The Rural Voice, 1983-09, Page 11agriculture is limited. Ed Lembke, a retired
farmer and conservationist from
Normanby Township certainly does not
agree with this. "Gravel companies take
everything, including the forest," Lembke
said, adding that "forests are a source of
springs." "Two thousand miles of streams
in Grey -Bruce may very well be affected by
the changing water table," and "the
Saugeen River begins in Glenelg and Egre-
mont Townships and winds its way to
Southampton." Lembke feels that an im-
pact study should have been conducted to
determine the effect of the proposed ag-
gregate plan on the entire community, and
with particular regard to agriculture and
tourism, Grey county's top two industries.
He would like to see a meeting between
the Ministry's of Natural Resources and
Agriculture, the Saugeen Conservation
Authority, and the Federation of
Agriculture to make plans to come to
some form of agreement of how long they
are going to stop any form of develop-
ment. He is afraid that if an aggregate
company purchases land, it may lay idle
for years and tie land up to a piece of
useless property for anything except the
proposed aggregate extraction.
Parts of south Grey may not be con-
sidered prime agricultural land, but the
rolling hills, streams and forested area
provide a haven for city weary people wan-
ting a slower pace of life close to nature.
There is a tremendous amount of recrea-
tional tourism in South Grey ranging from
fishing to cross country skiing with many
campgrounds and parks dotted
throughout. One park owner, Ed Lembke's
son, Murray, who is president of the Grey
Bruce Tourist Association feels that large
scale aggregate mining could cause en-
vironmental problems. His 500 acres, 350
site family camp ground, Silent Valley
Park is located in Normanby township
amid some very good gravel deposits.
Large scale aggregate extraction would
have an impact on tourism that would af-
fect the entire area, Lembke feels.
However, on a long term basis he feels
that proper rehabilitation would place
land back in its original condition. "It's
not what's done, but how it's done, and I
have a feeling that it will be done in a dif-
ferent manner to the past" he said.
One aggregate company has bought up
land in South Grey for future gravel ex-
traction. Standard Aggregates of
Markham purchased about 370 hectares
of carefully chosen land in Glenelg in 1974
which is rented back to the previous
owners until gravel is removed. Standard
Aggregate vice president, Don Peart,
declined comment on when that time
would be, stating that it is company policy
not to discuss land holdings.
Aggregate producers do not have a
good reputation when it comes to clean-
ing up after their mining operations. Craig
Moyer, Aggregate Producers Association
of Ontario President doesn't feel that ag-
gregate companies deserve all the bad
publicity they are receiving. When regula-
tions came into effect for compulsory
rehabilitation, "people expected overnight
that all old pits would be rehabilitated. It
doesn't happen that way," Moyer says.
We've got to "correct what's been done in
the past thirty years." he said, but Moyer
is well aware that the clean-up will not oc-
cur overnight.
Many people do not foresee the pro-
jected requirement for aggregate, par-
ticularly with the slow economic growth
that we are experiencing, coupled with a
declining birth rate. Aggregate consump-
tion is largely influenced by the state of
the economy particularly in residential
and non-residential building construction
as well as road construction which, in
itself accounts for forty per cent of all ag-
gregate use in Ontario. George Schafer,
Grey County Warden and reeve of Glenelg
Twp. has adopted a "wait and see" at-
titude. He feels that economic conditions
"may have put a damper on aggregate ex-
traction" and that "it will be a long ways
away."
Whatever the future of the economy,
one thing is certain. Two-thirds of the
sand and gravel supply of Southwestern
Ontario is located in Grey county and it
isn't going anywhere, at least not yet.
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THE RURAL VOICE, SEPTEMBER 1983 PG. 9