Back to HomeFeature Article - July 16, 2009 A history of the Algonquin Land Claim Part 1/2By Julie Druker

Glenn Tunnock at the Kennebec Hall spoke about the history of the Algonquin Land Claim

On Saturday July 11 at the Kennebec Hall The Kennebec Lake Association and the Kennebec and District Historical Society presented a talk by Glenn Tunnock titled “The Algonquin Land Claim: A Return to Self Determination“.

Tunnock is the planning consultant for North and Central Frontenac townships, and also has a bent for Canadian history, geography and the settlement patterns of the people who live here.

He currently resides in Perth and is pursuing a master’s degree in history from Queen’s University.

His talk focused on the last 200 years of the Algonquin First Nation’s 11,000 year history. He was quick to clarify the Algonquin understanding of land, an idea that has been passed down orally through the ages and he quoted the words of Bob Lovelace to make this point. “It’s an understanding that begins with creation and… does not centre on human beings… (and) is shaped by vision which gives spirit form.”

Tunnock pointed out that the essence of the Algonquins’ “self determination has always been tied to their understanding of the land, Mother Earth - who takes care of them by providing the resources that sustain them as a society and how they in turn take care of the land.”

Tunnock highlighted the last 200 year history of the dispossession of Algonquin land, primarily the lands west of the Ottawa River commonly known as the Ottawa River watershed, the resulting erosion and tentative rebuilding of the Algonquin people’s right to self determination.

Here is a summary of his talk.

Historically the erosion began with Champlain’s arrival to eastern North America in 1646, with the onset of commercial trade, most notably the fur trade, and the establishment of settlements around present day Kingston, Montreal and Quebec City.

According to Tunnock, Champlain’s arrival changed the geo-politics of the region forever after.

One of the seminal documents that affected Aboriginal land rights was the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which mapped out 2 separate blocks of land, one, the Indian Territory that covered the Appalachians and most of the Great Lakes down to the Mississippi River and the second, government or crown land. The document set out to establish a number of things, namely, British common law, good government and peace. It also provided a mechanism for the government to pay for the cost of administrating these lands by promoting commercial trade with the First Nations.

The intent of the document was to allow the government, through colonization, to gradually acquire all of the Indian territory over time by setting out a prescription for the surrendering of aboriginal lands and setting up the treaty process. Paradoxically it also recognized Indian territory and the First Nations’ interests in it.

According to Tunnock, “The Royal Proclamation is said to be a Magna Carta for Aboriginal land rights today in Canada.”

In 1783 the movement of United Empire Loyalists from Upper New York into Ontario and Quebec initiated the first of a series of land treaties concerning the Algonquin, the Crawford Purchase of 1783. Although it was negotiated by the Chippewa and Mississauga groups without the Algonquins’ consent, some Algonquin territory was still signed over to the government.

Tunnock pointed out that the description of lands in these early treaties demonstrates how vague and fraudulent the terms of these treaties often could be. The Crawford Purchase describes the land purchased as “extending from the lake back as far as a man can travel in a day”. No deed of this purchase survives in the public record.

Payments for land in these early treaties were often made to the aboriginal groups with goods only, namely, guns, ammunition, and in the case of the Crawford Purchase “as much coarse red cloth as will make them a dozen coats and many laced hats”.

The Rideau Purchase, 1816-1819, which included lands located on the southern part of the Ottawa River Valley and according to Tunnock “the land that the Kennebec Hall in Arden now sits on” was a similar kind of treaty in that the Algonquin also did not participate in the negotiations. Part of the logistical reasons for this was that in some cases traditional Algonquin lands were used by the Algonquin only during certain times of the year and this fact was not recognized by the government.

From 1820-1870 the Algonquin pursued their land “interests through petitions to the the British and Canadian governments” but Tunnock explained, “there was never any movement to acknowledge any title or claim to these lands by the government.”

The British North America Act of 1867 further complicated matters by splitting responsibility between the federal and provincial governments.

According to Tunnock the only land compensation granted by the government in the 1800s to the Algonquin was the Golden Lake Reserve granted in 1873, a relatively small reserve given in compensation for mining and timber lands which had been taken by the government arbitrarily before then.

