Haliburton Forest and Wild Life Reserve Ltd
Host contact: Mrosek, Thorsten
Non-timber values in Haliburton Forest
Instilling the values of bioregionalism can be difficult as it involves changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour. The natural place to start is with the children of our society and the author maintains that camps, if based on positive environmental ethics, can play a very strong role in fostering a child's sense of relationship with the earth and community.
The development of such learning through camp experiences is presented in general terms with reference to the aims of camping associations and environmental philosophers. Specifically, these objectives are looked at in more depth with reference to Camp Allsaw and the work of Sam and Marjorie Hambly as they pursued camping focusing on the principles and practices of ecology and conservation. The camp stresses the bioregional principles of community, the development of a sense of place, and the importance of home as the place to make a difference and its program is presented as an example of how camps can play a crucial role in shaping the desired attributes of bioregionalism.
As a focus for exploring feminism and bioregionalism, the paper looks at the Women's Emergency House in Haliburton, a shelter for woman suffering abuse which opened in 1995. Organized and operated by volunteers, the House is portrayed as representing activism as the women of Haliburton worked towards ending violence and in turn, created a more peaceful community.
Introducing the work is a discussion of feminist research and the struggle the author felt in bringing together the components of the researcher/community activist relationship. Violence against women is looked at with specific reference to the issues unique to rural communities such as Haliburton and the founding and functioning of the Haliburton Women's Emergency House, based on the Habitat for Humanity model, is outlined. Newspaper clippings dealing with issues surrounding the project are included in an appendix.
This paper presents an historical overview of the two railway lines operating in the Haliburton area in the late 1880s, the Victoria Railway running from Lindsay to Haliburton, and the Irondale, Bancroft & Ottawa line running from Howland Junction to Bancroft. Beginning with a look at the history and impact of railways in Canada, the history of Haliburton County, and railway construction in general, the author moves to an in-depth account of each line.
Construction information is documented along with details of financing, problems faced, and portraits of each stop along the way. Finally, the impact of each railway on the social and economic lives of the communities and later history is presented. The report concludes with recommendations for future use of the abandoned lines in ways which would continue to impact positively on both social and economic prosperity.
The paper outlines the history of the Dorset Tower from its conception in 1922 through its 1997 season. Beginning with a look at the causes of forest fires and the means of fighting them in the late 19th century and the organization of Ontario into districts to handle these events, the paper moves to a history of the construction of the Dorset Tower network in particular. Personal memories of the Dorset Tower and some of the towermen are included. With the erection of a new tower in 1967, a new age of tourism was begun but when control of the tower was moved to the MNR office in Bracebridge, problems surfaced. Some of these contemporary issues such as vandalism and financing are discussed as well as the work of the community to address and handle them. With the transfer of land to the township in 1997 and plans for the future, a new era was begun for the Tower.
Prefacing a look at the Bobcaygeon Colonization Road and its impact on the opening up of the areas of Haliburton and Minden, the paper presents background on the settlement and colonization of the areas looking at the way both the native population and the settlers considered the land and its use.
Colonization roads were those built during the fifteen years preceding Confederation and intended to be links from the lakefront areas to the interior parts of the province. The paper outlines the progression of settlement as the Bobcaygeon Road was begun in 1855-56 and as it expanded, stressing the social and economic changes that went along with expansion. Finally, the paper looks at Haliburton today focusing on the importance of tourism and the need to protect the natural beauty of the area.
The focus of this paper is the Algonquin Golden Lake First Nation land claim being negotiated with the Ontario and Canadian governments at the time of writing. It sets out to provide information about the land claim based on documents from Golden Lake and the two levels of government. The first section outlines the historical basis for the claim and proposes why negotiations with Golden Lake are necessary. In the second section, the claim itself is examined within the context of ongoing negotiations with the governments of Ontario and Canada. The terms of the claim, the chronology of negotiations, what has been agreed upon to date, and some problems with the process are addressed. Finally, the place of third party interests in, and public opinion about, the process are discussed.
Working from the premise that the culture of a community is made up of people interacting in and with their environment, this paper attempts to uncover the spirit of the Haliburton area through community stories, a combination of oral history and storytelling. The concepts of oral history and storytelling and their validity in shedding light on events is explored leading up to the relating of stories collected by the author in interviews with five long-time residents of Haliburton County. These stories are presented as both informative and entertaining as they reveal life in the past.