goodbye PIW

[timbercruiser]

For those of you (myself included) who ran PIW at Gitchee Gumee, we were the last ones to be able to do the PIW trail in Canada.
I was told that the area south of Whitman dam road is now a National Park. It is closed to vehicles-even hunting! That means our river crossing on the East Goulais River road is no longer available.

The reason for no more river crossing? We are killing too many spotted turtles.
I've never even seen one. Niether has T-way-and he's always looking for critters!

Why no hunting? Dangerous for Kayakers on the Goulais. I've never seen one of them either (Kayakers, that is).

I don't know the exact extent of the Park, but we should figure this out before we get our vehicles confiscated by the MNR!

My information is from a guy in Cheboygan who has a cabin in Searchmont. He was at a meeting where this info was given.
BTW, the locals indicated that they will not honor the park, nor it's boundaries.

[Roadhouse]

Wow Dave.....interesting news. I just email this around to a few people incase they dont see it on the board.

Thanks for posting this.

Mike

[Brian]

That's to bad I am looking forward to going on that trip (first time) and I seen the river crossing in some pictures and thought that would be fun.

Thanks for the info!

[DICE]

well that SUCKS Dave



B) BOBBY

[WhiteRhino]

Yep, It's true.

I have talked to the MNR and also looked at the site map. While traveling out Whitman Dam rd, everything on the right (river side) is now a provencial park. Also, all of the area around East Goulais river road. This includes PIW and Shortcut trails.
Everything on the left (including trail 17) are still going to be opened. The park has actually been in existance since 2002 or 2003 but they are now doing the study about how the park will be managed.

I have gotten the name and phone numbers of the new park manager and also the park manager at Batchewana Bay. I will contact them this week to learn more.

More to come.

Jim

[grandman]

Good thing i read this , i had every intention of running PIW in May .

Im betting there is NO signage of any sort at this point to even warn a person of it being closed .

So im clear stay to the left of the river your OK , the park is all across the river . If you didnt cross the river from the main road your ok ?

[grandman]

http://www.web.net/wild/sites.html

Theres a link to what Jim is talking about . I found that on a Canadian motel link . From the sounds of it there is going to be a huge amount of land closed in Canada .

[grandman]

I did a fair amount of reading on this issue . It looks like much of the closure will be to stop only timbering , hydro dams and that type of progress . Hunting and so on will be allowed .

There is 2 different types of closure here , much of it will be under the control of the ministry instead of parks and rec .

Diane Houle is going to see what she can find on the matter and send me the info along with any maps she can acquire .


Diane is the is the new owner of Blue berry motel and camp ground .

Marv

[WhiteRhino]

I have read through the pertinent parts of the site development plans.
It says
"access to and within the protected areas within the Algoma Headwaters Signature Site will be liminted to the use of existing, authorized roads and trails as detailed below (figure 3) No new roads or trails will be permitted"

Here is the link for Figure 3
http://ontarioparks.com/english/planning_p...xisting_Dev.pdf (http://ontarioparks.com/english/planning_pdf/algom_Fig3_Existing_Dev.pdf)

You will note that the East Goulais River road is NOT in the park! All of the area we currently run is still open land. However, the river crossing at the falls will probably be closed.

This is (for the most part) a non issue!

The majority of the park is further north!
Jim

[timbercruiser]

Thanks for doing those searches. This will be something we need to figure before the wheeling season!

[grandman]

This is a letter i just recieved from Bob Collins in Canada . Im still poking at them for straight answers and trying to start a Candian rebellion :D



Dianne:



I must agree with Mr. Farley that the proposed restrictions will make it difficult for all of us. Certainly there should not be and will be no crossing through the Goulais River. This is one of the major issues used for closing the entire area to off road vehicles and ATVs.



The Whitman Dam Road is still open and at this time you can travel by ATV through the proposed park and along the Point Lake Road to access the power line to Half way.



We have been attempting to raise the impact that the restrictions in these new parks will have on tourism, but active support from the local tourist operators has been slow.



I have requested the information Mr. Farley is seeking at the district level and just last week I sent a request to the regional level, with a copy to the Minister of Natural Resources again asking for it.



I am off on holidays until the end of April and hopefully we can have an answer shortly after my return.



Until then, the only thing I can suggest is to contact the District Office and ask about the status of the Algoma Headwaters Park Strategy.



Bob Collins

[WhiteRhino]

Who is Bob Collins?

[grandman]

Beats me who he is , I lit a fire under Dianne at blue berry . She contacted BOB and he is working on up the scale to get answers for us . My point orginally was to get people like Dianne motivated . They stand to lose customers from these actions .

As well im hoping to get further response on what is or is not leagal in Canada as far as whelling goes . Its clearly changing .

Marv

[WhiteRhino]

If you want to call me direct, I can give you some more detail. When I talked to the MNR guy, we were on the phone for at least a half hour. Too much to type!

Jim
248-486-4500 ext225

[mtnbiker5]

Thanks for all the research Guys.. GG is one of my favorite runs and I look forward to heading there every year!!