October 30, 2024
Not far from the traffic zooming by on the Red Hill Valley Parkway, in the adjacent woods, is a contemplative spot in the shape of a giant bear’s paw print.
It’s a place to sit and take in nature. And soon, it will be joined by a second aboriginal-themed landscape feature, this one in the shape of a giant turtle shell.
Construction of The Turtle Meeting Place on the Red Hill Valley Trail is slated to start this fall.
The trail already has The Bear Meeting Place, opened in 2014 and situated 0.75 km south of the trail entrance at Mount Albion, and not far from the viaduct under the expressway.
The meeting places (there will eventually be four) are made of large rocks and plants that form the paw print and soon, the turtle shell outline when seen from above.
The city has a call out ending Monday for bids to build The Turtle Meeting Place at the trail’s end near the QEW bridge crossing.
Jennifer DiDomenico, a public works manager, expects it to cost in the same ballpark of the bear paw, about $110,000.
Two more meeting places are to come: the Nest and the Eel.
These resting spots on the 10.5 km trail are part of a collaboration between the City of Hamilton and the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council to ecologically restore the Red Hill valley.
The resulting Joint Stewardship Board comes out of agreements in 2003 between local aboriginals and the city following the controversy surrounding the construction of the Red Hill Valley Parkway expressway through the scenic valley.
DiDomenico says public use of The Bear Meeting Place is currently unknown, but adds “The Red Hill trail is very actively used.”
Stewardship board co-ordinator Sheri Longboat expects The Turtle Meeting Place to be built in early October and have an official opening in the spring.
Longboat said the joint stewardship board’s plans have really started moving moved forward in the last three years.
“It’s inspiring because it really represents a combined commitment between the Haudenosaunee and the city on what they can work on together,” she said, adding the work “reconnects people to the landscape” and “raises awareness of the indigenous presence in the valley.”
Long-term plans include building a 6,000 square foot environmental interpretive centre with off-the-grid technology, into an escarpment edge slope near the trail’s Mud Street entrance to tell the story and history of the valley.
The Red Hill Valley Trail starts at the top of the Niagara Escarpment on Mud Street beside King’s Forest Park. It traverses the escarpment and runs northeast through the valley and is connected to Lake Ontario by a bridge over the QEW.
