Property Info

The Thomson Reserve is a combination of both islands and mainland located just inside the Nares Inlet community. The first portion of the property, a small island, was donated in 1991. The second mainland portions of the Reserve were protected 10 years later in 2001. Finally the two cottage islands were transferred to the Land Trust from the estate of Robert Thomson in 2015. The property consists of open, shrubbed and treed bedrock with scattered clusters of vegetation, a diverse shoreline that includes pockets of Georgian Bay coastal meadow marsh communities, a small Eastern White Cedar forest and a locally rare Virginia Chain Fern bog. The property supports more than 90 plant species and is remarkably undisturbed. It is surrounded on the mainland by the very large Pointe au Baril Forest and Wetlands Conservation Reserve, and so contributes to an extensive natural corridor.

The three Thomson brothers were very conservation- and community-minded, and their cottage served Nares generously for many years as a community meeting place. As a result the Nares cottagers have a strong connection and attachment to the property.

In 1992, Tom was inspired to write some of his reflections on the natural world that he had observed on the property over the previous seven decades. Those reflections are here.