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Ecowrappin'
A tremendous opportunity to create a multiple use natural area
Wednesday, June 4, 2003
I was thinking about the upcoming public meetings to develop a management plan for the Bickford Oak Woods. There is a tremendous opportunity to create a multiple use natural area that can be enjoyed by everyone. What scares me are the people and the agendas they bring with them. I fear people thinking it is all or nothing. Conservation will lose if we divide the conservation movement into opposing factions.Hunters must respect not just the game but the non game species and the vegetation present as well. Naturalists will have to realize that their voyeuristic interactions with nature are neither morally superior nor sustainable by themselves. Scientific investigation into aspects of the ecology will provide valuable information but all other activities and uses cannot cease completely in order to facilitate further study.
There are some basic principles here. Even as large an Bickford Oak Woods is, 762 acres, it is still just a natural island in a sea of human altered landscapes. It will require management in order to sustain and enhance those wildlife values that make it special. There are also the concerns that without diligent management neighbouring lands could be adversely impacted.
The local conservation movement is not large enough, nor strong enough to fragment over the management plan. We will need to come together respecting and supporting each other. There are other lands that can be acquired in the area of Bickford Oak Woods. I can envision the whole area expanded and managed to become the premier wildlife area in Southwestern Ontario. First we have to develop a management plan that satisfies and respects all interests.
With all that rolling through the back of my mind, I flipped through a US outdoor magazine. It had an advertisement sponsored by about 30 hunting organizations commemorating the 100th anniversary of the creation of the US wildlife refuges and the National Parks and National Forests in 1904.
In establishing these areas, Theodore Roosevelt and a few years later Sir Wilfred Laurier in Canada, dispelled the myth of limitless nature resources‚ and gave birth to the ethical model of wildlife conservation and management. After a hundred year history in North America, this model has matured to become the most successful in the world.
If we keep our eyes on where we want to go, the management plan for Bickford Oak Woods should be easy.
Darrell Randell works for Ducks Unlimited Canada as a Conservation Programs Specialist in South West Ontario. Before that he was a Lambton County Pork Producer for 25 years. He served 2 terms on Sombra Township Council, 1994-2000, and is currently a councillor in St Clair Township. He is a past president of the Lambton County Federation of Agriculture. He was a founding member of the Rural Lambton Stewardship Network and served as chairman of that group from 1995-2003. He and Nancy have 3 grown children, each of whom they are extremely proud.
