Purpose of the Plan: To provide for the management of land use in the Comprehensive Planning Area of Temagami in such a way as to achieve the sustainable development of the planning area's natural resources, while at the same time ensuring the sustainability of its ecosystems. The plan reflects decisions announced by the Ontario Government on June 28, 1996. It simply confirms the decisions announced on June 26, 1996, in a formal document, and clarifies that Protected Areas will be regulated as Conservation Reserves as recommended by the Comprehensive Planning Council. The land use zones and permitted uses contained in the plan are consistent with those announced last June. The management direction section of the land use plan specifies the general management strategy that guides the plan, provides a summary of the planning objectives that relate to land use, a summary of the strategies to be used to address a number of specific issues, and the land use zones and management areas.

Identification of the Plan Area: The land use plan encompasses the Temagami Area of MNR North Bay District, and the portions of Brewster, Corley, Donovan, Trethewey and Wallis townships to the north of the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park as identified in Figure 1 of the plan. The plan also contains a land use zone map identifying the land use zones in the Temagami Comprehensive Planning Area. The plan also identifies special land use and resource management prescriptions for two areas north of the planning area's boundary in MNR's Kirkland Lake District - the North Lady Evelyn River headwaters (in Charters and Corkill townships), and the Anvil Lake/Willow Island Creek portion of the Lady Evelyn Lake headwaters (in Banks, Leo, Speight, Van Nostrand and Whitson townships) that will be established by MNR, in consultation with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, and administered by that district.

Problems and Issues: Input was gathered from the public, the Comprehensive Planning Team, other government staff, the Temagami Advisory Council and the Comprehensive Planning Council on the issues that the plan should address. Some of the issues relate only to land use, while others relate principally to resource management. In some cases, issues relate both to land use and resource management. The plan seeks to address the issues that have been identified as primarily relating to land use. Issues relating primarily to resource management with some relation to land use, will be addressed by the resource management plans (e.g. forest, park) which shall follow this plan, and through other government decisions that relate to the implementation of this plan ( see Management Area Descriptions). The plan addresses the following problems and issues: access, cultural heritage, economic development, fisheries, forestry, waste disposal sites, hunting, landscape ecology and natural heritage protection , mining, plan development and implementation, provincial parks, protected areas, public perception of the planning process, recreation, tourism and water management.

Public Input and the Ontario Government Response: Public consultation for this plan was carried out over a seven year period primarily by the Temagami Comprehensive Planning Council (CPC), a citizens' advisory committee which was formed to make recommendations to the provincial government on land use for the Temagami Area. Over 1,400 comments were received during the last year of CPC's planning initiative. In April 1996, CPC submitted to the Ontario Government its report on land use. The report contained 39 recommendations. The province developed the land use plan from its response to CPC's recommendations as announced on June 28, 1996. The plan currently being released simply confirms and formalizes the June 1996 announcement in an approved planning document. The decisons on land use, zones, and permitted uses - which were subject to extensive public consultation- remain unchanged from the June 1996 announcement.

Selected Options/Recommendations: Four land use zones in the Temagami Comprehensive Planning Area have been identified. These four zones, together with provincial parks, form the basis for future land use in the Temagami area. The following summarizes the rationale and purpose of the four land use zones and provincial parks in the area, and lists common planning elements that apply to all zones.

Temagami-area Land Use Zones

Protected Areas. In Protected Areas, no commercial timber harvesting, mining or aggregate extraction will be permitted. Land use will focus on low-intensity, non-consumptive recreation and tourism, and on the protection of significant ecological values, with allowable activities such as fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, canoeing, hiking and cross-country skiing. There are a total of 16 protected areas, of which 7 are currently in regulation as Conservation Reserves. The remaining 9 will be protected in regulation as Conservation Reserves in the near future.

Special Management Areas. In Special Management Areas, access will be carefully planned, and resources will be managed to ensure that significant values are protected. Remote recreation and tourism will continue to be allowed and encouraged. Resource extraction and related development will also be permitted, but will be carefully managed to ensure that the activities are compatible with other significant uses and values in the area. This will be accomplished through access controls and area-of-concern planning done as part of the Forest Management Planning process. Within Special Management Areas, sub-zones have been created to permit access by all-terrain vehicles (ATVs). Some Special Management Areas may allow timber harvesting but not mining, while others may permit mineral exploration but not timber harvesting.

Integrated Management Areas. In Integrated Management Areas, there will be fewer restrictions on public access for recreation and resource management/extraction activities, and both types of activities will be permitted. Resource extraction and related development will be carefully managed in Integrated Management Areas to ensure that the activities are compatible with other significant uses and values within the area.

Developed Areas. Developed Areas contain mainly privately-owned land, including agricultural land, but also include Crown land. Resource extraction and related development will be permitted on Crown land within Developed Areas, but the activities will be carefully managed to ensure that they are compatible with other significant uses and values in the area. Mining activity on privately-owned land is subject to the provisions of the Mining Act, and other relevant legislation.

Provincial Parks

There are seven provincial parks within the Temagami Comprehensive Planning Area - one wilderness class park, four waterway class parks, and two recreation class parks. Wilderness parks offer the highest level of protection of resources and other ecological values, and have more restrictions on access and use. The activities allowed in provincial parks are governed by the Provincial Parks Act, by appropriate provincial park policies established by the Ministry of Natural Resources, and by existing and future management plans developed for each park.

Note:

For further information regarding the area from which future land claim settlement lands may be secured, please refer to the MNR Fact Sheet on this subject.

Implementation Strategy: Land use decisions outlined in this plan are effective as of June 28, 1996.

Modified 3-Oct-97
© Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1997