We Stood Up—And We Stopped It 

On April 14, 2025, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks confirmed that the proposed Milburn Kendrick Conservation Reserve will not proceed.

This is a major victory, not just for our group, but for everyone who values fair process, honest consultation, and continued access to Ontario’s public lands.

Citizens for Crown Land Protection (CCLP) was formed in direct response to a proposal that claimed “nothing would change.” But we knew better. We read the legislation. We understood what it meant to designate Crown land under Ontario’s Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006. And we understood what follows: a management planning process that can restrict or ban long-standing activities like hunting, snowmobiling, ATVing, and off-road recreation.

This isn’t speculation or misinformation, it’s spelled out in the law.

Conservation reserve status isn’t symbolic. It’s permanent. It hands control of the land to the MECP, and its future use becomes subject to a legal management plan. These plans carry the force of law. They don’t guarantee access. They determine it.

That’s why we pushed back.

We exposed the gap between what was being said and what the law actually allowed. We challenged the narrative, we spoke up for land users, and we stood our ground.

And it worked.

Milburn Kendrick, an area covering more than 8,500 hectares, or 14% of 60,551 ha of Crown land in the Highlands Corridor, will remain open Crown land. But this win didn’t happen by chance. It happened because regular people took the time to learn, to speak, and to act.

Now, our attention turns to the bigger picture.

The Haliburton Highlands Land Trust is still pushing the Highlands Corridor Initiative, a proposal that targets the remaining Crown land across the County for conservation reserve designation. While it’s being sold as protection for nature, what’s missing from the pitch is the real, world impact on access, use, adjacent landowners, and municipalities.

Milburn Kendrick was just the start. We’ll stay alert. We’ll stay organized. And we’ll continue defending responsible access to public land, because no designation should be pushed through without full transparency, legal clarity, and real public say.

If this is happening in your area, get in touch. We’re here. And we’re not going anywhere.