In 1897, Algonquin Park, another very large parcel of land, was taken from the Algonquins’ land base and, ironically, named after them.

The 20th Century and beyond: more losses and a fledgling land claim

Tunnock described the Williams Treaty of 1923 as “another slap in the face“. It was negotiated, once again without Algonquin presence, with the Mississauga First Nation.

From 1923 to 1960 very little was done to resolve native land claims. In 1927 the Canadian government passed a law making it illegal for Aboriginal groups to raise funds for court challenges.

The 1960s brought about some positive changes affecting land claims. A government White Paper proposed a system for dealing with land claims. Most of the White Paper’s recommendations were rejected by the First Nations, but the seed of introducing a land claim system in Canada was planted at that time.

A period of successful litigations then began in the 1970s. In 1973 the Calder Decision set a precedent, stating that Aboriginal title stems from native people’s historic occupation of their land. For the first time since 1763 a formal acknowledgement was made that native people had a legitimate interest in acquiring title to the lands that they have traditionally occupied.

The Constitutional Act of 1982 entrenched within the constitution the rights of Aboriginal people. It also established their right to a settlement process, which is the one we have in Canada today.

In 1983 the federal government set up a formal comprehensive land claims policy, or what is commonly referred to as a negotiation model. As a result, in 1983 the Algonquin filed their first land claim.

The Sparrow Case of 1990 established the right of Aboriginal people to resources, particularly hunting and fishing rights.

In 1991 the provincial government agreed to enter into negotiations with the Algonquin, at the same time refusing to assume any liability for past actions.

The Algonquin Land Claim of 1991 covers 8.9 million acres or 20,000 square miles and extends from North Bay to the St. Lawrence River. It includes the lands that make up the Ottawa River watershed west of the Ottawa River.

The signing of the Statement of Shared Objectives between the three negotiators, the federal and provincial governments and the 10 groups of Algonquins was signed in 1994. It contains seven objectives, among them: to establish a land base suitable and exclusive for the Algonquins’ use; to determine and establish their rights; to provide a mechanism for improving their economic situation through access to resources; to make sure that Algonquin Park remains accessible to them; and to provide a consultation process.

A second negotiations document was also signed in 1994 that set out the procedures of the negotiation process.

So why has no agreement been signed yet, 15 years later?

The reasons are many. The area is huge and the negotiations involve 10 different Algonquin groups spread throughout the area. The process is also very complicated and often the skills and resources necessary to carry out negotiations have had to be built up and or brought in.

The issue of financing is also an issue where funding is not adequate enough to allow the Algonquins to hire people to allow the process to properly take place.

Also the fact that agreements are to reached by consensus can take more time. The process also has broken down in the past.

One of the positive affects that has come out of the process is a “culturation process”, wherein the government is taking the time to understand cultural issues of the Algonquin while the Algonquin themselves are rediscovering them too.

According to Tunnock, “The question remains: ‘Have the Algonquin, through the negotiation model and process, achieved self determination?’”. Of course there are many varying opinions here.

Tunnock pointed out one important aspect missing from the negotiation process, namely the issue of self-governance. He stated, “There is nothing in the land claim process that talks about self governance.”

So how close is the 1991 Algonquin Land Claim to being finally settled?

Tunnock explained, “As I understand it a proposed agreement (AIP) in principle has been set out to be completed by March 2010, so they are pretty close but that may be delayed depending on resources available to carry on the process. Although they may have the AIP almost in place, I personally feel that its still deficient in that they have not dealt with the sovereignty issue.” 

Back to HomeFeature Article - June 11, 2009 Line of sight, yes, but do we have to see itBy Jeff Green

At a public meeting on June 8 concerning the placement of five towers that are set for construction by Barrett Xplore to deliver fixed wireless internet service in parts of Central Frontenac, there was only one major issue raised: the location of the proposed tower in Arden.

Among the people attending the meeting there were a number, including Big Clear Lake Association President Art Dunham, who expressed serious concern over the proposal to put the Arden tower close to the western shore of Big Clear Lake.

“You propose to throw a tower in the Arden sunset,” said one lakefront property owner to Barrett's representative Don Ticknor.

