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. . . it's the respectful dialogue between individuals or groups with the MNR and logging companies that will work toward saving canoe routes.
I agree with Rob! Over the past 7-8 years, I have personally lobbied for improved protection of canoe routes and their land-based components (i.e., portages, campsites, access points, etc.) on Crown lands where forestry activities occur. The success of my efforts to date is undoubtedly due to adopting an approach of ‘collaboration’ and not one of ‘confrontation’.
Here in Northwestern Ontario, forestry planners are genuinely eager to improve their data base of ‘values’ information including canoe routes. It has been my experience that calm, deliberate negotiations with the MNR and logging companies invariably result in updated ‘values maps’ as well as improved protective ‘Area of Concern’ (AOC) prescriptions.
Portage protection is a case in point. More than half the province’s forest management plans (FMPs) now contain a dedicated AOC that prescribes a no-cut reserve on
each side of the trail, often backed by a modified harvest zone of equal dimension. The average width of these reserves is 30 metres on
each side of the trail. Other protective measures include no operational roads, landings or aggregate extraction within the AOC as well as a restriction on skidding across the trail. Further, the width of the right-of-way (ROW) of a single primary or secondary road crossing is often reduced to 10-15 meters; the crossing is perpendicular to the trail; and, road grade levels and trail approaches to the road are constructed so as not to inhibit safe use of a portage.
These negotiations are time-consuming and on-going as FMPs are renewed and reviewed every 10 years. Currently, there is no guarantee that any improvements negotiated for protection of a particular value will be carried forward into the next successive plan. It is my sincere hope that, sometime down the road, a set of standards and guidelines will be developed that will apply universally to
all FMPs. Meanwhile, those of us concerned with protecting and preserving our province's canoeing heritage will continue to monitor and participate in FMP public consultation periods as they are announced on the Environmental Bill of Rights (EBR) Registry. I urge all interested CCR members to join in this effort.