Great Arc

The Great Arc! click here for information on the Great Arc III Workshop Click here to view the separate Great Arc Initiative Website!

What is the Great Arc?

The Great Arc is a term coined by Dr. Gordon Nelson (Chair of the Heritage Resources Centre (HRC) at the University of Waterloo, Ontario) which refers to the entire Niagara Escarpment corridor and the arcing shape that it makes as it traverses the landscape from Wisconsin, through upper Michigan, Ontario, and New York state. The Great Arc Initiative is a collaborative effort between Ontario and Wisconsin to explore and emphasize physical and socio-economic connections associated with this landscape feature. Several workshops pertaining to this concept were held in conjunction with the Niagara Escarpment Commission's "Leading Edge" conference series. More information about this effort and copies of the papers which were presented at the Great Arc I Workshop are available by clicking here. To give viewers a sense of how the Niagara Escarpment looks along the Great Arc corridor, we've included some illustrations and photographs for your enjoyment. Click on the thumbnails below for a larger image.