 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
VOLUME 23 NO. 7 September 2004
SSA Surplus Equipment for Tender The Board of Directors of the Sydenham Sportsmen's Association have declared the former fish cleaning trailer used the past few years during the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular as surplus as it has been replaced by a newly refurbished this year. The trailer is for sale "as is, where is" and must be removed by the successful bidder by October 31, 2004. The trailer has dual axles and new tires last year. The frame is in OK condition but the upper walls and roof are in poor shape. An excellent opportunity to use the frame and re-build up from there. The SSA Board of Directors reserves the right to accept or reject the highest or any tender and reserves the right to withdraw this tender request without notice. The trailer may be viewed at the SSA property by contacting Ken Cowtan, SSA Property Manager at 372-2957. Tenders must be submitted to the attention of the SSA Board of Directors, PO Box 264 STN MAIN, Owen Sound ON N4K 5P3 to be received on or before September 13, 2004 and clearly marked on the outside of the sealed envelope as "Trailer Tender". THE PRESIDENT'S CORNER The recently deceased Fred Hunt was an excellent friend to a great many people. We knew him as one of the most forthright, genuine individuals in the SSA. Fred willingly pitched in with many club projects. He was a long-time firearms and hunter instructor. He was always first in line to help with turkey projects, deer feeding, shooting ranges, etc. His last day on this earth was spent working on the new skeet range. Fred thought out of the box -a contrarian approach that forced the rest of us to consider other solutions to difficult problems. Fred was a traditionalist who lived his own bow and arrow, muzzle loading, mountain man philosophy. He was born 200 years too late, and died 200 years too soon. We will plant an oak tree for Fred in the memorial section of the Demonstration Wildlife Management Area. Hail and farewell, old friend. We will miss you. Many of you may be unaware of the time and effort that some of our members have been spending on SSA projects. For example: Bill Beamish and Dan Laxton have been putting forth a stupendous effort, through major difficulties, to give our club its first skeet range. Dan's knees have been so sore that he could hardly walk, and Bill has been too tired to shoot at the last club trap event. Mary Stephenson is a very busy lady with her own job and family. However, she found the time this summer to shepherd the juniors through a major fishing outing and summer campout. Dave Arnold and Dave Hartrick have been constructing items for the renowned Children's Water Festival. In so doing, they have earned our club recognition by virtue of a bronze festival award. Lloyd Jackson, with the able assistance of Bob Payne and Gerry Powers, completed a major upgrade and repair of his magnificent snake rail fence, that adds interest, nostalgia and beauty to the approach to our clubhouse. Murray Smart is the person you see giving routine treasurer's reports at our meetings. Not many of you would know that Murray recently completed a financial report that would have boggled the minds of a carload of chartered accountants. Murray is atop gun in the Grey/Bruce Children's Water Festival, has spearheaded the efforts for the Sydenham Conservation Foundation's acquisition of the Shallow Lake wetland, and is currently working with Ducks Unlimited to facilitate this acquisition. By the time of our next meeting, the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular fishing derby will be history. The effort put forth by all the members who volunteer their time to make the derby successful illustrates professionalism to its highest degree. Their massive, collective effort is astounding, and for this, we owe them a great deal of thanks. Blake Smith., President NATIVE AFFAIRS LAND CLAIMS The Saugeen and Cape Croker bands have stepped up their efforts on their claim to all the Canadian waters of Lake Huron, roughly from Goderich to Collingwood. As has been stated, they would manage what they consider to be their lake and fishery, and access to that fishery would be at their pleasure and user fees. Do not be surprised if activist supreme court judges hand the Indians whatever they want. BRITISH COLUMBIA INDIAN-ONLY FISHERY The British Columbia lower courts had ruled that it was unconstitutional to prohibit non-Indians from fishing in certain public waters that the federal government said was to be for Indian fishing only. This seemed to provide some balance to fisheries based on race. This ruling was recently overturned by the B.C. supreme court. Once again, the right to fish is based on the fisherman's ancestry. Whatever happened to equality under the law for all Canadians, as stated in our Constitution?? CAPE CROKER CAGE CULTURE Rumour has it that the cage culture operation at Cape Croker has been terminated. From unverified information that has been received, it appears that the insurance company will not insure against future losses, and the band council will not put up the dollars. Therefore, end of program. CAPE CROKER/SAUGEEN COMMERCIAL FISHERY Indian commercial fishermen are once again fishing in prohibited waters in Colpoys Bay. Apparently this is (a) because it is their right, and (b) because there is still no new agreement. It is not a major incursion by large boats, but is small boats only, and carried out near shore. The Cape Crocker and Saugeen bands have produced a white paper "Jumping to Conclusions", regarding the stocking of salmon. The two bands are opposed to non-native salmonid stocking, and wish to have this issue resolved. It should be noted that they ask "our neighbours to come to the table, to have full and honest discussions ...". Now, this is a first. In the past, they wished to conduct their business as government to government, excluding public input. The Great Lakes Fisheries Commission is slowly getting around to reviewing the status of chinook, rainbow and browns. The situation is coming to a head. There is need for biological confirmation on the validity of our stocking programs. METIS The Ontario government announced that it has entered into the court-ordered agreement with the