After 12 years of research and consultation, the Aulneau Peninsula Enhanced Management Area Wildlife Plan will be released later this month.
The plan is designed to meet five major objectives over the next 20 years in a sustainable manner, said Steven Duda, a planner for the Ministry of Natural Resources in Kenora District.
“The idea is to set a framework to allow us to make decisions into the future,” he noted.
The thrust of the plan, Duda said, is to maintain the area much as it is now while still allowing controlled access by the public. “People really like the fact there is this large parcel of land that has been left undeveloped,” he remarked.
The Aulneau Peninsula is an irregular 200,000-acre protrusion into Lake of the Woods between Nestor Falls and Sioux Narrows. Included in the area are six parcels of reserve land as well as stands of jack pine and black spruce.
Logging in the past severely reduced the old growth, but that practice was discontinued in 1986. Now, because of the lack of harvesting and natural fires to encourage new growth, there is a shortage of suitable habitat for deer and moose there.
Duda said controlled burns and selective harvesting of old growth are in the works as part of an “enhanced management plan.”
The area also is a prime recreational area for hunters and a source of income for local outfitters. Hunting in the area always has been restricted to archery and primitive firearms and that won’t change, noted Duda.
Under the new plan, there will be a minimum of two km between campsites and each party will be restricted to 10 people and three adult validation tags.
In the plan, the ministry intends to maintain a moose population of 400-800 animals, providing a minimum of 1,500 hunter days, and a black bear population of 200-250 animals, providing 650 hunter days annually.
The number of tags for deer will not change, either, but there will be some restrictions on the number of temporary land use permits issued to outfitters.
“There will be no new outposts or permanent development allowed in the future,” said Duda. “It seems there will be some restrictions on the use of snowmobiles and ATVs, but that is still pending.”
There already are restrictions in place regarding mechanized transportation, which is limited to designated trails.
Reaction from outfitters was mixed. Brian McNanney, whose father owns Indianhead Lodge near Sioux Narrows, said he felt the ministry’s limits on deer hunting are overly restrictive.
“We’re not thrilled about the deer thing,” he said. “We’ve built up a large clientele of deer hunters.
“We’ve checked with the MNR and there seems to be a lot of deer.”
But Albert Kast, owner of Tomahawk Resorts in Sioux Narrows, was more optimistic.
“It’s been a long time in the making and I think these things are good,” he said. “I have no objections at this point.”
Kast added he actually sees the potential for increased business within the new regulations. “There seem to be opportunities for eco-tourism here and that’s a good thing,” he remarked.
Randy Hanson, of Hanson’s Wilderness Lodges in Nestor Falls, was an active participant in the plan’s development. He said he sees the result as a workable, realistic compromise of competing interests and agendas—and he’s glad it’s finally moving forward.
He also likes what he sees as a shift in priorities on behalf of the ministry.
“It’s time there was a plan there, there’s no doubt about that,” said Hanson. “The emphasis now seems to be on habitat instead of logging and I’m really pleased to see the First Nations finally sign off on it.”
The First Nations had been one of the main obstacles to the plan since it was first envisioned in 1991. With them now onside, the last obstacles seem to have been removed.
Hanson admitted it was not easy to bring all the parties together into a workable solution.
“I think the plan has been a balancing act between conflicting uses,” he noted. “Now we seemed to have reached an equitable compromise.”
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
