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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1989-03-22, Page 44Letters to the Editor THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1989. PAGE 5. Agriculture, trails can mix, letter writer says What to do with the abandoned right of way of the Guelph-to-Goderich CP Rail line continues to be a controversial topic. The detriments of a proposed trail on the agricultural community are disputed by letter writer Gerry Fremlin. THE EDITOR, A letter in the 15th of March edition of the Clinton News-Record from the Ground Hog’s Day Com­ mittee (GHDC) gives a number of reasons why the abandoned Guelph-to-Goderich CP Rail line should not be converted to a trail. On the same date The Citizen, reporting on a delegation to County Council, states that “the Huron County Federation of Agriculture ... said that it believes public trails are incompatible with agriculture.” There can be little doubt that this statement precisely summarizes the CHDC’s (Ground Hog’s Day Committee’s) position: public trails are incompatible with agriculture. In Wisconsin, “The Dairy State”, which in terms of terrain, climate, economy and people, is very similar to Ontario, there are 12 trails totalling about 300 miles, and many of these miles are through rich agricultural country. In Wis­ consin, public trails are compatible with agriculture. How has the GHDC and the Huron County Libraries growing THE EDITOR, On Saturday, February 18, I had the pleasure to be at the opening of the New Children’s Wing of the Mitchell Public Library. It is a good sign of community interest when a library has made some changes. This has been the fifth library in the Saugeen Library District that has been built or renovated in the last year. They are: St. Mary’s, Orangeville, Grand Valley, Elmira and Mitchell. On March 30, Water­ loo Library will open a new wing. The Saugeen District takes in an Federation of Agriculture arrived at so radically a different conclu­ sion - that in Ontario public trails are incompatible with agriculture? Let me say before going on that at the time of writing this letter I am not a member of a rails-to-trails association; that I have walked at least five miles on each of the three major trails converted from rail lines in Wisconsin (Elroy-Sparta, Military Ridge, and Sugar River), and have criss-crossed them by automobile throughout their full length; that I have had correspon­ dence with the agency in Wisconsin responsible for trails; that a railway runs across the foot of my own property and I have publicly advo­ cated its conversion to a trail in the event of its abandonment (in The Citizen and in Focus last Autumn); and that the section of the line that abuts on the property within sight of our rear living room window even now carries a considerable traffic of walkers, hunters, skiers, bicycles, snowmobiles and motor bikes, not to mention trains and area from Tobermory to Orange­ ville, to Waterloo-Cambridge and south to St. Marys. The entire district is to be congratulated on its concern and interest in providing good library service for the citizens of the area. If anyone in the Saugeen Area has any suggestions, ideas, criti­ cisms please contact me. HARRY W. NESBITT COUNCILLOR SAUGEEN DISTRICT ONTARIO LIBRARY TRUSTEES ASSOCIATION. other railway vehicles. But to return to the question of how the CHDC and the Huron County Federation of Agriculture arrived at their extreme and indeed absurd position that public trails and agriculture are incompatible in Ontario: they arrived at this posi­ tion surely by some very strange thinking. For example, the letter in News-Record, which incidentally is substantially the same as a letter in The Citizen a month earlier, dis­ cusses the economic position of tourism vis-a-vis the Sugar River Trail in Wisconsin, based on a tiny bit of information given in the CAA Tour Book, and concludes that because the proportion of value of agriculture to value of tourism in the entire State of Wisconsin is different from the proportion in Huron County, the Guelph-to- Goderich trail would be touristi- cally non-viable. Seemingly they totally miss the point that the Guelph-to-Goderich trail would bring tourists and tourist dollars into Huron County. Nevertheless they seem to envi­ sion the few locals they project as using the proposed trail as being always on their worst possible behaviour. The worst-case scenario that would justify incompatibility of public trail with agriculture would see hoards of hoodlums in four- wheel-drive vehicles and roaring motor bikes pouring down the trail, charging over fences, breaking down gates, invading farmyards, and so on. But here is a quote from a letter 1 received from the Wisconsin De­ partment of Natural Resources: “Although trespass and vanda­ lism has never been a problem on Festival important THE EDITOR, We have lived in Blyth for many years and are writing this letter in support of the Blyth Festival. It has done a lot for the village providing live theatre, jobs, brought in new stores and kept Blyth Memorial Hall in operation. One of the things that we said when we answered our survey (from village council) was that so Thanks to volunteers THE EDITOR, Once again February has passed and our job is complete. Thanks to my devoted canvassers, most homes in north Morris were visited and donations for the Heart & Stroke campaign this year totalled $1,350.55 (down from $1,405.00 last year). I tip my hat to those who donated and especially thank those 22 ladies who volunteered their time to this worthwhile cause. It is sometimes difficult going up to someone’s door asking for money, but these special people do it regardless, so next year when you see their friendly faces and big red hearts, welcome them into your home, tell them they’re doing a great job and give generously to the “Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario.” Some 50,000 Canadians die ann­ ually of heart attacks. Your contri­ butions go towards public educa­ tion on improving diet and lifestyle, promoting public awareness through C.P.R. and to medical research. With your help we can reduce this statistic. At this time, I would also like to pay a special tribute to a friend and a volunteer canvasser for the Heart and Stroke campaign, who passed away last month due to heart problems. Mrs. Barb Elston was a very special person who did her part and will be dearly missed. Once again, my personal