Property Info

One of the largest remaining undeveloped parcels in Honey Harbour, the Honey Harbour Nature Reserve is home to rich forests, significant wetlands, and breeding habitat for many species, including an established Great Blue Heron rookery.

This property’s ecological values are exceptional. It contains parts of two Provincially Significant Wetlands and one of only five designated Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI) in Georgian Bay. Habitat features include mature forests, streams, beaver ponds, and Canadian Shield outcroppings. This rich ecology supports the environmental health of the surrounding community, providing breeding habitat for many species, and maintaining water quality through natural water filtration.

One of the most interesting features of the Honey Harbour Nature Reserve is a Great Blue Heron rookery, where numerous herons build their nests in standing dead trees. The property’s wetlands provide breeding grounds for fish, and act as important stopover and nesting sites for waterfowl. A wide array of plants and animals, including multiple species at risk, use the property’s diverse habitats.

These large and diverse lands are an important link for natural connectivity in the region. The property abuts the McCrae Lake Conservation Reserve, Crown land, and lands protected through the Georgian Bay Land Trust’s Corridor Project, which aims to create a continuous ecological corridor along the eastern Georgian Bay coast. Maintaining these natural corridors allows wildlife to move between these lands and waters, facilitating large-scale migrations and the local survival of many species, including large mammals.

This property was brought to the Georgian Bay Land Trust’s attention by local cottagers in 2025, when it was put up for sale for the first time in over 120 years. Within 6 weeks, our fundraising campaign had raised the $750,000 necessary to purchase this land and conserve it forever as a nature reserve. We are grateful to the many donors who supported this project and made it possible to protect this ecological jewel forever: community members, the Ontario Conservation Accelerator, and the Government of Canada’s Land Trusts Conservation Fund (LTCF), part of the Natural Heritage Conservation Program (NHCP) through Canada’s Nature Fund.