“When the proposed tower locations were first made public, Barrett was going to build a 150 ft. tower in Arden,” Ticknor explained, “but the proposal has now been altered. The tower in Arden is now proposed for 100 feet, which means it can avoid having a 24-hour light on top of it.”

A 150 foot tower in the Mountain Grove area has been added to the original four-tower proposal, because plans to use an existing CTV tower have fallen though. The CTV tower is aging and cannot support the Barrett equipment.

Barrett Xplore made the successful response to a request for proposal (RFP) prepared on behalf of Frontenac County by the consulting firm Actionable Intelligence.

The RFP was designed to make use of $700,000 in funding dollars from the Ontario Ministry of Food, Rural and Agricultural Affairs (OMAFRA) in order to fill gaps in high speed Internet Service in South and Central Frontenac and the Frontenac Islands. Barrett will be spending $1.4 million of their own funds on the $2.1 million project.

They propose to construct four towers in South Frontenac, one on Wolfe Island, and five in Central Frontenac. Service will be provided within the “line of sight” range of the towers.

“While the signal can travel through leaves and some tree cover,” said Ticknor, “it cannot penetrate rock or heavy forest cover. We are certainly constrained in areas like Central Frontenac.”

Where available, the fixed wireless service will be priced at $45 per month, and installation fees will vary depending upon the length of service contract that consumers choose.

Ticknor, and some other Barrett representatives who were with him, explained that the company has had trouble finding suitable locations in the Arden area for a tower.

According to Maureen O'Higgins from Actionable Intelligence, an advantageous location on a ridge near Highway 7 looked promising, and could possibly have provided service towards Kennebec Lake to the north, as well as Big Clear Lake, the village of Arden, and towards Elm Tree to the west, but the land was not available.

Another constraint that the company faces is the need for hydro. “The cost of bringing hydro to more remote locations is something we cannot afford within the constraints of this project,” said Ticknor. “We looked for other sites in Arden and this is the one that will bring service to the village, the lake, and Ardendale [the territory to the west of the village towards Elm Tree].”

Terry Kennedy, of the Kennebec Lake Association, wondered how it was that Barrett was providing service to only a few of the residents of Kennebec Lake.

“Perhaps we could get to Kennebec in the future,” said Ticknor, “but not this time around.”

While there were a number of people, some angrier than others, who spoke against the Big Clear Lake tower location, Art Dunham summed up the position of the Big Clear Lake residents when he delivered a prepared statement.

“We did an online survey,” he said, “and 36 people responded. There was a lot of support for high speed, but overwhelming opposition to the tower location. Surely we could have a vote on the location of the tower.”

It turns out that the only regulatory agency that needs to approve the location of communication towers is Industry Canada. Township approval is not required.

Nonetheless the township’s planning consultant, Glenn Tunnock, had expressed concerns about the proposed towers being located too close to residences. However, Tunnock’s associate Dave Sappleton said the concerns have now been dealt with by Barrett and they have no further objections.

It is unclear where the matter goes from here.

Although Dunham said that “Barrett should go back to the drawing board and find an alternate location,” company officials seemed to indicate there were no ready alternatives.

“A win-win situation would be to get service and not have towers close to our lakes,” said Councilor Gary Smith.

Although they are not obligated to consult further, Maureen O'Higgins said, “The company’s goal is to meet its customers’ needs.”

(Attempts on Tuesday to reach Don Ticknor to clarify Barrett's future plans were unsuccessful because he was away from his office in Markham. We will endeavour to get that perspective for a future edition.) 

It started like most good things do - just a bunch of people getting together to share something that they love to do. Back in 1994 a group of seniors would regularly finish off their meetings by gathering around a piano to sing a few songs.

Glee Club director Helen Praskey recalled, “We thought it would be nice to have something a little more formal and that is how the Arden Glee Club began.”

The Glee Club just started up its 14th season again after its regular three-month winter hiatus and the 38-member group is once again filling the Kennebec Community Hall in Arden with the sounds of music.Helen Praskey, who has been involved in music all of her life in various forms as a teacher, singer, choir leader, piano player and arranger, has been leading the four-part a cappella male/female SABT (soprano, alto, bass, tenor) choir since it first formed.

