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Better Farming
January 2017
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23
TROUBLE
WITH
TRAILS
would protest the legislation, some
going as far as closing down access to
trail corridors on their land. By early
November 2016, as the winter
snowmobile season approached, trail
organizers continued to struggle to
persuade farmers to sign on to
hosting a trail.
“I used to have 55 (landowner
agreements) in Stoney Keppel,” says
Randy Walker, president of the Stoney
Keppel Riders Snowmobile Club in
Grey County, at that time. “Now I
think I’ve lost half of them.”
When the bill was first introduced,
much of the protest centred on the
mention of property easements. The
Ontario Landowners Association
(OLA) led the charge.
“We found out about (the bill) by
accident,” says Tom Black, president of
the OLA and an eastern Ontario
farmer. A call from a concerned
property owner about Bill 118, the Great
Lakes Shoreline Right of Passage Act,
tipped the association to Bill 100.
The Landowners contend that a
section in the Ontario Trails Act
Find the Source Water Protection Map at ontario.ca/ page/source-protection With support provided by Fuel storage on a farm is vital to operations. But, spills or leaks can impact water sources that supply any property. If your farm has more than 250 litres of fuel storage, and is located in a wellhead protection area or intake protection zone, you may require a plan to mitigate the risk, to upgrade the tanks, or which prohibits the installation of new tanks in limited areas. Risk management officials can advise on suitable best management practices. The Source Water Protection Map allows you to search if your farm is located close to a municipal drinking water well or drinking water intake. Protect drinking water sources from fuel spills and leaksGraham Snyder, who farms cash crops, says he supports providing
trail access. Allowing“one swipe” helps control how a person
will access a property, he says.