don't understand, and they really can't see why a dirty old swamp should captivate me. But have you ever seen the jewel weed grow? Trace it's patterns in silver and gold...

- Ian

Dear Dance Nature Sanctuary,

I love the way I feel walking along the natural trails, breathing in the fresh air. Thank you!

- Eva

Dear Inverlea Park,

We see lots of bunnies at our house and at Inverlea Park.

–Saoirse

Dear Kawarthas,

I love the way I feel walking along the natural trails, breathing in the fresh air. Thank you.

–E.

Dear Hardwood Forest,

Let me count the ways I love your forest floor in Spring, as ephemeral flowers bloom and bring me such joy!

– xo Anna

Dear Kawarthas,

I value and appreciate all your fresh water and abundance. Cooling off in the summer is something we cherish!

– Anonymous

Dear Oak Ridges Moraine,

Thank you for the beauty of the forest, the natural springs, the calming streams and the wonderful trails through the woodlots.

– Paul

Dear Stony Lake Trails & Warsaw Conservation Area,

Thank you for being there during the pandemic. I have always leaned on your natural spaces to bring joy and balance but I feel extra gratitude for what you provided during the pandemic. Your trails, forests, lakes, meadows and wetlands provided quiet contemplation, fresh air and respite from the stress and noise during this stressful time. Gathering on Sunday mornings with a small group of friends for a hike together is a memory I will carry with me.

– Chris

Dear Ballyduff Trails,

Thanks for always reminding me of home while I am off exploring new landscapes.

– Tanner

Dear Kawarthas,

One of the first places I visited in the area, three years ago now, was John Earle Chase Memorial Park. There is a calm beauty there, that I now regularly return to, if only to immerse myself in the serenity it affords. The wooded trails, the osprey wheeling above the treeline, the meadowlarks singing in the hillside meadow, are cumulatively regenerative for me.

The varied habitats and the wildlife there all extend a kind an energy that we encounter less and less in our daily lives. I am thankful for that, and for knowing this vital space remains available, and stewarded, for all of us.

– David

Dear Burleigh Falls,

Thank you for all of the white pines off in the distance. Our painters love them.

– Jessica

Dear Kawarthas,

Your land, Buckhorn in particular, has held a very special place in my heart from as early as the age of 9. We lived in Toronto and my parents were looking for an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. They purchased a trailer in a park where we summered for 10 years before they bought a home in Buckhorn...We shared so many amazing memories there with my parents, siblings, and children! My parents have both passed on and a year ago my husband and I bought our home in Buckhorn, following in their footsteps of leaving the city to live on the land we so love!

– Donna

Dear PTBO/Kawarthas,

I love that being out on the land, in nature, makes me feel like I am “home.”

- Isa

Dear Otonabee River,

My family enjoys fishing your waters and picnicking along your shoreline.

- The Park Family

Dear KLT,

Thanks for keeping wild spaces wild for future generations.

- Dan

Dear Kawarthas,

I love the birds the lakes & all the animals. There’s also the cool types of mushrooms I like too.

- Tyson

Dear Curve Lake,

I love coming to Curve Lake as it is so peaceful and beautiful. We need to protect the waters and land as they are precious for the next 7 generations that are coming and forever. We need to stop littering and taking from Mother Earth.

- Debora

Dear Forest,

I am so grateful to you for giving me peace & solitude in listening to the wind rustling your leaves, to the call of the barred owl in the evenings and the constant yipping of the coyotes throughout the night. It makes me realize how truly blessed we are to live in such a beautiful part of Ontario

- A.

Dear Kawarthas,

Thank you for giving me a peaceful trail just outside my home. For clean water, fresh air, and wildlife. I promise to take the best care I can give you by planting more indigenous plants, trees, and continue having bees in my backyard!

- Sylvia

Dear Woods,

Thank you for the incredible walking trails where I enjoy new sights and smells. And especially the squirrels!

- Love Piper

Dear Stony Lake,

Stony Lake is my favourite place in the whole world. Our family is so grateful for its beauty and all its creatures. It is such a healing place. We shall continue to be stewards of the land and water so our children and grandchildren can create happy memories just as we did, spending our summers at the cottage.

- Anonymous

Dear Land,

You have looked after us. It's our time to look after you.

- Ann

Dear Kawartha Lakes,

Thank you for nourishing my soul.

- Marilyn
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