New FOW comments to MNRF - Armstrong Forest canoe routes -

NEW!  The FOW is strongly advocating for buffers and protections for Armstrong Forest Canoe routes. These new comments are for the tw0-year forest plan, which is to be followed by a ten-year plan.  We know the MNRF is considering our detailed points. Your Conservation Committee and especially FOW President Vern Fish have spent hours pouring over the proposed road building and harvest plans. 

The proposed roads and harvest are pushing deep into the corners of this forest, which are bounded on three or more sides by Wabakimi and other Provincial Parks.   Read full comments and see photos here! A few key points we made:
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• The Armstrong Forest is blessed with many valuable natural resources one of which is the outstanding web of wilderness water trails. These routes provide paddling access to the surrounding Provincial Parks. Maintaining and promoting these routes could increase tourism opportunities within the Armstrong Forest and bring business and revenue to Armstrong. 

 

• Michell Lake, Fuchsite Lake, Cumaway and D’Alton Lake will go from an isolated wilderness lakes to a bodies of water surrounded by the impact of logging for decades. The roads will also be on the landscape for a very long time. The loss of the “sense of wilderness” is hard to measure on cost/benefit scale but the loss is real.

 

• The FOW continues to recommend that additional thought be given to allowing recreational access to primary roads within the Armstrong Forest. The Trail Lake Road could provide better access to southeast edge of Wabakimi Provincial Park and Crown Lands to the south of the rail line. The Dalton Road could provide access to the south end of Big Lake. This would create paddling access to a web of lakes north and west of the Whitesand Provincial Park. 

 

• The FOW wishes to explore the idea of partnering with the MNRF to coordinate volunteer efforts to maintain documented canoe routes in the Armstrong Forest.