Bruce County

Bruce County is a county in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, and includes the Bruce Peninsula. The county seat is Walkerton, Ontario.

The name of the county is linked to the Bruce Trail and the Bruce Peninsula, which the trail runs through. Bruce County is named for James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin and 12th Earl of Kincardine, sixth Governor General of the Province of Canada.

The county contains the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Notable towns include Tobermory and Wiarton, home of the weather predicting groundhog Wiarton Willie.

Subdivisions
Bruce County comprises eight municipalities (in population order, largest first):


 * Town of Saugeen Shores (Population centres: Port Elgin, Southampton)
 * Municipality of Kincardine
 * Municipality of Brockton (Population centre: Walkerton)
 * Town of South Bruce Peninsula (Population centre: Wiarton)
 * Municipality of Arran–Elderslie
 * Township of Huron-Kinloss (Population centre: Lucknow)
 * Municipality of South Bruce
 * Municipality of Northern Bruce Peninsula

Independent of Bruce County but within the Bruce census division are two First Nations reserves:
 * Neyaashiinigmiing
 * Saugeen 29

Historic townships

 * Albemarle (Hope Bay, McIver, Colpoy's Bay, Mar, Red Bay) now in South Bruce Peninsula
 * Amabel (Wiarton, Oliphant, Sauble Falls, Sauble Beach, Skipness, Park Head, Allenford) now in South Bruce Peninsula
 * Arran (Elsinore, Tara, Invermay, Burgoyne) now in Arran-Elderslie
 * Brant (Walkerton, Maple Hill, Dunkeld, Eden Grove, Vesta, Elmwood) now in Brockton
 * Bruce (Tiverton, Underwood, Inverhuron) now in the Municipality of Kincardine
 * Carrick (Formosa, Ambleside, Mildmay, Deemerton, Carlsruhe) now in South Bruce
 * Culross (Teeswater) now in South Bruce
 * Eastnor (Spry, Lion's Head, Hopeness, Pike Bay) now in Northern Bruce Peninsula
 * Elderslie (Paisley, Chesley) now in Arran-Elderslie
 * Greenock (Riversdale, Greenock, Chepstow, Cargill, Pinkerton, Bradley, Lovat) now in Brockton
 * Huron (Pine River, Purple Grove, Verdun, Ripley) now in Huron-Kinloss
 * Kincardine (Kincardine, Inverhuron, Millarton, Bervie, Armow) now in the Municipality of Kincardine
 * Kinloss (Kinloss, Kinlough, Holyrood, Langside, Lucknow) now in Huron-Kinloss
 * Lindsay (Cape Chin, Dyer's Bay, Stokes Bay) now in Northern Bruce Peninsula
 * Saugeen (Southampton, Port Elgin) now the Town of Saugeen Shores
 * St. Edmund's (Tobermory) now in Northern Bruce Peninsula

Demographics
Historic population:
 * 2011: 64,709 (5-year population growth: 1.1%)
 * 2006: 64,000 (5-year population growth: 2.2%)
 * 2001: 62,628 (5-year population growth: -3.7%)
 * 1996: 65,042

Figures below are for the Bruce census division, which consists of Bruce County and two First Nations reserves.

Attractions

 * Arabia Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Avalon Voyageur II Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Big Tub Light (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Bluewater Park, Wiarton (South Bruce Peninsula)
 * Bluewater Summer Festival Theatre (Kincardine)
 * Bruce County Museum (Saugeen Shores)
 * Bruce Trail
 * Bruce Nuclear Generating Station (Tiverton)
 * Cabot Head Light and Heritage Museum (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Cascaden Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Cassel's Cove Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Chantry Island Light (Saugeen Shores)
 * Charles P. Minch Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * China Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Cove Island Point (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Devil's Monument (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Flowerpot Island Light (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Flowerpot Rocks (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Forest City Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Gargantua Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Gat Point Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Gillies Hill Ghost Town (Arran-Elderslie)
 * Hanover/Saugeen Airport (Brockton)
 * Indian Head Cove Caves and Grotto (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * James C. King Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * John Walters Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Kincardine Airport (Kincardine)
 * Kincardine Rear Range Light and Museum (Kincardine)
 * Lady Dufferin Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Larkwhistle Garden (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Malcolm Ghost Town (Brockton)
 * Marble bedded lake (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Marion L. Breck Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * M.S. Chi-Cheemaun (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Newaygo Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Philo Scoville Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Point Clark Lighthouse Museum (Huron-Kinloss)
 * Point Clark Lighthouse National Historic Site (Huron-Kinloss)
 * Points West Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Port Elgin Airport (Saugeen Shores)
 * Sauble Beach Amusements (South Bruce)
 * Sauble Speedway (South Bruce)
 * Saugeen Amphitheatre (Saugeen 29)
 * Saugeen River (canoeing)
 * Saugeen Trail (Saugeen Shores)
 * Sweetwater Cruise (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * The Peninsula and St. Edmunds Museum (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * The Scenic Caves (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Tobermory Airport (Northern Bruce Peninsula)
 * Treasure Chest Museum (Arran-Elderslie)
 * Wiarton Willie (South Bruce Peninsula)
 * W.L. Wetmore Shipwreck (Northern Bruce Peninsula)

Protected Areas

 * Arran Lake Conservation Area
 * Black Creek Provincial Park
 * Brucedale Conservation Area
 * Bruce Peninsula National Park
 * Cyprus Lake
 * Cabot Head Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Chantry Island National Migratory Bird Sanctuary
 * Denny's Dam Conservation Area
 * Fathom Five National Marine Park
 * Flowerpot Island
 * Glammis Bog Conservation Area
 * Greenoch Swamp Wetland Complex Conservation Area
 * Hardwood Hills Conservation Area
 * Hope Bay Forest Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Inverhuron Provincial Park
 * Johnston Harbour Pine Tree Point Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Lion's Head Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Little Cove Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Lockerby Conservation Area
 * MacGregor Point Provincial Park
 * Algonquin
 * Huron
 * Nipissing
 * McBeath Conservation Area
 * McMaster Island Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Rankin Provincial Resource Management Area
 * Sauble Falls Provincial Park
 * Saugeen Bluffs Conservation Area
 * Smoky Head - White Bluff Provincial Nature Reserve
 * Spirit Rock Conservation Area
 * Stoney Island Conservation Area
 * Tara Conservation Area

Hungerford's crawling water beetle
Bruce County is home to one of the most critically endangered of all insects: the Hungerford's crawling water beetle. The only known population of Hungerford's crawling water beetles outside of the United States were discovered in the North Saugeen River near Scone. In 1986, 42 beetles were identified at a site downstream from a dam there. An unspecified number of beetles were last recorded in 2001, but surveys in 2002 uncovered no specimens. As a result, the status of the Bruce County population of Hungerford's crawling water beetles is uncertain at present.

Although the Hungerford's crawling water beetle was categorized as endangered on March 7, 1994, under the provisions of the U.S. Endangered Species Act, it is currently not protected in Canada.

Highways
Highways in Bruce include:
 * Ontario Highway 6
 * Ontario Highway 9
 * Ontario Highway 21