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Page 3, News, Tuesday, February 11 1992 Illegal cabins quickly becoming a big headache for MNR by Darren MacDonald The News An increasing number of people are illegally building cabins on crown land, say offi- cials at the Ministry of Natural Resources. "The problem has been going on for quite a few years in this area," says Ken McWat- ters, the MNR's Senior Lands Technician in the Terrace Bay office. "It is a strain--we really don't have the manpower to deal with the problem." In the past year, the local office has resolved 22 cases in which people had erected ille- gal buildings on Crown Land. "And that's just the ones_we know about," McWatters says. " We know there's a lot more out there." He says most of the illegal building are hunting and fish- ing camps discovered by MNR officers or, more often, by informants. "People who we have told they can't have a camp come in and tell us 'well, how come he has one?'," McWatters says. "And we say 'Oh, he does, does he?'" Even though they don't real- ly have the manpower or the budget to deal with the com- plaints, McWatters says they are obliged to act when some- one comes in and complains. It's legislated "It's legislated that people cannot do this," he says. "So when we receive a complaint, we have to act upon it." As people become more environmentally aware, McWatters says proper man- agement of crown lands has become more of a priority. "We do have a responsibility to all of the people of Ontario to manage Crown Land for the Province in the best interests of everyone," McWatters says. "But if everybody starts building haphazardly, it's going to mushroom into a huge problem. We're not at that point yet, but it's creeping up." Another reason the Ministry has to control the problem is Learning Program - spelling strategies - lesson planning Linstead, at 8. --3164. is having a Tutor Training Workshop, on Saturday, February 22, from 10:30 AM to 3:30 PM. Topics to be covered will be: - what is expected of a tutor - profile of the adult learner and learning styles - reading and writing strategies Interested ir taking part? For more dei 'Ils, or to register, call Diane Illegal cabins, like the one pictured above, are becoming more and more common, Says the MNR's Ken McWatters. "People are getting better at building them, and they're getting better at hiding them," he says. money, he says. "We have people out there paying us for things like cot- tage lots," McWatters says. "Tt's not fair to the group that's paying us taxes for the use of the land to let the other group illegally occupy the land and not pay anything." Although they want to dis- courage people using crown land for illegal cabins, Mc Wat- ters says there are many things the Ministry wants people to enjoy doing. "We're not out to try and shut everybody down," he says. "We want you to go out swimming, hunting, fishing, and all that stuff. But there are certain things that go on on crown land that are giving us problems--like illegal build- ings." Garbage dumping Another problem they're dealing with right now is ille- gal dumping of garbage, McWatters says. There have nine incidents in the past year alone that the MNR acted The Schreiber/Terrace Bay Adult da upon. "One person received a fine of $103.75 for illegally dump- ing a bag of garbage," he said. "While the others had to clean up the mess they made." One or two years But it's the illegal cabins that's giving them the biggest headache at the moment. Right now they're working on resolving eight more cases. "To remove an illegal occu- pation takes approximately one or two years," he says. "It depends on whether you know who the person that's occupy- ing the building." The first step in resolving a case is posting a sign on the building in attempt to deter- mine who the owner is. can take a lot longer. McWatters says they want to claim to it." And if there are people actu- be sure that the occupant ally living in the cabin, doesn't have a legal right to the cWatters says they just building before they destroy it. For example, if someone can prove they have made use of the building for at least 60 years, then they can get legal entitlement to it "There was one guy who came in, and he had the build- ing for 58 years," he says. " If he had waited two more years, he would have had a ign et. Ss Extremely rare "We don't want to cause them any more trouble than they have already," he says. But those cases are extreme- ly rare, McWatters says. The majority of the buildings are for hunting and fishing. continued on page 16 es NOTICE Effective immediately, when calling a patient at The McCausland Hospital, please use the following new number: ay Se cou 825-3277 mantling the building, but Hospital business calls should when it's not, the procedure ee still be at 825-3273. 3 | = BE GOOD \! THUNDER BAY DISTRICT TO YOUR BABY..... Health for Life! a *eat nourishing food -HEALTH UNIT- if ITIS BORN chars from smoking, alcohol and drugs *see your doctor early and regularly *attend prenatal classes ~ Prenatal Classes begin Feb. 18. 1992 7:00 P.M, 2 9:00 Holy Angels Sonat - Library Room - reiber ba the soci unit '7. Reaister at 824-2413 .....BEFORE P.M. Sr Grea <= =e oe ag