The group rehearses weekly on Tuesdays from 1 - 3:30 PM at the Kennebec Community Hall and have a repertoire of over 100 songs, which include swing, contemporary pop, jazz, folk songs, spirituals and show tunes.While most members are resting their vocal chords during the winter months, Helen stays busy, keeping her ears open for new songs for the group. After seeing a performance of My Fair Lady in Windsor in March she chose “On the Street Where You Live” as one of the five new songs that the club will tackle this season.Other new tunes: an old folk song called “The Water is Wide”, which James Taylor recorded a version of; “Something’s Gotta Give”’ an upbeat swing tune from the 1950s; and “For All We Know”’ an old post-war love song.Helen not only directs the group but is also the club’s sole arranger, which enables them to forego the expense of purchasing sheet music and helps to keep their operating costs down. The job can be time consuming and not every song is suitable for a four-part a cappella group. “Finding songs that lend themselves to four-part harmony can be a challenge; still, I am happy to take requests from members and I am always looking for songs that the group will enjoy,” says Helen.

Though the Glee Club is a secular choir and as a rule does not perform sacred music, some of their selections are very spiritual, like Simon and Garfunkel’s "Bridge Over Troubled Water".

Other favourites that the group performs are "Chattanooga Choo-Choo", "What a Wonderful World", "Catch a Falling Star", and "Oklahoma". 

The group performs regularly at various seniors’ centres in Perth, Merrickville, Northbrook and Kingston.Ten years ago the group auditioned for the Annual Seniors’ Jubilee held at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto and after their first performance there were invited back to perform for the next nine years.

At one time the club would offer paid ticket concerts but gave that up preferring to sing for free as volunteers. In Helen’s words, “It just felt better that way.”

The Arden Glee Club is a group of seniors performing for others, and like many seniors, some of the members have different medical issues. Helen does not limit her musical understanding to the music alone and she and a few members of the Glee club recently attended a workshop in Kingston with Dr. Jacalyn Duffin of Queen’s University, who gave a talk titled,  “Music and Memory - What can dementia teach us about the brain.” It was there that she learned that music is one of the last senses to leave the body at the end of life, which, if nothing else, shows how deeply music can penetrate our beings.

Though Helen admits that the club takes up a good part of her time, for her it is a true labour of love. “Music is just in my very bones - it’s a part of me.”

Glee club members are not required to read music and those more comfortable singing melody only can join as lead singers. Membership is open to all and Helen encourages interested listeners to come and listen to the group at their Tuesday rehearsals.She stressed that the group is really like a big family. “It is not just the music that keeps us together. We all really care for one another and support one another. Every single member is important and I admire every single one of them."

Audrée Tomkins is the group’s business manager and she takes care of the bookings, uniforms, and, as Helen adds, "She knows how to keep us all in line.”

The Arden Glee Club's next performance will be in May at the Lanark Lodge in Perth.

Here in the Land O’ Lakes, many of us know that water was somewhere else before it comes out of a tap. The real source of water is the watershed - that area of the landscape that gathers all the water together into one river valley and all the lakes and wetlands in it.

Watersheds are about more than just water coming from taps. They are about rainfall and how fast it runs off the land, sending a peak of flow down the river and raising the levels of lakes. Watersheds affect the quality of the water in your river or lake and how algae, aquatic plants, fish and other living things respond to that water quality.

Actions of people affect the amount of runoff and the quality of water flowing down a watershed. By decreasing the watershed’s forest we can increase runoff and decrease the proportion of rain that soaks into the ground. By changing wetlands, we change how much water is stored and how much runs off quickly.

A watershed is a sensible land unit for land stewardship projects. How well a watershed is functioning can be monitored. Best management practices can be recommended for maintaining good functioning.

First, one needs to know as much as possible about the watershed. This is the goal of the Friends of the Salmon River. The highest priority is to learn about the top of the watershed – the area that supplies Kennebec Lake and then flows down the watershed.

The top end of the Salmon watershed is from north of Cloyne down to Kennebec Lake. This is the Kennebec Lake subwatershed. It is the most important part of the watershed because every place downstream, all the way to Shannonville and the Bay of Quinte, is affected by the amount and quality of water coming from this top end.

