Once a rough mining town created by giants INCO and Falconbridge, now a centre for health care, education, tourism, and government, the Nickel City anchors the North. Laurentian University, Cambrian College, and College Boreal bring students from across the province and the world. Science North, a snowflake-shaped complex on picturesque Lake Ramsey in the middle of town, sees tens of thousands of visitors each year. With ninety lakes in the area, locals can enjoy fishing and boating from their own backyards. Sudbury is also at the hub of a snowmobiling network which spreads over 2000 kilometres.
Wildlife abounds, from black bears to moose and deer, along with an occasional wolf pack.
The cry of the geese overhead heralds spring and fall , and no summer evening is complete without the eerie call of the loon. Few would suspect that the modern town which sits in the wilderness 400 kilometres north of Toronto was once an ecological disaster area where astronauts came to train on its moonscape. The nickel and copper mining which began in the 1880's used open pit smelting, sending clouds of poisonous sulphur fumes into the air. What trees remained after lumbering soon died, and soil ran down the unprotected hills, leaving the bones of the earth blackened and raw. The completion of the Superstack in 1972 began the turnaround.