In a report released today, the district manager of the Ministry of Natural Resources here has decided the disputed Trout Road will remain closed to vehicular access under the 2002-2022 Crossroute Forest Management Plan.
“My decision is based upon very careful review and consideration of all available and relevant information,” noted Bill Darby.
“I have attempted to fairly balance competing interests within and among community sectors in a way that protects the environment and is consistent with existing land use guidelines, resource plans, laws, policies, and procedures,” he added.
Under Darby’s proposal, signage would read “Unauthorized access to Entwine Lake and the Trout River system from this road network is prohibited under Section 28(1) of the Public Lands Act.”
Signs are to be placed at strategic locations to ensure proper notification to the public.
The Trout River system is defined as all waterbodies through which the Trout River flows, including, but not restricted to, Trout River, Kaopskikamak Lake, Eagle Rock Lake, Megissi Lake, and Little Kinnyu Lake.
As part of the proposal, offshoot roads of Trout Road will see varying degrees of closure. Kinnyu Road and Silander Road, for example, will be closed to vehicles from Jan. 1 to Oct. 20 each year, also under Section 28(1) of the Public Lands Act.
“I have set the date for opening the Kinnyu and Silander Roads to allow the fly-in tourism businesses to meet their priority need for a quality moose hunt for their clients during the first two weeks of the rifle moose season,” said Darby.
“Resident hunters may then hunt the area for the remaining eight weeks of the season,” he added. “I have set the closure date to be Jan. 1 to be consistent with the opening of the lake trout season, and to be similar to other road closures of this type in the district.”
Other secondary and tertiary roads, including Gator and Irregular Roads, will be open for public travel year-round unless specific fisheries conservation issues require restrictions on their use.
The full report is now available to the public at the local MNR office on Scott Street. The road policies contained within can be appealed within a 30-day period starting today.
Darby’s decision was made after receiving proposals for road use management strategy from all parties involved in the consultation process, including Abitibi-Consolidated, the North Western Ontario Tourism Association (NWOTA), the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club, and the local Natural Resources Advisory Committee (NRAC) on Feb. 6.
Darby noted his decision must be consistent with direction given in the Fort Frances District Land Use Guidelines and the District Fisheries Management Plan, as well as striving to meet the needs of all parties involved in the consultation:
•remoteness and quality recreation (NWOTA);
•forest resource (Abitibi-Consolidated); and
•a more balanced mix of recreational opportunities (sportsmen’s club).
“I believe my decision with this direction because it targets access controls to achieve specific purposes,” said Darby. “The control allows for, and protects the remoteness of, fly-in tourism lakes and the Trout River canoe route.
“They allow for a balanced mix of extraction, tourism, and recreational benefits. In addition, recreationists can continue using traditional means of access such as hiking, canoeing, and cross-country use of snowmobiles and ATVs,” he added.
And he added there are several other factors relevant to the decision, some of which include:
•the geography and numerous small lakes of the Trout Road area make it difficult to avoid locating a forest access road near fly-in tourism lakes.
Even if signage is used in the short term to regulate roads, it will probably be necessary to physically obstruct some roads over the long term to protect fly-in tourism business and sensitive fisheries;
•small trout lakes, like those in the Trout River area, are vulnerable to over-harvest of trout, especially in winter, if the lakes are road-accessible (presently resident anglers often access these lakes by snowmobile); and
•government subsidies for construction and maintenance of forest access roads on this forest were completely removed by April, 1999, and only 10 percent of the existing Trout Road network was subsidized.
Response from interest groups, such as the Crossroute Forest People’s Alliance, was not available by press time due to the fact the report was only made public today.
In related news, the Crossroute Forest Management draft plan, of which Darby’s decision is part of, will go on display at the MNR office here March 5.
At that time, the draft will be under a 60-day review period.
Fort Frances Times
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