RAPE OF THE NORTH TEMAGAMI

BY BRUCE McMURCHY

Introduction: Temagami, a lake with the longest shoreline in interior Ontario, except for This I hope will be a documentation, Lake Nipigon. The main islands have without prejudice, detailing the ex­ been numbered over the thousand periences and observations of three mark with Bear Island at the hub of the generations of McMurchy’s and direct lake, which was for years a real Hudson relatives, dating back to the mid-thir­ Bay Post. ties. The area covered reaches from just We have four months of freeze-up, north of North Bay, on No. 11 Highway, two months of summer, four months of to north of the Village of Temagami. We flies and twelve months of sheer have held continual permanent and beauty. seasonal residence here for over fifty- five years, pre-dating the present Trans History: Canada Highway. We have seen the evidence of the presences of native people in the area Geography: hundreds of years ago, by personally The area of concern comprises a rela­ observed hieroglyphics on the rocks. tively narrow band of Ontario. This is What is now the Ontario Northland what a northerner calls the true wilder­ Railway was the first means of servic­ ness lands of Eastern Ontario. It’s main ing the area due to the mining in Cobalt feature is the growth of truly tall Red and north thereof. Prior to this the only and White Pine trees. There is a north­ access was north on the Ottawa River ern limit beyond which no hardwood and Lake Timiskaming and overland to trees will survive. This limit lies just the present village of Temagami. north of the Nipissing ridge, immedi­ The first highway known as the Fer­ ately north of the City of North Bay, guson Highway, after the Premier of proper. There is also a northern limit the day, wound its way north from beyond which the Red and White Pine North Bay and brought the first will not survive. This limit is very evi­ tourists and summer residents. dent when one reaches New Liskeard The more adventuresome and per­ and observes the Clay Belt farm lands. haps affluent Americans bought up Beyond this point only the "pulp wood" most of the cottage sites on Lake grow to a large extent, specifically Tamagami and logging was done at will Spruce, Birch, Poplar, Tamarack and throughout the accessible area. Jack Pine. It was at this time, the mid-thirties, The area is, therefore, bounded by that my Uncle started a tourist camp at Lake Timiskaming (the Quebec border) Tilden Lake, 20 miles north of North on the east, the Mattawa River, Lake Bay and later my aunt at Lowell Lake Nipissing and French River on the just south of Temagami. south, the devastation of Sudbury on This introduced me to the area when the west and the Clay Belt on the north. it was reaching its height of overall This is barely 80 miles by 80 miles or prosperity. l/64th the area of Ontario itself. With prosperity came excess. For the Other features of the area were: that next 20 years it was over-fished, over­ it was blessed with an abundance of cut, over trapped, over-hunted and clear fresh lakes, various species of wild over-mined. The only control was the life and a multitude of flora. The ten Ministry of Lands and Forests. Very mineral content throughout the district few from the ministry were ever seen is also well known. Two watersheds north of North Bay, unless it was for a exist; one to the west into Lake Nipiss­ picture beside a trophy catch or kill. ing and one to the east into Lake Timis­ The exceptions were the very few kaming. The total watershed is serviced local game wardens and Wilf Spooner, by this rain forest area. The centre of Minister of Lands and Forests and true this shed is dominated by Lake northerner. The only thing that saved