thanks to: Marilyn Frieburger, (cone. 1, west); Audrey Johnston, (cone. 1, our state trails, this is one of the immediate concerns of adjacent landowners. Other concerns are noise from snowmobiles, excessive crowds of people on the trail, destruction of vegetation, and dis­ ruption of wildlife. The latter three have never been problems on Wisconsin’s trails, however, rerou­ ting or eliminating snowmobiles from certain sections of trail, usually in or near residential areas, may be necessary.” “To help alleviate some of these concerns, we have a fencing policy where the department will erect all fencing required at no cost to the landowner who must agree to maintain the fence for a 20-year period. A committee of adjacent landowners is organized to esta­ blish fencing priorities and co-ordi­ nate the program.” This brief quotation indicates a frame of mind on the part of the Wisconsin government in regard to making adjacent landowners com­ fortable with a public trail. If the Guelph-to-Goderich line becomes a trail it will be under the control of the Province. The Government of Ontario has just as good sense, is just as humane, and just as favorably oriented to agri­ culture as the Government of Wisconsin is, and in addition has the experience of Wisconsin to be guided by. If 300 miles of public trails are compatible with agricul­ ture in Wisconsin, the Government of Ontario can assure that trails in Ontario are every bit as compat­ ible. The Ground Hog’s Day Com­ mittee would put itself into a much more defensible and enlightened position if it would say that a trail is acceptable if it conforms to the many of our summer guests have told us that people who lived here were so lucky to have a fine clean village with live theatre. We should all remember that the Blyth Festival played a very impor­ tant part in the Hall’s restoration. The Festival is very important to us and that is the reason for this letter. JIM AND JANET LAWRIE BLYTH. east); Barb Elston, (cone. 2, west); Sharon Darlow, (cone. 2 east); Joanne Chapman, (cone. 3, west); Edythe Warwick, (cone. 3, east); Marie Macintosh, (cone. 4, west); Isabel Wheeler, (cone. 4, east); Cory Sanderson, (cone. 5, west); Doris Mitchler, (cone. 5, east); Dorothy Coultes, (Hwy. #4, north); Nancy Jardin, (Hwy. #4, south); Isabel Wheeler, (Hwy. 86); Hanna Nicholson, (Cty. road 12); Mary Vair, Karen Cook, Laura Johnson, Anne Spivey, Wanda Casemore, Kathy McCracken, Florence McAr- ter and Joanne Culbert (Belgrave). (If for some reason you were missed in this campaign and would still like to contribute, please contact me at 887-6195). CHAIRPERSON LINDA HOPPER A heart-felt thanks THE EDITOR, On behalf of the Huron County Heart and Stroke Foundation, thanks to the people of Auburn who donated to this worthwhile cause. Thanks to the dedicated volun­ teers Maureen Bean, Grace Cart­ wright, Lorraine Came, Frances Clark and Barbara Whetstone. With your help we can improve the odds against Canada’s No. 1 killer. EUNICE ARTHUR. Wisconsin model as a minimum standard. If you can allow me the space, Mr. Editor, I would like to touch briefly on three other relevant subjects. One subject is the physi­ cal character of the trails I have visited; another is the nature of the users of trails; and the other is access to the countryside by non- rural people. Each of these subjects could of course be expanded into a long essay. As regards the physical proper­ ties of the trails I would like to make three points: 1. The drainage structures set up by the railroad are retained for the trail. 2. The sides of the trail grow up to the natural vegetation of the area. One trail in Wisconsin preserves land that has never been plowed and thus saves a very rare sample of the original prairie vegetation of that particular area near the Mississippi. In Ontario the sides of the trail will normally grow up to trees which constitute an effective form of weed control, and also provide privacy for adjoining property. 3. Access to property divided by the railway is retained when the line becomes a trail. In Wisconsin the three major trails are used for hiking, bicycling, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing; other usages are not permit­ ted on these particular trails. Can anyone seriously believe that these pursuits would have any appeal for the hooligans and ne’er-do-wells that would be a threat to adjacent farm property? Besides, if such characters want to get at farm property the sideroads will serve their purposes every bit as well as a trail. The people to whom the controlled trail-activities appeal are most apt to be fitness enthusiasts and nature lovers of various kinds, not thugs, hooligans, and vandals. The desirability of intimate ac­ cess to the countryside for the people of a country is a very large subject which I will barely touch upon. In densely populated Europe the need has long been recognized, and European countries including the British Isles have numerous systems of trails. In Scotland the whole country is in effect regarded as a walking trail: there is no law oi trespass, but of course there are provisions for protection from pro­ perty damage. Until recently in North America the countryside has been relatively open and accessible, but the pic­ ture is quickly changing as popula­ tion increases and technology changes. In our area of Ontario the bottomlands of the creeks and rivers used to be pasture and were park-like, and land posted against trespass was a rarity. The streams and rivers and the co-operative land-owners allowed a wonderful access to the countryside. Now the bottomlands are for most part unused and have grown up to rank vegetation, a good part of which is stinging nettle, and more and more land is posted. Also, in years gone by and to the present time, the branch railway lines, with relatively little traffic, were never forbidden to walkers by the rail companies, and therefore provided excellent walking access to the countryside. When a rail line closes and is fenced off by adjoin­ ing landowners, and often enough they have not bought the land, a former access is closed off. Throughout their history in Canada the railways have been subsidized by taxpayers. Surely it would be a simple form of justice serving important social purposes, that when a rail line is abandoned it be maintained as public access to that countryside which is so important a part of our image of what our Homeland is. GERRY FREMLIN CLINTON.