The Friends of the Salmon River and the Kennebec Lake Association have launched a survey to learn all the details of water flow and storage in the creeks and wetlands of the upper Salmon watershed, and we need volunteers for the survey. If you care about water, here is a chance to help protect it. Some work has already been done but more is needed.

Volunteers will be given a map square to survey and will be trained in how to do it. The work can be done from your car. A digital camera and a hand-held GPS unit would be most helpful. Instructions in using the GPS will be provided. And best of all, you will be caring for the land that we all are so very fortunate to enjoy.

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Bernie Dertinger at 613-293-1795 or Gray Merriam at 613-335-3589.

Kennebec Lake is one of the marquee lakes in Central Frontenac, and has one of the most active lake associations in Frontenac County. It features prime habitat for a number of different species of plans and animals, but one thing it does not have in abundance are loon chicks. No one knows exactly why, but according to one long-time resident, loon chicks have been scarce to non-existent on Kennebec Lake for 50 years.

Members of the Kennebec Lake Association have been trying to change that, and they invested in two loon platforms to encourage nesting. “This year there were nests on both platforms, but the eggs on one of the nests, the one in the wet basin of the lake, were destroyed by water due to the high water levels,” recalled Bernie Dertinger, one of the association’s directors.

The following excerpt from the news feed on the Kennebec Lake website talks about the other nest:

“Weekend of July 2 – Loons are spotted on nest. Friday July 9 – first sighting of loon family with newborn chick in the bay E of Green Island in the E basin of Kennebec Lake. It is a windy, rainy day and the chick swims between the parents as though it was attached to the wing of one of them. Birds of prey circle overhead.”

The baby loon has attracted a lot of attention on the lake, and a steady stream of new feeds chronicled its progress. Concerns over boat traffic in the early days of the chick’s life gave way to reports of the growth of the young loon and the pleasure lake residents were having observing the adult pair and the chick.

In early August, the following reports were posted: “Thursday, August 12 - The loon chick and its parents were fishing for some time in a bay in the West Basin … Friday, August 13 - Received a report that the baby loon is doing well and being well fed in the south bay just west of the bridge today … Tuesday, Aug 17 – the loon chick and an adult are fishing near the boat launch just east of the bridge.”

The loon chick had reached 5 weeks of age, and within 7 more weeks it would be able to fly and the level of risk through predation from raptors and the predators would drop way down.

But, in the August 25 posting, news of a major problem surfaced: “Your help is urgently needed to save the Kennebec Lake loon chick from an uncertain fate. It has been observed with a fishing line and lure hanging from its beak with the hook presumably lodged somewhere inside it. Attempts to catch it with a hand held fish net have not been successful. As of today, the chick is still vigorous and dives.”

The chick was spotted on August 26 but at that time it appeared that one of its wings was weaker than the other. “We don’t know if a fishing line was caught in the wing, or if it was something else,” said Bernie Dertinger.

On the weekend, a rescue crew, armed with a specially prepared net, set out to try to find the chick. The plan was to see if the lure had somehow become dislodged, in which case the loon would need no assistance, or if it had weakened the bird such that it could be captured, the lure and hook removed, and then left. If the bird was severely weakened, the possibility of bringing it to a bird rescue sanctuary near Napanee was being considered.

But nothing came of all the efforts. There were no sightings of the loon chick on the weekend.

“At this age we would expect the loon to be almost as large as an adult, with the down having been replaced by feathers, but it would not be black yet, it would be olive-drab, and it would not have the loon necklace pattern on its neck yet, either,” said Bernie Dertinger, who is basing his conclusions on internet research and consultations with Birds Canada.

The loon has not likely left the lake, because it is still too young to fly, but it is capable of providing about half its own food. Association members and residents on the lake will keep looking for their chick.

“The lesson in all this is that people need to be careful when fishing to make sure they don’t leave anything out, any lures or lines, or hooks, when they are done fishing. We’ve talked to a lot of people fishing while looking for the loon last weekend, and almost all of them were interested in helping find the loon, and would never intentionally harm it. It’s just another thing that people need to learn about,” said Bernie Dertinger.

