Ottawa could lose one of its largest and most mature urban natural corridors within the next year if the National Capital Commission is successful in its current actions on redevelopment. The McCarthy Corridor is a rare forest, meadow, and wetland landscape inside the urban core. It supports wildlife, cools surrounding neighborhoods, absorbs stormwater, and gives Ottawa residents access to quiet natural space close to home. If we want this land protected for the health, resilience, and livability of our city, we need to act now and shift the NCC’s direction from redevelopment to conservation and long-term stewardship.

As Ottawa experiences unprecedented growth, accessible urban green space is becoming more valuable, not less. The McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor, spanning from the Rideau River to South Keys south of Walkley Road, provides a connected natural system of cool woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and shoreline, stretching more than three kilometers across roughly 160 hectares (1) and linking the Rideau River, local creeks, nearby neighborhoods, trails, pathways and public transit. Its scale and connectivity make it a rare natural asset in the urban core.

The National Capital Commission previously recognized these lands as important for recreation, ecology and public infrastructure. Now, without clear public consultation or community engagement, the NCC appears to be treating much of this natural heritage area as underused land that could be opened to mixed-use development. That change in direction should concern everyone who values accessible urban nature.

These lands are not only well used, but they also provide ongoing and increasing value to the City of Ottawa. Once redeveloped, this natural heritage is lost forever. We need to recognize that and protect its true value.

The value of the McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor comes from being a large, connected natural landscape inside urban Ottawa, where growing communities need access to nature close to home. The Corridor cannot be replaced by rural greenspace, future offsets, or a park somewhere else. Once this kind of greenspace is lost, it cannot be recreated. Wildlife loses habitat, residents lose daily access to nature, and the city loses natural infrastructure that helps reduce flooding, heat, air pollution, and climate risk. As noted by the NCC’s own assessment by the David Suzuki Foundation, an intact urban forest landscape of this scale provides extremely valuable (2) environmental infrastructure and economic benefits.

Today, hundreds of residents and visitors easily access the McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor, as do the tens of thousands who use the Britannia and Bruce Pit Conservation Areas (which together are still smaller than the McCarthy Corridor). As a city expected to grow to over 1.5 times its size in the next 20 years, losing this nature area becomes even more of an issue. Not only would we lose this natural reserve and its benefits, but this will result in increasing pressure on the remaining few natural spaces. These will not be able to meet the needs of a growing city or provide the vital nature services needed to help keep our city livable.

Let's protect this urban wilderness now and create a legacy for our community for Ottawa’s next 200 years!

What outcome do we want?
The NCC is yet again skirting its primary mandate of conservation and stewardship. This is the third time that the NCC has proposed development of these lands. Time is more pressing than ever before, as it has taken the unprecedented steps to rezone the lands for development without consultation with residents or the community. This undermines public consultation and community engagement, puts developers' profits ahead of long-term community interest, and results in the permanent and irreplaceable loss of our largest, most diverse, and most significant natural ecosystem within our city’s urban boundaries.

We need to stop this and are calling for the federal government to create permanent protection of the McCarthy Corridor as a public natural heritage reserve—a connected forest-to-river landscape managed for conservation, biodiversity, climate resilience, education, low-impact recreation, and public access.

Success would mean the NCC stops pursuing redevelopment, confirms conservation as the future direction for these lands and works with partners to create a long-term stewardship plan that protects the corridor in perpetuity.

This is a landscape that, once gone, will be a loss for generations to come. We now have an opportunity to create a permanent legacy for the greater good of Ottawa!

Support Conservation of the McCarthy Forest Corridor
Support our call to the National Capital Commission, the Government of Canada, and the City of Ottawa to recognize the irreplaceable long-term value of the McCarthy Woods Nature Corridor, to cease all urban development proceedings, and to create a permanent legacy in the protection of this diverse ecosystem as a natural heritage reserve for the benefit of future generations of Ottawa’s residents and visitors. 

Sign Now
We, the undersigned, oppose the National Capital Commission’s plan to convert the McCarthy Corridor to mixed-use development. We ask the NCC to stop its efforts to move these lands toward development and instead work with the community, the City of Ottawa, and the Government of Canada to permanently protect the corridor as a natural heritage reserve for public benefit, ecological health, and climate resilience.