‘If Manitouliners let the Biosphere have its way we won’t have much good Manitoulin left’
To the Expositor:
I read in the paper ‘MNR says no more development around Lake Manitou.’
I don’t know how MNR thinks they have the jurisdiction over Lake Manitou. Manitou Lake is surrounded by the property owners, not by Crown land. Therefore, they have no right to say anything about development on Lake Manitou.
My dad, uncle and property owners years ago around Lake Manitou demanded a meeting with Fish and Wildlife (called then, now MNR) about them taking too many trout eggs for other lakes and not putting enough fingerlings back. They were told either make an agreement with us or get out of our lake. An agreement was made and it worked well up until now, but now they are not sticking to that agreement and are not planting fingerlings for three or four years sometimes.
Not only are they doing this but they set gill nets two or three years ago and slaughtered a lot of our good fish just to see if they are healthy. All they have to do is get a sample from the anglers who catch fish.
The MNR is robbing our lake by taking pickerel spawn and planting them in other lakes to make heroes of themselves. They are not putting any pickerel back in Lake Manitou.
MNR collects all the licence money from “Manitouliners” and won’t give some of that money to make trails for the deer to get to good feeding areas. I don’t believe in grain feeding but the deer need trails broken to feeding areas.
I pay MNR to shoot a deer on the property I own and have to apply for an antlerless tag to shoot one and I feed them all year. MNR said they don’t own the deer. Ridiculous.
Now they again designate property for deer yards. These areas are not Crown land. Getting back to Lake Manitou, the MNR are saying development will get soil in the lake and harm spawning beds.
MNR are creating a lot more soil in the lake than development.
The water is eroding the shoreline terribly because they keep the lake springtime high in the fall and no basin is left for the runoff in the spring.
This spring is going to be a disaster if they don’t let more water out of the lake soon.
The townships on Manitoulin Island should look after the dams and all other problems the townships have.
If “Manitouliners” sit back and let the Biosphere buy more property and MNR manage private property, we won’t have much of a good Manitoulin any more.
J.D. Hutchinson
Sandfield
