The devil’s in the details

Jon and Leif Nelson’s “A hole in the landscape” [Spring 2006, page 30] describes a trip into Devil’s Crater. The article tells of the authors using a chainsaw to make a portage into Devil’s Crater and of camping for two nights.

A review of the trip map posted in the article confirms the authors we re in Pantagruel Creek Provincial Nature Reserve, though this was not clearly evident in the article. Nature Reserve parks are established to represent and protect distinctive natural habitats and landforms of the province. These areas are protected for educational and research purposes. Arbitrary trail development and use of a chainsaw are not acceptable activities in a Nature Reserve park. Camping is not allowed in a Nature Reserve park.

It is important that park visitors are fully aware of the park rules and activities allowed in provincial parks they plan to visit. The Ontario Parks website (www.ontarioparks.com) has information about all provincial parks including the telephone number and mailing address for the park superintendents. Anyone planning to visit any non-operating park may wish to contact the park superintendent to obtain information.

Al Ccomeau,
Park Superintendent
Sleeping Giant Provincial Park Node

 

Jon and Leif Nelson reply:

The rules and regulations pertaining to acceptable activities in a nature reserve are far more ambiguous than Park Superintendent Al Comeau implies. At the time of our trip, the Ontario Parks website that he refers to had no mention of a camping ban in any of the information about Pantagruel Creek Nature Preserve. Within the park planning section of the website is a section on nature reserves that contains a table indicating that no campground facilities are in Pantagruel. The absence of established campgrounds did not indicate to us that camping is not allowed.

We had read that a forest fire occurred in the 1980s and that there had been a growth of small jack pine trees in much of the area around Devil’s Crater. As mentioned in the article, we took a chainsaw in case it was necessary to cut a few jack pines to get a canoe to the bottom of the canyon. In retrospect, we agree that we should not have cut any vegetation.

Devil’s Crater, and other geological evidence of the dramatic overflow of Lake Agassiz thousands of years ago, deserves to be protected. We wrote this article to increase public awareness of this relatively inaccessible area and to highlight the excellent research by Dr.Teller and other geologists whose work resulted in the understanding of the forces that shaped these areas.

 

Excuses, excuses

I think James Miller got a few things wrong in his letter in the Summer 2006 issue [“Southern comfort,” page 7].

Riki Burkhardt’s whole point was that more of the same old, forestry-based economic models for northern Ontario communities is simply not a good solution. I’m also certain she wasn’t advocating a “silent landscape. “On the contrary, time and again, regular old tourism, ecotourism and other non-industrial land uses have been shown to be good, vibrant economic solutions.

I get tired of the “north versus south” debate. No one can seriously believe that if northern Ontario had the same population and money as southern Ontario they wouldn’t go just as head over heels in terms of their materialistic desires. This is what groups like Ontario Nature are fighting, because it is so contrary to the well-being of nature.

One thing I’ve learned is that there is never an end to all the economic excuses for harming nature – whether by individuals or companies. For the sake of nature, however, we eventually have to draw a line in the sand and say no more, no matter what the excuse or reason is. I do this in my own area and I expect other nature advocates – whether in southern or northern Ontario – to do the same.

Kenneth Lapointe,
Windsor