For more information, go to www.Kennebeclake.ca and follow the News links.

Photo:Terry Kennedy, Sarah Hale, Dorothy Procter, Glen Matson and councilor Gary Smith

Long-time Arden resident Dorothy Procter was floored when over 70 Arden and area residents who turned out for the Arden Revitalization Forum that took place at the Kennebec Hall on Nov.18.

“I am absolutely overwhelmed,” said Dorothy, who heads the Friends of Arden group. At 90 years of age has seen Arden drastically change over the 86 years she has spent in the community.

A few weeks ago, she got together with a few other area residents at her home to discuss the declining state of Arden and they together decided to initiate what will likely be the first of a series meetings designed to turn that around.

“We felt badly that Arden was declining and when we lost our last store recently - that was the last straw..”

The meeting, chaired by township councilor Gary Smith and facilitated by Terry Kennedy, President of the Kennebec Lake Association, began with Dorothy reminiscing about Arden’s past, when it was a thriving hamlet that once boasted eight stores, a hotel, a bank, a dentist and doctor. It was, in her words “a place that residents were extremely proud of…I know we can't go back to those days, but we have here and now enough people with smarts that we should be able to do something.”

Fifth-generation Ardenite Glen Matson agreed with Dorothy, citing other small Ontario towns that bounced back from decline and are now thriving: towns like Westport, St. Jacobs and Sparta. He also recalled the Arden of his youth and talked about the milk and cheese cooperative Arden farmers formed to benefit the entire community.

“The point I'm trying to make here is that if our aim is revitalization, we all have to come together,” he said.

And come together they did that night, sharing their ideas for a new vision for Arden. This vision included looking into the property standards act as a possible means of cleaning up some of the properties around town, erecting public washroom facilities, a community bulletin board, and historic plaques. Suggestions were also made about increasing and highlighting public parking, walking, hiking, biking and canoe routes as well as looking at ways of encouraging new businesses to the area perhaps by offering a tax break in the hopes of attracting a new store, restaurant, or coffee shop.

The second part of the forum involved looking at Arden’s existing assets. Again the list was long and included existing facilities like Kennebec hall, the Legion and recreation committee, the old church, the Glee Club, Arden's artisans and other area groups. Arden's natural features ranked high on the list, including: the Mill Pond, Kennebec Recreation Park, the natural gorge, and the 700 acre piece of land that abuts crown land at Pitt Road.

Other environmental assets that were mentioned include Arden's “dark skies”, High Falls, the railway trail, and of course the area’s abundance of wild blueberries, which Gary Smith suggested might inspire a giant blueberry sign along Highway 7.

Revitalizing existing assets was also discussed and suggestions were made to focus on the park, playground, tennis courts, and the public beach.

Ken Hook, head of the Land O'Lakes Tourist Association, also attended the meeting and made his own suggestions about how to attract tourists to the area. His ideas included winter ice hockey in the winter, cross country ski trails, and constructing a covered bridge.

The meeting then dealt with a consideration of where this whole process should begin. Suggestions were made to begin looking into available grants, organizing a community clean up day and revitalizing the park and rink.

Guests were then invited to commit themselves to one particular area of interest and were invited to leave their contact information with organizers, who planned to arrange a second meeting in the near future. Judging by the enthusiasm of the group, Dorothy’s vision of revitalizing Arden is by no means an unrealistic one. She hopes that Arden is in the initial stages of a committed, cooperative, community revitalization process and it will be interesting to see how the plan develops in the future.

 

Photo: Queensborough/Arden Exchange at Kennebec Hall

Friends of Arden Chair, Terry Kennedy, said it best when he stated, “Often visitors to your home have the freshest eyes to determine both its assets and its flaws.”

It was with that in mind that members of the Friends of Arden group entered into the First Impressions Community Exchange (FICE), an economic development exchange program sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA). FICE partners similar communities who are looking for input into reaching their economic development goals.

Arden was partnered with the community of Queensborough, which is located north of Highway 7 just west of Tweed, and on November 3, members of the Queensborough contingent, along with OMAFRA field staff Karen Fisher and Katie Nolan, presented their Arden findings at a well-attended community meeting at the Kennebec hall.

