Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park (officially Kawartha Highlands Signature Site) is a area of preserved

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plural), are natural environments on Earth that have not been significantly modified by human activity or any nonurbanized land not under extensive agricultural cultivation. The term has traditionally re ...

and recreational areas in south-central

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. It is located to the north and east of the main belt of the

Kawartha Lakes The City of Kawartha Lakes (2021 population 79,247) is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It is a municipality legally structured as a single-tier city; however, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is mostl ...

, primarily in the township of

North Kawartha North Kawartha is a township in northern Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada. North Kawartha was formed in 1998 through an amalgamation of the Townships of Burleigh and Anstruther and the Township of Chandos. For a while after this merger, it w ...

. It is the largest single area of preserved land in the southern part of the province (excluding

Algonquin Park Algonquin Provincial Park is a provincial park located between Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, mostly within the Unorganized South Part of Nipissing District. Established in 1893, it is the oldest provincial park in Canad ...

, parts of which are in northern and southern Ontario). The park was expanded from its original size of to its current size in June 2003. It was previously a mostly wilderness tract enclosing Bottle Lake and Sucker Lake, and accessible primarily by

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

, many by portage routes only. It now encloses many more small lakes as well as all of Anstruther Lake, and has many cottages and access roads. The park officially became operational in May 2011 and ministry permits for camping and parking are now required. Campsites are designated and provided with picnic tables, fire rings and thunder boxes. Official Ontario Parks maps indicate the park boundaries and exclude small tracts of land which contain pre-existing cottages. Additionally, some cottages on Serpentine and Copper Lakes remain without owning land and continue to use motor boats. Municipally, the park is completely within

Peterborough County Peterborough County is located in Southern Ontario, Canada. The county seat is Peterborough, which is independent of the county. The southern section of the county is mix of agriculture, urban and lakefront properties. The northern section of th ...

: about two-thirds of its area is in the township of

, and the remaining western portion is in the township of

Trent Lakes The Municipality of Trent Lakes is a lower-tier township (Canada), township in the rural, mostly wooded northern section of Peterborough County, Ontario, Canada. The municipality has a primarily cottage and tourist industry based economy but has g ...

. The park office is located offsite in

Bancroft, Ontario Bancroft () is a town located on the York River in Hastings County in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was first settled in the 1850s by United Empire Loyalists and Irish immigrants. From the mid-1950s to about 1982, mining was the primar ...

, and co-located with the

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands ...

References

External links

* {{Ontario parks Provincial parks of Ontario Protected areas of Peterborough County Protected areas established in 1999 1999 establishments in Ontario