The Rural Voice, 1978-08, Page 6Although the Grey County Federation brief didn't oppose the
nerd for recreational trails and hiking, it did recommend that the
Ontario Trails Council start a publicity campaign to make the
urban trail user more aware of the results of their actions for the
farmer.
"We would further recommend and almost demand that the
owner of the farm land not be held responsible for any accident
to the trespasser while on his property," - a recommendation
that members of the Ontario Trails Council supported.
Although the Bruce County Federation of Agriculture didnt
submit a brief to the council, farmers on the Bruce Penninstila
have firsthand knowledge of the drawbacks of the trail.
Roger Cunningham. a federation member who lives at R.R.1.
Mar, said one major problem on the trail has been fighting fires
and locating missing persons on the north part of the trail across
the pcnninsula which is inaccessible by road.
A joint brief submitted to the Trails Council by the Ontario
Provincial Police and the Ministry of Natural Resources outlined
problems both organizations had encountered policing the trail
through St. Edmunds Township.
The brief pointed out that. including Cyprus Lake users. about
170,00d people use parts of the penninsula section of the trail
every year.
After outlining a number of problems encountered by
inexperienced trail users, the brief said. "there seems to be a
general. although false, notion that all of the land along the route
is public and as such many users feel that they can do as they
wish such as access, camping. destroy growth for fires, dump
litter, etc."
James Rogers, a farmer at R.R.3, Lions Head, adjacent to the
Bruce Trail, said hikers leave gates open when crossing farms.
leave sections of the wooden snake fences open and often camp
in nearby fields and carry off his firewood to use for their
campfires.
He said another problem is there are no outside toilets along
the trail,and hikers rarely bother to cover up their excrement.
resulting in an unpleasant odor along some sectiosn of the trail.
Mr. Rogers said, "They (many hikers) don't keep it (the trail)
clean for the next guy."
But despite the fact the trail is a "confounded nuisance" in
Mr. Roger's words, it's only in the past few months that many
farmers have asked to have the trail removed from their property
The polarization of opinion against the trail conies as a result
of proposals by the Niagara Escarpment Commission (NEC;
appointed by the Ontario government in 1973 to prepare a
master plan for the escarpment's 1.2 million acres of land.
The commission's proposals, backed by Bill 129, passed by the
government, are designed to preserve the scenic quality and
environment of the escarpment and the Bruce Trail falls under
the commission's mandate.
When the commission was established, it was estimated it
would cost S200,000 a year maximum to operate, but costs have
risen to about S4 million annually.
In Bruce and Grey Counties, the Northern Ratepayers
Association, which now has between, 1,500 and 2,000 members,
PG. b THE RURAL VOICE/ AUGUST 1978
VISTA VILLA
FARMS
ANNOUNCES
The Introduction of our
Purebred Yorkshire Herd
We based our herd on females from the herd of
Murray Faris, Bradford, and a herd boar from
Bodmin Farms, Brussels. Therefore, these will be
genetically different from most of the Yorkshires
in this area.
We plan to base our selections of Yorkshires on
the same important basics that we use on our
Hampshires: soundness, length of body, and
Ieaness.
We have tested our first group of boars on the
R.O.P. programme, and got the following
averages:
158 days, 200 lbs., 12 8 m m. (.15 in.) backfat
We would be pleased to show you our new line
of Yorkshires or our regular quality line of
Hampshires any time.
. N Alton
0'1 '‘Atho'c
NafnQyr`tZ�
T
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hiuhv, av
hAge n
•Brod
Bornholm
eAl"cheu
ROBERT J. ROBINSON
RR 4, WALTON, ONT.
345-2317