A six-member Queensborough team, led by

Elaine Kapusta and Paula Harding, had made an incognito visit to Arden on September 14. All in all they were impressed by the natural beauty and the quaintness of the village; its public beach and park and waterfront parkette; its extra friendly and very informative postmaster; the impressive artisans' shops (though they were closed on the day the team came); and its basic infrastructure, like the Kennebec hall and its bulletin board listing all of the events that take place there, the Legion, and library. That being said, the group also pointed out a number of areas that they felt could use some attention. They first mentioned the plethora of scattered tree-mounted business signs they passed when they entered the village from Highway 7 and suggested gathering the signs in one central location.

They loved the Arden sign in the village and would have liked to have seen it instead of the mundane one on Highway 7.They found the village's park entrance confusing and suggested more tourist signage to determine the locations of its public spaces. Redoing some of the public facilities like the park benches and picnic tables was suggested, along with sprucing up the public outhouse at the park. They commented on the lack of advertising for festivals and events in the village and also the general lack of information available on the Internet. While they loved the environmental Bucket List displayed at a private home in the village, they could not find any recycling bins nearby and also commented on the dead flowers in the planters at the south end of the village.

As far as business potential they listed a possible cafe, or store to serve visitors and also suggested a tourist information booth. They loved the old stone church which they understood would require a “very creative plan” to utilize to its full advantage.

Many times during the presentation Paula Harding spoke of the potential that the natural beauty of the village has to offer. “You really have it all here, the village is a gem, a gold mine. You have the potential here but we just need to know what is going on and when it's going on.”

Ludwik Kapusta weighed in a few times on the importance of not trying to do everything all at once. “Unity of purpose is the most important thing to have and I would suggest deciding long term what exactly you are trying to achieve here and focus on a few things to get things moving in that direction and use those as building blocks,” he said.

Katie Nolan of OMAFRA, who is working with the Arden group, said “The beauty of this exchange program is that whether you are looking for some quick, achievable solutions to spruce up the community or longer term, deeper economic goals, there is always something that will come out of this exchange.“ She added that the process can also be followed up with other programs that OMAFRA offers, like the Business Retention and Expansion Survey and other community economic analysis and downtown revitalization resources and tools.

“We're here to support communities in this process and help to facilitate any actions that might come out of this to attain your goals,” Nolan said.

Terry Kennedy thanked the Queensborough team and looked forward to addressing the issues raised at the meeting. The Friends of Arden were also looking forward to presenting their findings about their partner village at the second half of the exchange, which was to take place in Queensborough on Tuesday, November 8.

 

Photo: Salamander Conservationist Matt Ellerbeck at the Kennebec hall

Champion of creatures great yet small, Matt Ellerbeck will use any opportunity he can to spread awareness of the fate of salamanders on our planet. On October 27, Ellerbeck, who works as a salamander conservationist, spread the word about the fate of these creatures at the Arden Hallowe’en party at the Kennebec hall. Armed with numerous glass containers housing living examples of a number of colorful and exotic species, Ellerbeck spoke about these creatures, which he says are “in rapid decline with close to half of their species listed as Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and with another 62 additional species listed as near threatened.”

Ellerbeck took time to explain how these secretive creatures, which are all too often disrespected by the general public, survive and how their dwindling numbers are tipping them towards rapid extirpation. Ellerbeck says their fate tends to go unnoticed because few conservation groups are dedicated to their recovery. “Unfortunately virtually no attention is given to salamanders by animal welfare advocates, which allows many forms of cruelty and exploitation to continue,” he said.

Ellerbeck is aiming to make a difference in the fate of salamanders through the recovery and protection of the species and their habitats “for their inherent intrinsic value”. He demonstrated that conviction in the careful and energetic ways he presented his salamanders to the group of children at the Kennebec hall who eagerly craned their necks to get an up close up look at these fascinating creatures. Children, not surprisingly, seem to have no trouble recognizing the unique and inherent beauty that these creatures possess.

