Road to Wiky leads votes for worst in province

by Jim Moodie

MANITOULIN-The road running from Manitowaning to the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve currently tops the list of Ontario's worst roads as determined by votes cast at a website maintained by the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).

Cardwell Street, a curving and bumpy stretch of tarmac that hugs the bottom of Manitowaning Bay, sits ahead of Toronto's Steeles Avenue by over 30 votes for the dubious distinction of being the province's worst strip of pavement.

Most of the roads that cracked, so to speak, the top 20 list, are in the Toronto area, with the Airport Road in Timmins and Highway 17 in Dryden being the only other contenders from the North.

In the rankings of municipalities with the worst records of road maintenance, Toronto leads the poll, with the District of Manitoulin coming fifth, followed by Timmins and the City of Greater Sudbury.

As of the weekend, 149 votes had been placed for Cardwell Street as worst road in the province, compared to 118 for Steeles Avenue, and 78 for Western Road in London.

Comments published at the CAA Worst Roads website by those who cited Cardwell Street as the province's sketchiest thoroughfare range from one-word gripes like 'awful,' 'potholes,' and 'death!' to long paragraphs beginning with lines like, 'Where do I begin?' and, 'The road is one long, continuous pothole.'

Nearly every writer cites the potholes that pock the surface of the road, as well as the imperfect patching jobs that have attempted to cover them up, but mention is also made of the dangerous curves and dicey shoulders.

One commentator notes that her husband bought a new Dodge half-ton truck in October, 2005, and "by December he had to get repairs done on the rear wheel."

Another driver complains that "there are so many covered-up potholes they ought to change the name to 'pothole cemetery'...this road is neither safe nor vehicle friendly. Trust me, I'm a mechanic!"

The frustration is palpable in many submissions. "Cracks, bumps, gigantic holes...I swear my shocks and struts were fine until I moved back to Wiky and had to repeatedly drive through that freakin' road!" writes one exasperated driver. Another writes simply, "It sucks!"

Apart from complaints about driver inconvenience and high vehicle repair bills, many voters also point to the considerable safety hazard of the road. "We don't have to wait for someone to get hurt to realize the road is a problem," writes one concerned citizen.

Cardwell Street is the principle road access to the community of Wikwemikong, but the notoriously bumpy stretch falls within the Township of Assiginack, and many of the comments at the CAA site express impatience with the municipality for not devoting appropriate resources to the maintenance of this well-travelled artery.

One writer notes that the Wikwemikong-owned Rainbow Ridge Golf Course contributes significantly to the tax revenue of the municipality, and that "Wikwemikong is the one who is keeping Manitowaning afloat with their economic activity."

Final results of the CAA Worst Roads rankings will be published during the week of October 23.

Superior decline, St. Clair erosion spell trouble for Lake Huron

by Jim Moodie

LAKE HURON-The level of Lake Superior is presently lower than it's been in 80 years, and that means there won't be much overspill for thirsty Lake Huron.

"Because water is low on both lakes I suspect they will not release additional water," said Mary Muter, chair of the environment committee for the Georgian Bay Association. "It does not bode well for us."

Water can be held back on Superior via the control gates located in the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste. Marie, but Lakes Huron and Michigan "are totally unregulated," noted Ms. Muter, since they lack a control mechanism at their outflow through the St. Clair River.

On September 29, the International Lake Superior Board of Control issued a statement indicating that the outflow for October would be reduced from September's rate of 1,770 cubic metres per second to 1,560 cubic metres per second.

"This past month the water supplies to the Lake Superior basin and the Lakes Michigan-Huron basin were well below their long-term averages for September," the release noted. "Currently, the Lake Superior level is about 36 centimetres below its long-term average beginning-of-October level, and is 14 centimetres below the level recorded a year ago."

Superior usually declines by two centimetres in September, but this year it dropped three times that much during the month. "The last time Lake Superior was this low at this time of year was in October, 1926," the board of control stated.

Huron and Michigan, meanwhile, declined eight centimetres in September, compared to their usual drop of six centimetres. The level of the connected Huron-Michigan system is now "49 centimetres below its long-term beginning-of-October level, and is eight centimetres lower than a year ago," the release indicated.

Ms. Muter noted that the range of fluctuation for Superior is "much narrower" than that of Huron-Michigan, ever since the control gates were built in 1930. "For Superior, the range is .7 of a metre, compared to two metres for Michigan and Huron," she said.

The GBA is greatly concerned about the plummeting level of Lake Huron, and is pushing for action to be taken at the St. Clair River, where erosion and dredging of the shipping channel have accounted for an increased outflow of water.

"We just posted a recent analysis by Baird and Associates (a firm of hydrological engineers engaged by the GBA) that shows that between 2002 and 2005, over 30,000 cubic metres of water were lost through a two-mile stretch of the St. Clair River," said Ms. Muter. "It proves the erosion is ongoing."

