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v c ti r tek ecbnomfcfsim stoutiilusltumay 11999 27 j t environment xfa cover of rocks leaves and waterevidehcelofa once thriving natural habitat can be seen f rougefflstory l 1 7 t v v r m jx its been 100 years since the firstly settters started clearing the landand jhe rouge is now battling for survival 1799 european settlers arrive in the watershed over the next century they clear and farm the fertile lowlands and strip trees off the oak ridges moraine- 19245000 acres on the moraine are seized and replanted bythe ontariogoverhment forming the yonv regional ftiresliatwvx vr 1954 humcaneihaze hits thearea flqodplairis south of the moraine are eventually undercqhtiplof the toronto and regionjconservabqn authority 1975 save the rdugeyalley system forms from a handful of residents 1990 ontario premier david peterson announces his government will create a 10500acre rouge parkr the ontario liberals pledge toprotect the rouge system ahtrfe way to its headwaters in the moraine first planting byidboo treesfor the rouge valletakes place in richmond hill v va v i i i i i i i a i i i 1 1 l i i i 1 l l ix i i i i v i y i i i i i i i i i i i i i 1993 ontanos new democratic gov ernment promises to enlarge thepark to cover 12000 acressouth of j steeles avenue o 1995 premier bobrae opens the r 12000acre panvand creates the r rouge park alliance a management s board for the park the alliance startswork on a manage- ment plan for rouge parknorth which will extend along the rougeland major tributaries bruce creek berczy creek and the little rouge as far north as richmond hill and stouffville the future parkincludestoogood pond in markhamand the brucesmill and- 1 milne dam conservation areas i 1998 environmental groups celebrate when the ontano municipal board borders a 30metre buffer to protect the rouge from a markham subdivision 1999 the 30metre ruling is over- turned ontario natural respurcesmimster t j johnshobeleh announces thejory government will add4630 acres of j provincial janbajowgthellittle rouge jj oiahdafrhost79 acressguth of mijhe s tdamconservatioh area tothe park hhe province clears the rouge park v from left lawrerice ignace bfjoritano streams uses an electro fisher to shin a rainbow trout and- kim mandzy j and anita bacchus of thexittle rouge river restoration projectalong with conservation officer mark heaton try to land the catch in their faets as they wade in the little rougedownstream of the milne dam with several r people elec- troshockirig the waters below the dam in ah attempt to temporarily paralyze the fish for capture ripe females were strippedof eggs that will be reareld at the nearby parkview golf club hatcheryih by mike hayakawa staff writer theheadwaters of the rouge river and its tributaries offer plenty of suitable jbcatibns for rainbow trout to perform their annual spring spawning rites j j j but these migratory fish which work their way upstream from lake markham and ontario face a majorhurdle when released as fry in attempting to reach these areas the rouge river the milne dam located just watershed in i sbuth of hwy and to the west of june hwy48 is 45 metrehigh and fish mark heaton j cannot successfully jump over it a ministry biolo- s 4 matters is the absence gist from the ladders at the dam site aurora district to remedy the situation the office noted triat 5 ontario ministry l of natural close to 250000 resourcesal6ngwith of yeggs -werevcql- j theiittle rouge rtoration project fleeted this year d and ardent i working manual vv sjx- uijy staff photos by sjoerd witteveenand m i mtke aderaenal photo courtesy of f iistry and 1 1 1 1 f 1 1 1 1 jvlhiss 1 sixflitime over the dam last year heaton said some 170 fish were transferred over a sixday period each fish collected was mea sured and weighed heaton said the fish weighed anywhere from two pounds up to 16 the longest fish was 355 inches v in an effort to monitor their yearround movements the fish were also tagged with a white spaghetti- type marker in transfers the fish were conservation collected this year three or four had tags from last years transfer v this shows that the fish willflip over thedamand return to lake ontario and can survive once the data was collected the fish were manually transferred to the dams upper reservoifwhere they were released to continue their upstream navigation towards suit able spawning locations although heatons original tar get of moving 200 fish fell short- he felt the transfer was a success with our electroshocking below the dam we were getting larger fish and more different types of species we were getting pike perch and big lakeruri white suckers heaton is optimistic that afish ladder will eventuallybe placed at officer mark ragged- with dif- the milne damhe riptedpublic consultation on this matter is ixpectvd to take place trusummer estimatedthecqst forsuch a would ibe ina range of 494zv memilriedamsitetomovetkefish xloset6i50fishbeliy6ftheamale rainbow trout said of the fish 20do66 250000- 1 v- ithe strange quacking sounds vou may hear on warm nights arent tonung from a duckvy ww jmthoseareramorous frogs calling- su woodfroersjand dan casselman ctfpboardcout listening for five frog species- and theionlytypeof toad hi- ju i j- 11 j- stouffville road- r v z t shevprettsureshe heard leop- ijl ardfrogstheretaswell its kind of l hard to- teuwhite said c xl iik amphibians aresensitive to pol- i v j r glutton in air and water so frogs can i vc a 1 i y y y blue salamander s js f joe like the canafyin a coal mine in v a riyef system bieged increasingly j by suburban growth their rising or been active casselman added tallirie vear- could- v onvbridee over a flooded fi j green frogsandlbullfrogswohtvbe heard untujuneor july h jtfu thisisxtheilast weekend the study group a project- of the rouge river restoratipn comnnttee conduct a search forsalders- the elusiverlungless v creatures are hidden m water andmuckrind x a fewdaysfeventkeirjeggswill 4 nqiro notvton mfa vr1rrk1irlio f u