36 The Ontario Land Surveyor, Fall 1990 RAPE OF THE NORTH: TEMAGAMI cont’d

the area somewhat at that time was the which is too often prominent. Neither without pine trees for at least two inaccessibility due to the wilderness can I accept the hypocrisy of those who generations and without work for fu­ nature of things. Most evident of this want all logging stopped, but line up at ture loggers. period of plunder is the fact that there Milnes Mill in Temagami for the dock, The selection of certain townships are no deer left living north of North deck and panelling pine and spruce for the native people to warden is only Bay, and no fur bearing animals evi­ lumber. We must eventually chose be­ a ruse to divert attention from other dent in and around the lakes adjacent tween the sight of a stand of tall pine areas such as South Rabbit Lake and to the new highway. Also most of the and the beauty of pine furniture. farther north of the Red Squirrel Road. pine were taken where accessible. We Second; there are the loggers and the This treaty is a saver, on face value, to are to believe that the deer all moved related industries. They cannot be the Townships selected, but it leads to south. This is true, for I watched them blamed for trying to make a living from three questions. go on the front fenders of cars, one by what is considered a renewal resource. One, when can it be terminated by one. However, if Milnes Mill, just north of either party? Two, what is to stop war­ It should be said, at this time, that Temagami, is an example, by their dens from logging or contracting to log my relatives were party to and made a large debt, one would wonder at their here at will? Third, can this warden- living off the then plenty. Saw mills and managerial abilities. From my trips to ship extend to excluding other uses of tourist camps abounded. American this mill I was always sure a lucrative the Townships such as camping, canoe­ tourists came because we had some­ retail business could have been added. ing and fishing? thing natural to offer even though the The desire for modern mechanism At least, I am satisfied that if there exchange on the dollar was then in a has lead to over-cutting and over­ is one group that has not been com­ reverse position. This was before our spending. The creation of logging roads pletely infected by our obsessive governments taxed Tourism beyond has made it convenient to reach remote materialism it would be these native competition. areas for the so called sportsman as people. well, while the natural habitat is get­ Select cutting is the minimal hope, Present Problems: ting smaller and smaller. We should be without the gross machinery and the In the untouched area that was learning our lesson from the Copper extension of easy access roads. The logged in the thirties, the pine are just mine already finished and the Sherman maximum hope is a decade of complete now showing themselves above what Iron Mine just recently closed. In fifty moratorium on logging and hunting. has been referred to earlier as the "Pulp years of observation these now seem to Hunting is touted as being a very large Trees". This has taken fifty years of have been short term industries. It is industry. Given time, it will also follow shade growth. Second cut is well under­ said that logging as it is being licensed the route into oblivion, of the Copper way but because of more roads and now, can only last five years. This is a mine, the Sherman mine, the Ontario modern equipment,there are now no short term just to try and sustain a Northland Boat Lines, formerly the T. unaccessible areas. small group, which could otherwise be & N. O. on Lake Temagami, Milnes, the The protected strips around the employed, on a more continuous basis, deer, and soon the moose. lakes and highways are a joke. We can improving portages and camp sites. A summer ago, I took my wife on an now sit on our spruce dock and see The third party to this triangle is the arduous portage out of Rabbit Lake to daylight through the trees protecting Ministry of Natural Resources, noted Rueben Lake. This lake, I could remem­ Highway 11. Highway pollution is also as, formerly the Ministry of Lands and ber from my childhood, as a very affecting these tress from the road side. Forests. The Ministry has gone, within remote deep water lake. We camped on Beyond this narrow band is the strip my lifetime, from being mostly an island with the whole lake all to cutting where only the pulp wood will oblivious to the north, to an over-invol­ ourselves. We went to sleep to the return in this generation. It is really vement. sound of loon calls and woke to the difficult to understand that this is also Staff decisions appear to have been songs of birds and frogs. We then lis­ the Temagami Game Preserve. Is the made straight out of a book or from tened to the sound of chainsaws from 6 plan to force the animals out of these some other jurisdiction that has al­ am to 6 pm. areas into the hunting and trapping ready destroyed it’s forests and wild Not only will the forest be stripped areas so they can be better extin­ life. almost to the shores of this lake, a guished. Here is the true culprit, far from the gravel road will remain, which will now There are three camps, with the na­ scene, with an obvious bias to the afford easy access to the lake with tive people and a few others of us in the wrong industries. whatever equipment can be hauled. middle. Strip cutting leaves us without a If the Ministries of Natural Resour- First, there are the environmen­ forest, without the habitat for wild life, ces-which is a conflict in terms-and of talists, which were made aware of the without the attraction that brings Environment are the human an­ crisis by the Temagami Cottagers As­ tourists and campers, without the tagonist, then the combustion engine sociation and the true north trippers. I protection of a rain forest for the Nipiss- has been the inanimate catalyst of cannot condone the extremist attitude ing and Timiskaming water sheds, doom.

The Ontario Land Surveyor, Fall 1990 37 RAPE OF THE NORTH: TEMAGAMI cont’d

It drives the massive machinery Long ago a wise Department should ces be developing a trout that will sur­ capable of levelling all standing foliage. have designated some lakes as non­ vive in acid waters, instead of putting It creates the oversized roads which are motorized. Other lakes should have the research money into eliminating now available for all motorized high­ been limited to under ten horsepower the problem? It is like building a tall, way and all-terrain vehicles to reach motors and larger lakes to whatever is tall smoke stack in Sudbury to disperse every part of the once virgin forest. It reasonable, short of motorized the fumes and fall out farther away, drives the, faster than required, boats mayhem. like on the Temagami Lakes. which have disturbed the natural in­ In the long run, the only thing that To continue the present path and habitants such as loon nests along the the area will have to offer is how it was policies will lead eventually, to a one shore line. It propels the float planes to in the beginning. Logging, hunting and precious area: all lakes large enough to land on. It can fishing can co-exists in extreme run the helicopter to track the moose moderation. * sans fresh living water, into position to kill, or as the Ministry I am convinced that there are truly * sans tall trees, has created for the hunters and trap­ more people to be marketed, who simp­ * sans indigenous animals, pers, to harvest. ly travel to the area to observe the * sans tourists, Perhaps, we could ask the South forests and the animals, than there are African police how many blacks they that go there to destroy. Then, why SANS EVERYTHING have harvested to date? should the Ministry of Natural Resour­