Huron Strasburg Natural Park Conservation Project

Master Plan

Presented to the Board 22 March, 2001

The natural beauty of today's HNA site appears to the casual viewer as a remnant natural landscape of forest, stream and wetland; one spared the agricultural settlement and urbanization of then last two centuries. Ironically, however, much of the pristine nature in the HNA originates from deliberate human intervention over the last four decades. The planting of three large tree plantations, new culverts enlarging wetlands and ponds, and the use of the site for cottage homes and small industries instead of agriculture have spurred the recovery of the site's natural ecosystems. With the parallel retreat of agriculture in the lands surrounding the HNA over the last several decades, the combination of the remaining forest and wetlands of the Strasburg Creek's natural ecologies recovered their natural diversity, and the beauty we see in the HNA today.

The Master Plan for the Huron Natural Area (HNA) is the next step in that re-naturalization process that has been occurring in both the HNA site and in the surrounding Strasburg Creek study area since 1946. The Plan consolidates and expands on that process.

Acknowledgments

While the master plan document was largely written by Prof. Val Rynnimeri, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo, the HNA vision outlined in this Master Plan is the culmination of over a decade's work by many actors in its planning process. All have contributed time, expertise and, above all, great enthusiasm for making that vision as broadly based as possible in the community that will enjoy the eventual fruits of their many hours of effort.

Part of that planning process, this Master Plan was the result of the work and contributions, predominately on a volunteer basis, of a group of individuals and organizations, and we would like to acknowledge their efforts below.

Project Partners:
City of Kitchener
Waterloo County Board of Education
Waterloo Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board

Project Participants:
Canada Trust Friends of the Environment Foundation
First Echo Community Foundation
Grand River Conservation Authority
Huron Planning Community Owners
Kitchener-Waterloo Field Naturalists
Kitchener-Waterloo Junior Chamber of Commerce/Jaycees
Ministry of Natural Resources
University of Waterloo
Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
Limnoterra Limited

Master Plan Committee Members and Contributors:
Roger Wyatt - City of Kitchener - Chair
Ron Schwark - Conestoga-Rovers & Associates - Project Manager
William Sleeth - City of Kitchener - Project Manager
Val Rynnimeri - University of Waterloo - Planning and Design Coordinator
Doug Robertson - Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
John Sinnige - Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
Mike Mateyk - Conestoga-Rovers & Associates
James Kay - University of Waterloo
Thomas Seebohn - University of Waterloo
Stephen Murphy - University of Waterloo
Murray Lister - University of Waterloo
Kate Oxley - University of Waterloo
Nina-Marie Lister - University of Waterloo
Anna Frankovich - University of Waterloo
Jim Stark- Community Representative
Tom Smith - Waterloo County Board of Education
Chris Smith - Waterloo Region Roman Catholic Separate School Board
Brock Stanley - City of Kitchener
Frank Glew - Education Consultant
Drew Cherry - Ministry of Natural Resources
Paulette Hache - Limnoterra Limited
Jon Plank - Limnoterra Limited
Art Timmerman - Ministry of Natural Resources
Trish Nash - Grand River Conservation Authority
Gus Rungis - Grand River Conservation Authority

There are two individuals who have inspired the HNA project from its inception:
Tom Clancy (Retired general manager of Parks and Recreation, city of Kitchener)
Tom Galloway (Founding chair of the HNA board)
See newspaper article and photo from 1993

Master Plan documents

The Master Plan text in Adobe Acrobat format (549K)

The map files associated with the master plan are so big that we separated the text of the master plan from the maps to facilitate down loading. (Unless noted files are < 500K)

HNA Maps for Site Analysis, Planning and Design in Adobe Acrobat format

Map 1 Grand River Watershed within South-Western Ontario

Map 2 Strasburg Creek within the Grand River Watershed

Map 3 Existing Land Use and Land Cover / Strasburg Creek Sub-Watershed (574K)

Map 4 Land Cover and Parcel Ownership

Map 5 Elevation and GW Seepage (6222K!!)

Map 8 Natural Community Units (CUs)

Map 9 Constraints to Development (566K)

Map 10 Management Unit Mosaic (619K)

Map 11 Middle Strasburg Creek Trunk Sanitary Sewer (549K)

Map 12 Preferred Zoning and Land Cover/ Strasburg CreekSub-Watershed (1112K)

HNA Environmental Education Centre Plans (files are slightly over 1M, they may appear poorly on the screen but they print properly.)

Plan 1 EEC and HNA Trail System

Plan 2 EEC Facility Site Options

Plan 3 EEC Site Plan for Option 2

Plan 4 HNA Trail Classification (Trail Closure and Re-use)

Management Units(only three examples are available)

Management Unit 1 HNA Environmental Education Centre

Management Unit 2 Upper Strasburg Creek

Management Unit 3 Open Meadows

Management Unit 4 Upland Woods

Management Unit 5 Central Wetlands

Management Unit 6 Battler's Pond (and Tributary)

Management Unit 7 Battler's Pond Woods

Management Unit 8 Breslau Farms

Figures 1 to 7
Figures 1 to 7 are a temporal sequence showing the development of the Huron Natural Area's forests and waterways. The sequence starts in 1946 with an agricultural landscape with remnant woodlots, a wetland surrounded by agricultural fields with an intermittent stream, and ends in 1997 with the HNA in its present state with well developed forests, wetlands and a cold water creek.

Figure 1 1946

Figure 2 1955

Figure 3 1966

Figure 4 1972

Figure 5 1980

Figure 6 1990

Figure 7 1997

Airphotos

Airphoto 1946 with current site boundaries in yellow (750K)

Airphoto 1997 (750K)

The HNA WWW site

Last updated 4 April, 2001 by jjk