Of all the paths you take in life, make sure a few of them are dirt.

— John Muir

Protect, preserve, enhance.

Green Durham Association is a registered charity dedicated to protecting, preserving and enhancing the forests, farmlands and natural areas which lie northeast of Toronto in Uxbridge, north Pickering and the adjacent Greenbelt lands.

Striving for a sustainable future.

We support and promote land protection and stewardship efforts on private lands, research and education about policies and decisions affecting land use. We promote the development and maintenance of trail networks, nature corridors and conservation lands. We are a constructive voice on issues which may have implications for these lands.

Our vision is of key natural areas which are protected and enhanced, of conservation lands linked to communities, of agricultural lands which are actively and sustainably farmed, and of communities which grow in ways that preserve these unique lands for future generations.

Our work has changed over the years as the policy landscape has changed. We spent many years fighting to protect these lands from development. More recently we have been able to focus our efforts on stewardship and on developing and implementing a more inclusive and sustainable future for these lands that includes extensive trail networks and the funds to maintain them.

Governments of every level have yet to fully recognize and capitalize on the huge resource for health, tourism and the environment represented by the trails in this outstanding greenspace situated so close to growing populations.

Pressing Issues

Proposal for New Uxbridge Urban Provincial Park

GDA is thrilled and proud to be a partner in the creation of a new Urban Provincial Park in the Uxbridge Area.