Matt is aiming to bring an end to the “cruelty and abuse that these creatures often face” and he strongly objects to all practices, trades and industries that inflict pain and/or suffering on them or that exploit them. Matt believes that the public can do their part in helping to protect these creatures through land stewardship and habitat management. He also does his part by keeping records of observational data of these creatures in the wild. He regularly sends the data to various organizations, which use his records to increase their understanding of salamander populations, habitats and ranges.

On his website Ellerbeck quotes renowned conservationist and wildlife author, Stephen Jay Gould, who wrote, "We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well - for we will not fight to save what we do not love." In making his informed and fascinating presentations to the public at large, Matt Ellerbeck is definitely doing his part in spreading that love.

For more information visit www.savethesalamanders.com

 

Photo: Gray Merriam, vice president of the Friends of the Salmon River at Crooked Creek with John and Angharad Holmes.

Rivers are the life blood of our watersheds and it was with that in mind that the Friends of the Salmon River (FSR) organized a number of events on June 10 in celebration of the Canadian Wildlife Federation's Canadian Rivers Day. The day’s events included multiple kayak/canoe picnic trips along the river and many of the lakes it feeds, as well as two hikes - one up Bear Naked Ridge near Arden, which offered hikers a panoramic view of both the Salmon River and Clare River watersheds, and a second hike starting from where the Salmon begins as a trickle in the woods near Cloyne and proceeding on into the Mazinaw Lake watershed.

For the creative types hoping to capture the river’s beauty there were rendezvous points for painters and photographers at four separate locations on the river's shore. I spoke with Gray Merriam, vice president of the FSR, who said that one aim of the planned events was to get people in closer touch with the land.

A second aim was to instill in visitors the notion that the watershed feeds both area lakes and the Salmon River and that what occurs in it determines the quality of everything downstream from it. “It's very easy to wreck what is downstream by what you do upstream,” Merriam explained when I met up with his group at the Kennebec Lake boat launch near Arden on Sunday. “But unfortunately most of the economic and political power resides downstream on these watersheds and consequently there is far more attention paid to the downstream parts of them. In practical terms if you are going to fix a problem in a system you want to do so as far upstream as you can.”

The Salmon River watershed is roughly 80 km. long and begins on the Precambrian shield about 200 meters south of Mazinaw Lake. It drains south and empties into the Bay of Quinte in Shannonville.

Merriam led the Sunday group whose focus was on the Salmon River’s feeder creeks – the creeks that enter the Salmon upstream from Kennebec Lake at the top end of the watershed. Beginning at the Kennebec Lake boat launch, Merriam and his crew first headed out to a section of Crooked Creek located just off North Road between Arden and Mountain Grove. Crooked Creek is a main feeder of Cox and Kennebec Lakes and the Salmon.

According to Merriam, what is particularly special about this section of Crooked Creek is that five years ago the FSR set up a base station here for Quinte Conservation to carry out bottom fauna surveys.  He explained, “They (Quinte Conservation) wanted a station where there was very little or no human influence on bottom fauna so that they could have a base line comparison for other stations set up all through the rest of their watershed area. Bottom fauna is incredibly sensitive to changing water quality and water flow.” The station has been sampled twice a year for the last five years and is used as a base line for comparison to other samples.

Merriam had good news about the current state of the Salmon River Watershed. “Right now it’s in good shape or above. The watershed has no hot spots or any outstanding problems. The only possibility is that in a few places we could still do some more corrections to what has been done to the shorelines. In most cases people who tend to be excessive neatniks are doing things like mowing their grass right down to the edge of water and things of that sort, which are not good for the shoreline,” he said.

The FSR have been addressing this problem and so far has completed one shoreline improvement project in Tamworth. A second project is currently underway, in which the FSR are handing out seedling trees and shrubs and holding workshops to show people how to improve their shorelines by planting trees and shrubs along it.

One couple, John and Angharad Holmes, who accompanied Merriam on his tour of the Salmon’s feeder creeks, are avid FSR supporters and have a summer property on Hungry Lake. They thought the outing would provide them with more information about the landscape they have come to love.  Anyone who missed the special events can visit the Friends of the Salmon River website at www.friendsofsalmon.ca  to find out more about the Salmon River, its watersheds and upcoming events and workshops.