Editing Bruce Trail (section)

==History==
The idea for creating the Bruce Trail came about in 1959 out of a meeting between Ray Lowes and Robert Bateman, of the [[Federation of Ontario Naturalists]].<ref>The Bruce Trail Reference Trail Guides and Maps Edition 24</ref> Ray Lowes' vision was of a public footpath that would span the entire Niagara Escarpment.

On September 23, 1960, the first meeting of the Bruce Trail Committee took place, consisting of four attending members—Ray Lowes, Philip Gosling, Norman Pearson, and Dr. Robert McLaren. Each member became instrumental in building the Bruce Trail.<ref name="btc">{{cite web |url=http://brucetrail.org/pages/about-us/history-of-the-trail |title=History of the Trail |website=Bruce Trail Conservancy |access-date=18 September 2014}}</ref>

Trail Director Philip Gosling was responsible for gaining access to the Niagara Escarpment. With a team of volunteers, he visited major towns along the proposed route to discuss their vision of the trail and to solicit help from landowners. Their efforts were successful, and by 1963 regional clubs were established along the length of the Trail. Each club was responsible for obtaining landowner approvals, organizing trail construction, and maintenance efforts within their region of the trail.<ref name="btc"/>

On March 13, 1963, the Bruce Trail Association was incorporated in Ontario, and the first edition of the Association's newsletter, Bruce Trail News, was published that same year. Membership grew to 200. Dr. Aubrey Diem, an assistant professor of Geography at the University of Waterloo, compiled the first guidebook in 1965. The cairn at the northern terminus of the Bruce Trail in Tobermory was unveiled in 1967 to coincide with Canada's Centennial Year.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Brenda |date=2024-06-26 |title=Peninsula Bruce Trail Club From the Archives: The Cairn at Tobermory |url=https://brucepeninsulapress.com/2024/06/26/peninsula-bruce-trail-club-from-the-archives-the-cairn-at-tobermory/ |access-date=2024-07-29 |website=Bruce Peninsula Press |language=en-US}}</ref>

In August 2021, the Bruce Trail Conservancy purchased nearly 400 acres of land known as the Maple Cross Nature Reserve, its largest acquisition to date. The new protected area allowed the Bruce Trail to be extended an additional 1.8 kilometers in the Cape Chin area on the [[Bruce Peninsula|Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://brucetrail.org/news/721|title = Bruce Trail News &#124; Bruce Trail| date=27 June 2022 }}</ref>