Metis group at Sault Ste. Marie. Apparently this agreement will have no direct bearing on other Metis in the province. The agreement applies only to those in the area designated at Sault Ste.Marie. Blake Smith. YAP Newsletter Here we are at the end of another summer. Kids Fishing Day, hiking, summer campout, derby, filming the Angler & Hunter TV show clips were all part of our summer fun. The shooting program will take place as soon as Dan can spare some time for us. September's activities will include salmon egg collecting when possible. HELP! I need some help with the YAP. There are many activities that we could be doing, but I do not have the free time to commit. If several of the parents could help out with different activities it would be greatly appreciated. Please call or email me at mary.stephenson@sympatico.ca. 363-2893 or Sarah at 363-9845. Mary Stephenson Youth Coordinator Fisheries Advisory Committee Welcome back to the start up of our regular meetings. Our big project , the re construction of the ponds on the Weaver property has been completed. This really sounds too simplistic. Any conservation club has to have a number of individuals who realize that if something is to be completed, someone has to take on the task. Thank you to those people who made this possible. We would also like to thank the professional work of the contractor Robert King and the patience of the property owners, Jim and Doreen Weaver. Our fingerlings are looking good with the Brown Trout growing so fast that we may have to expand them to some larger tanks. By now we have had another successful salmon derby and are already planning next year. We are still looking for any members interested in inventorying and reviewing our past fisheries projects. Contact me by phone or at our meetings. Mike Prevost, Chairperson Fisheries Advisory Committee FORESTS & WILDLIFE ADVISORY COMMITTEE TREE CUTTING BY-LAW Grey County is rewriting its tree cutting by-law. I have been asked to sit on the rewrite committee, and will represent our interests as stated in the OFAH pledge. A similar exercise in Bruce County generated a storm of controversy between loggers and those attempting to institute good forestry practices. This go-round with the Grey County by-law should prove interesting, to say the least. SHALLOW LAKE WETLAND The Sydenham Conservation Foundation has assumed the lead in efforts to bring the approximately 600-acre Shallow Lake wetland under a reasonable waterfowl, wetland and fisheries management program. The area in question was mined for marl around the turn of the century, and a fluctuating shallow lake was created. New cement-making processes eliminated the need for extraction of marl, and eventually the sinkholes draining the lake were diked. The resulting lake turned into a major waterfowl production, staging and hunting area, as well as a quite reasonable warm/cool water fishery. Some dirt bike, ATV and mud buggy enthusiasts destroyed the dikes in order to make the area dry up. In drier years, waterfowl, waterfowl hunting and fishing, virtually disappeared. Several groups, .as well as the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Grey/Sauble Conservation Authority and the municipality tried to do something, but ownership was required in order to be able to control the sinkhole outlets. Determining ownership has proved to be a horrendous problem. After 15 years, much very frustrating volunteer effort and great expense, the Sydenham Conservation Foundation has persuaded a judge to award ownership of approximately 300 key acres to the Foundation, under certain specified conditions that include a survey of the land in question. The expenses have been huge, at least for us...approximately $15,000 in legal fees and $35,000 expected for the survey. Ducks Unlimited has been asked to design and implement a flooding program that would stabilize the water regime and provide for a restored marsh. Ducks Unlimited is particularly interested in the area for waterfowl staging, relative to their coastal wetland initiative. Their co-operation, although not positively guaranteed, looks quite promising. If this project goes ahead, past observations indicate that Shallow Lake will, once again, be one of the better waterfowl management/hunting areas in southwestern Ontario. In other news, the MNR has made moves to do away with the hunting of captive, non-native species. This will mostly affect the game farms that allow hunting of red deer and wild boar. This should help prevent the spread of disease to our wild native species. The Ministry is issuing even more tags for deer in areas where high deer populations are causing problems. As well, they plan to increase turkey hunting opportunities by providing an all-day hunt, as opposed to mornings only. Most of us welcome the hunt extension, it shouldn't bother the overall turkey population. We do question whether or not the tom turkey population could be affected by dusk shooting of roosting turkeys. Should the quitting time be restricted to 7:00 p.m ? If you feel this way, write to the Minister of Natural Resources at Queen's Park and request the one-half-hour after sundown closure be changed to a 7:00 p.m. quitting time. The OFAH has already stated its preference for this time change. The club owes a vote of thanks to the Grey/Bruce Stewardship Rangers for their excellent work in the Demonstration Wildlife Management Area, mulching, pruning, clipping, fence repair, etc. Their efforts were very much appreciated. It is our hope that the Ministry will continue this valuable program of assistance that augments the conservation efforts of our already overworked volunteers. Blake Smith, Chair Forests and Wildlife Advisory Committee. MEMBER PROFILE KEN SMITH Ken grew up in the Lake Eugenia area, and has always been an avid hunter and fisherman. He was fortunate to have known the times when the traps at Lake Eugenia regularly produced its famed five-pound brook trout. After 35 years with Bell Telephone, Ken retired and is now an Owen Sound resident. He devotes a good part of every year to the planning, staffing and general management of our public relations booth at the Salmon Spectacular -a big job, and one he does very well.
|
||||||||||
© 2001, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association |
||||||||||