The Oak Ridges Steering Committee (Toronto Council Subcommittee on the Oak Ridges Moraine) has completed its mandate and is no longer active. The following information is provided for archival purposes.

Works and Emergency Services - The City of Toronto's Oak Ridges Moraine Steering Committee is recommending that City Council endorse a $60,000 grant to the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust (ORMLT) for the cost of securing land donations or easement rights.

The ORMLT is currently coordinating several large donations of land on the moraine valued at over $2.4 million dollars. The City of Toronto funding, over the next two years, would go towards the costs of surveys, audits, ecological evaluations and appraisals.

"This grant is integral to the City's efforts to protect the quantity and quality of water originating on the moraine," says committee vice-chair, Councillor Raymond Cho. "Much of the natural land to be conserved lies within the watersheds of the six Toronto rivers and other GTA rivers feeding Lake Ontario."

"The steering committee is taking positive action to help preserve the natural integrity of the Oak Ridges Moraine and its capacity to provide clean water for Toronto's rivers and Lake Ontario," said Ernie Baltz of the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust. "The grant will allow the ORMLT to continue to assist landowners on the moraine who want to ensure that their land will be conserved in its natural state."

The ORMLT is in the process of securing a total of 1000 acres on the moraine.

For more information on the moraine, visit the City's web site at www.city.toronto.ca/moraine