The Beaver Valley is a valley in southern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada, at the southern tip of

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

. The Beaver River flows north through the valley, emptying into Georgian Bay in the town of

Thornbury Thornbury may refer to: Places ;Australia *Thornbury, Victoria * Thornbury railway station, Melbourne ;Canada * Thornbury, Ontario ;England *Thornbury, Devon * Thornbury, Herefordshire *Thornbury, Gloucestershire **Thornbury Castle **Thornbury (UK ...

. It is a productive

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

area, producing a significant portion of Canada's

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

crop. It also contains one of Ontario's best-preserved hardwood swamp ecosystems. The

Bruce Trail The Bruce Trail is a hiking trail in southern Ontario, Canada, from the Niagara River to the tip of Tobermory, Ontario. The main trail is more than long and there are over of associated side trails. The trail mostly follows the edge of the Nia ...

follows the perimeter of the valley passing several natural landmarks including Old Baldy, the Duncan Crevice Caves, and Eugenia Falls. The main towns in the valley are

Flesherton Flesherton (population 584) is a community in the Municipality of Grey Highlands, in Grey County, Ontario, Canada, located at the junction of Highway 10 and Grey County Road 4 (formerly Highway 4). Although the area initially showed a high rate ...

at the south end,

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

, and Thornbury.

Geology

The Beaver Valley formed over a period of many thousands of years as the Beaver River cut into the

Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff over ...

. Today, the river continues to cut southward into the

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid Rock (geology), rock that lies under loose material (regolith) within the crust (geology), crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface mater ...

at Eugenia Falls. Gradual erosive processes have created a wedge-shaped valley with a width ranging from 30 meters (90 feet) at the south end to 13 kilometers (8 miles) at the north end.

Ecology

While much of the valley is heavily cultivated, it also contains several well-preserved natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s and is home to a number of locally and globally rare

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

, notably American Hart's-tongue fern (''

Asplenium scolopendrium ''Asplenium scolopendrium'', commonly known as the hart's-tongue fern, is an evergreen fern in the genus ''Asplenium'' native to the Northern Hemisphere. Description The most striking and unusual feature of the fern is its simple, undivided fron ...

var. americanum'').

Recreation

The valley is well known for skiing and snowboarding in the winter, as well as rock climbing, mountain biking and hiking in the summer.

Beaver Valley Ski Club Beaver Valley Ski Club is a private skiing and snowboarding club located in Beaver Valley, Ontario, Canada. It is situated on a steep sided section of the Niagara Escarpment adjacent to the Bruce Trail. It features some of the steepest runs and ...

operates as a private ski club just south of the town of Kimberley. A location known as Old Smokey was a ski area in the valley that closed in the early 1980s. Another resort, Talisman, was opened in 1963 and closed in 2011, approximately 4 million dollars in debt. When the resort was operating, it included a 9-hole golf course and a ski hill with 3 chairlifts and a T-bar.Ghosts
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References

External links

{{coords, 44.4, N, 80.5, W, display=title River valleys of Canada Ski areas and resorts in Canada Grey County