There’s no peace in Bedrock this summer as North Bay bangs its collective head over a proposed rock quarry.
The showdown at city council Monday is between the Friends of La Vase Portages and the majority of councillors over two different kinds of natural resources.
Paddlers, with Coun. Chris Mayne steering the canoe, are fighting to protect heritage and environmental values.
Voyageurs used the La Vase portage route between Trout Lake and Lake Nipissing during the fur trade more than three centuries ago.
Nipissing First Nation people probably showed them the worst possible path through muddy, mosquito-infested bog as a lark. The huge canoes loaded down with iron trade tools and furs on the return were too heavy for the express portage along the escarpment.
It received Canadian Heritage River Status a few years ago and attracts tourists to the area.
Mayne and crew don’t want Don Fudge and the Bedrock company making any gravel out of the mini-mountain they call Murry’s Lookout.
Anybody hearty enough to take the portage already endures the disturbances created by Miller Paving’s quarry to the south. Adding another decade or two of blasting once the Miller land is flat is beyond their tolerance level.
Portagers are calling for a 200-metre buffer, like the kind designated for resource extraction activities in provincial parks.
City staff originally recommended a 60-metre buffer. They adopted the 120-metre zone suggested by the North Bay-Mattawa Conservation Authority following subsequent provincial consultation.
Staff called it a saw-off to accommodate the needs of both camps.
Council, in its infinite wisdom and penchant for kicking Mayne at every opportunity, is disregarding staff. They support a 60-metre buffer–which includes a 20-metre road allowance already in place.
Coun. Dave Mendicino says Mayne’s call for a 200-metre buffer would basically eliminate access to the aggregate in the area.
The property is only 300 metres wide to start, and there’s a 30-metre buffer protecting the provincially significant Parks Creek wetland to the west.
Roy Summers, avid canoeist and protector of natural assets, is probably correct in saying the issue will eventually be decided by the province.
Ontario is not often accused of planning ahead, but it has stated quite clearly that aggregate resources will be given access as long as it’s managed properly.
On the other side of the coin, natural values need protection from unnecessary development. It takes people like the Friends of La Vase Portages to do it.
I’m in disagreement with all the parties on this one.
The buffer should be 100 metres, the minimum 60 metres, in addition to the 20-metre road allowance (not including it) and another 20 metres for good measure.
That’s about a football field in length. And if the paddlers are wise, they’ll use their strong public support to negotiate a few stipulations–like a month of no activity at the quarry in prime tourist season. The developers should throw in a piece of Murry’s Lookout for future generations.