Milton limestone quarry has been awarded the highest honour

The former Milton limestone quarry has been awarded the highest honour in rehabilitation efforts, after it was transformed from a gravel and stone pit into a sprawling parkland.

Standing amid the lush grass and turquoise water, you’d never know Kelso quarry park used to be a gravel pit. After 20 years of rehabilitation, the former Milton limestone quarry earned a highly coveted award called the ‘Bronze Rehabilition Plaque’ from the Ontario Stone Sand and Gravel Association.

This is the second bronze rehabilitation award for conservation Halton. They first won the award back in 2005, with the rehabilitation of Kerncliff Park in Burlington. Only 21 sites have earned the coveted plaque since 1975 including the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hamilton.

Kelso quarry park includes a swimmable lake, fish habitats, hiking trails and a protected section of the escarpment containing 1000 year old cedars.

Over the last two decades, stone extraction gradually slowed, and rehabilitation efforts ramped up. It accelerated in 2006, when the pit was donated to Halton conservation. In it’s heyday, it was one of the largest aggregate and limestone producers in Canada.

Approximately one million tonnes of high quality aggregate was extracted annually from the quarry, and were used for many construction projects such as the 401, 407 and Pearson Airport.

An exact date of when the park will open to the public is not known, but it’s expected to be within the year