Another handy tool

[ErnestBidder]

  The MNR has aerial photos available, in infrared or in black & white; they can be selected at http://themnrstore.mnr.gov.on.ca/.
  If one goes through the selections, the infrared photos can be previewed by selecting that button at the bottom of the page. This turned out to be a huge help some few years ago, when I was looking at a Fort Erie tax sale of an old wrecking yard: those particular pics showed all property boundaries, the building location, and some remaining debris; one could also pick out how vehicles used to be stored on the site.
  A visit to the MNR store (Peterborough, Ontario) revealed that they also keep the earlier pics on file, so I was able to view the progression over time. MNR staff were very friendly and helpful, and the pics I purchased were worth their weight in gold. The earlier pics revealed row upon row of old tires, and conversation with the town staff elicited the info that Fort Erie had spent $250k cleaning the site, and the Ont govt enviromental folk said it was all hunky-dory by their records. A quick trip to FE revealed that the $250k cleanup was not anywher3e near as thorough as one could have been led to believe, as we found loads of not-quite-buried tires of all sizes, so, in the end, we didn't bid.
  Unfortunately the black & whites cannot be previewed online, but can be viewed in their office.

[Frank]

Thanks Enerst...bidder

Shows that you learn something new all the time.  I walked that site in Fort Erie as well, and decided that there was still lots of clean-up left, and then to flip it would require a significant geo-tech review.  Potential mucho dollars.  Gotta walk from those places.

[Pfm1011]

The MNR images are also good after you buy land. I have a piece where I had the MNR send me 1932 and 1965 images of the site. Very helpful when dealing with conservation, zoning etc as they show the growth, wetlands  , tree planting and usage over the years.helps to age the forest  , show natural drainage etc . Cant be sure but I thought it was only about 15 a picture delivered