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Page 9, News, Wednesday, January 18, 1989 Province prohibits park pastimes Hunting and tra ing just two of the activities curbed in man arks By Dave Chmara The Ministry of Natural Resources plays a key role in the management of the environment, and, accordingly, there's a lot hap- pening over at the MNR. The government has implement- ed a number of programs and much of the new legislation directly affects this area. Activities such as fishing, hunting, camping, trapping and logging are all affected. The main piece of legislation responsible for the changes involves the adding of parks to the provincial park system. A total of 53 new parks will be added by May 1989 bringing to number of parks in the system to 270. The parks will now cover a total of 6.3 million hectares which repre- sents 6 per cent of the total land and water base of the province. six classes of parks Not all parks are formed for the same reason. There are a total of six Classes of parks in the provin- cial system: wilderness, nature reserve, historical, natural environ- ment, waterway and recreation. Ron Running, District Manager of the Terrace Bay District the MNR, gave some explanations defining the parks. Running said a wilderness park is one relatively untouched by man and these are usually the largest parks in the system. A nature reserve, such as the Schreiber Channel, Gravel River, Puff Island, Prairie River Mouth and Red Sucker Point, can be iden- tificd by a special feature located within the park. Running said, "these parks were formed to protect the special feature." The feature is usually either unique in that it can't be found anywhere else, or it is a good example of nature such as the effects caused by the glaciers. Running added that these are the most strongly protected category of parks. A waterway park is a strip of water and / or shore that's protected as a park for historic (such as the routes uscd by the Voyageurs) or esthetic reasons. Running said an example of this type of park in this area is Steel River. Natural Environment parks are usually the second largest parks in the system. They are attractive and hold the capability for camping. Neys Provincial Park is a Natural Environment Park. This category of park can have other categories of parks within it. A Historical Park is formed for obvious reasons and an example of this would be a fur trading post. The last category of provincial park is a Recreation Park and gen- erally has a nice beach, good fish- ing and swimming and a camp- ground. activities curbed in nature reserves Under the new policy there will be some changes for park users. The policy concerning angling (sport fishing) has not changed in any park. Hunting in all wilderness and nature reserve parks is not allowed as of January 1, 1989. In all wilderness or nature reserve zones within waterway, nat- -ural environment, historical-and recreation parks, hunting is not allowed from January 1, 1989. Hunting is allowed in some parks other than nature reserves and wildemess. Contact the MNR in your area fer specific details. Hunt camps are due to be phased out of all provincial parks. Except in wilderness and nature reserve parks, hunt camps will be allowed to remain until park man- agement plans are established or Teviewed. The MNR faces a problem when it comes to hunting in provin- cial parks though. Running said, "since there are not gates or bound- aries visible, people can walk in to a park and not even know it." With the large amount of bound- aries around parks, it's an impossi- ble task to try to put visible mark- ings warning people they are about to enter a provincial park. "We (the MNR) have to tell people, where they can and cannot hunt and trap," said Running. commercial fishing changes Commercial fishing and com- mercial bait fishing will no longer be: permitted within provincial parks, except in lakes that are not wholly contained within provincial park boundaries and in waterway parks where these activities will be permitted until addressed during park management planning. The licences of existing opera- tions in water bodies wholly con- tained within park boundaries will be phased out within 21 years or when a licensed operator retires or dies, whichever is sooner. Tourist. operators. may. continue. to bait fish in designated water bod- Ministry of Natural Resources and logging company officials go over the company's plans for extracting timber for the coming year. The company must show where it intends to put in roads and extract timber. This ensures concerns of other forest users are safeguarded during the logging process. Kunnies Bonnie an' Clyde T think E'll > gowp-p! Photo by Dave Chmara by Rick Nordal ies and must be licensed and supply the bait fish for in-park use by clients. trapping phased out in all parks mechanized travel Commercial trapping will not be permitted, except by licensed status Indians enjoying treaty rights. The operators of existing licensed com- mercial trappers will be phased out within 21 years or when the trapper ° retires or dies, whichever is sooner. As well, new traplines will not be established in provincial parks and where a trapper's licence laps- _eS, it will not be renewed. Transferring existing traplines inside provincial parks will only be allowed between or to status Indians. Only status Indians are permitted to assist status Indian trappers. Tourism operations will no longer be allowed in Nature Reserve Parks, but will be allowed to continue in wilderness parks until management plans are pre- pared or reviewed. In Nature Reserve and Wilderness Parks, motorboats, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehi- cles will be restricted to access zones in the parks. Restrictions will be placed on the size of motors on boats. In all other parks, decisions on mechanized travel will be made during park management planning. Restrictions may be placed on the size of motors on boats. Other changes in the system includes, in all parks, the phasing out of all cottages on leased lots and on lots covered by land use permits over the next 21 years. The province will acquire cot- tages on patented lands as funds permit and on a willing seller basis. Running said by categorizing parks, the MNR tries to preserve the environment and to please vari- ous environmental and outdoors groups at the same time. "Even so, we'll still probably have people calling us to complain about the new policies," he said. * Foil Hearts * Heart Shaped Doilies * Foil & Fuzzy Stickers * Big Variety of Red Foil Hearts nity. Offices. COMMUNITY. tions about the survey. P.O. Box 40, 12 Simcoe Plaza Terrace Bay, Ontario POT 2Wo (807) 825-3315 SENIOR CITIZENS APARTMENTS SINGLE & FAMILY RENTAL HOUSING HOUSING FOR THE HANDICAPPED IF YOU ARE 58 YEARS OF AGE OR OVER IF YOU HAVE ONE On MORE CHILDREN IF YOU AREA CHEDLESS COUPLE IF YOU ARE see Cane TY NESTER (Cildren an left home) IF YOU ARE HANDICAPPED The Township of Terrace Bay in conjunction with the Ministry of Housing, is conducting a survey to determine the need for MAR- KET and RENT-GEARED-TO-INCOME-HOUSING in your commu- Questionnaires are being distributed to various groups and individ- uals as part of a survey to determine the interest in this type of housing. Questionnaires are also available at the Township ONLY BY COMPLETING A QUESTIONNAIRE CAN YOU: HELP TO DETERMINE WHETHER THERE IS. A DEMAND FOR .MAR- KET RENT AND SUBSIDIZED RENTAL HOUSING IN YOUR A Public Open House will be held on Thursday, January 26, 1989 from 2:00:p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Recreation Center to provide fur- ther information about the proposed project and answer any ques- Residents interested in obtaining more information should contact: Mr. David C. Fulton Mr. Jim McKeever Clerk-Treasurer Administrator OR Branch Manager The Township Office Conlin Engineering & Planning Ltd. Suite 704 1265 E. Arthur Street Thunder Bay, Ontario P7E 6E7 (207) 6292-9011