Lake Laurentian Trails and Conservation Area - Sudbury, Ontario

"In my home city of Sudbury, Ontario, we are fortunate to have Lake Laurentian Conservation area.  It is 950 hectares of forested greenspace with over 60 kilometres of trails with which to navigate and immerse yourself in nature.  The built environment of this space, namely the trails, allows a person to explore the wetlands, forests, and lakes with minimal impact.  The trails also permit you to safely navigate along your journey in nature. Each and every time I visit this area, I am better for it.  My well-being is improved and I am in a better position, physically, mentally and spiritually, to tackle the everyday stresses, struggles and challenges that life throws our way.  While I am hiking, I think about the way my father would take me in the forest as a child and how enthralled I would be to touch the different mosses or watch the birds fly above us.  I love feeling the wind on my face and smelling the pine trees as I climb beside them.  No built environment could ever be so immersive.  Being in nature makes me feel more alive than any built environment ever could.  The complexities of all the living features and creatures can easily be reduced to one all-encompassing view or feeling of belonging.  I feel alive and part of something that is bigger than anything we humans could ever create. The quality of this built environment is not what we as humans have built for ourselves but rather what we have left untouched.  When walking on these trails you can admire what nature has built.  With over one hundred years of large-scale industrial mining and environmental degradation in the Greater Sudbury area, these trails allow me to marvel at how the natural environment can recover from harmful human activities." (Booklet Positive Lived Experiences of Quality in the Built Environment 2023, p.262). Google map link: https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Lake+Laurentian+Conservation+Area/@46.4518005,-80.9436882,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x4d2effdb5197ccb5:0xa3c403bd1af59cfc!8m2!3d46.4518005!4d-80.9414995!16s%2Fm%2F02rpgmj?hl=en-CA Lake Laurentian Conservation Area – View from the Nature Chalet looking out on to the waters of Lake Laurentian