Baird and Associates' analysis was based on depth profile data (the technical term is 'bathymetry') that the GBA secured from the US Army Corps of Engineers through a Freedom of Information application.

The data "points to the need to cover those eroding parts of the river with rocks," contended Ms. Muter.

She and her organization are hoping that a five-year study of the upper Great Lakes, recently launched by the International Joint Commission (IJC), will make the Huron outflow a priority, and that remedial measures will be employed before the study is completed.

"The St. Clair part of the study has been front-loaded, with a report expected in two years," noted Ms. Muter. "So it could be addressed before the five years are up, but any recommendation has to go back to both governments (Canada and the US), and they have to agree to put funding in place."

Ms. Muter is cautiously optimistic that the two nations might be galvanized to act upon the issue, but noted that Canada's reluctance to provide its full share of funding for the five-year study doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

Last month the Harper government announced partial funding for the study, but "it's not even enough to really get started," complained Ms. Muter. "The US has approved all of its share for 2006/2007, but Canada has just barely put its foot in. Right now it's only a third of what the Canadian IJC section needs."

Meanwhile, Ms. Muter said she has heard from concerned shoreline dwellers from across Lake Huron, some of whom (on the American side of the lake) have printed buttons reading, "845 million gallons per day diversion in the St. Clair River."

Recently, she learned that "there are islands on the south end of the Bruce Peninsula, on the Lake Huron side, where people are driving out to what used to be islands." And in Nottawasaga Bay, in southern Georgian Bay, "people are now walking across where they used to swim. People are getting pretty concerned."

A similar dip in the level of mighty Lake Superior, which feeds Huron, certainly doesn't help matters, but Ms. Muter pointed out that "even if you left the gates wide open for a month, it would only raise Huron and Michigan by one centimetre."

Other factors influence the levels of the lakes, including climate change and bulk water withdrawals, but Ms. Muter feels that the St. Clair River situation represents the most glaring, and fixable, problem for Lake Huron.

A reduced input from Superior might add to Lake Huron's low-water woes, but in the view of the GBA, it's the water draining out the bottom of the lake that is the bigger problem.

Wind power offers a fresh breath of air

The skyline of Manitoulin Island changed drastically this week, as two spiky, 99-metre turbines were raised at the Schneider Power wind farm near Spring Bay.

It's an occasion that warrants celebration, for however you stand on the structures' appearance-elegant, ugly, a bit freaky-their merits in environmental and economic terms are hard to dispute.

Ours is a society that depends on electricity, as anyone who struggled through the post-microburst blackouts this summer can attest. Yet that very force that downed so many power lines in July can also be harnessed to produce the juice that flows through them, and compared to the more environmentally (and financially, in some cases) costly options that exist, wind seems a win-win.

Power derived from coal-fired generating stations exerts a considerable toll on air quality and human health; hydro projects reconfigure rivers and disrupt ecosystems; nuke stations create permanent radioactive hazards and leave taxpayers on the hook.

Solar is an attractive option, but it has yet to prove feasible on a grand enough scale that it would seriously supplement the supply from these more problematic sources.

Which leaves us with wind, which certainly is a legitimate player on the power generation front. Locally, a number of communities have been exploring the option, with Little Current, M'Chigeeng and Wikwemikong all courting offers from wind companies and sporting so-called Met (meteorological) towers to assess the wind potential.

Wind power isn't perfect. To some, the towers represent an eyesore, and for nearby denizens the sound of the blades can be an annoyance. They're are also known to chop up birds on occasion, including eagles and the rare loggerhead shrike. Plus it won't result in an immediate dip in your Hydro bill.

But let's consider the benefits. Unlike coal, or hydro, or nuclear, wind power doesn't have any appreciable impact on the environment, except in the sense that some pollution is generated during the manufacture and installation of the turbines. Once they're up, they're (barring the odd bird dicing) environmentally benign.

And while they may make a visual dent on the skyline, their footprint is tiny. The Spring Bay turbines measure a mere 20 feet in diameter at the bottom, and with just eight such structures planned for a 400-acre property, that leaves a lot of land that can still be utilized.

Generally speaking, wind farms utilize five percent of the land they occupy, and proponents claim that a whole gamut of agricultural practices, from crop raising to animal grazing, can easily coexist with the towers that spear the ground.

Those who find the structures aesthetically unappealing might ask themselves: would a nuclear power plant (as Blind River presently covets) or power dam (as residents of Lake Kagawong presently resent) or coal-fired plant (fumes from which already contribute to our smog days, even though the nearest one is in the US) be preferable?

We use electricity, and no matter how hard we try to reduce our consumption and install energy-efficient devices in our homes, chances are we will continue to have a near-insatiable appetite for this utility. Given that appetite, it is our obligation to seek the least destructive form of power available.

In terms of economic development, the immediate impact of a wind farm is not that stunning. Compared to a new marina or cultural attraction or manufacturing interest, it would appear almost negligible: apart from the dollars that flow into the pockets of the individuals who sell or lease their land for such purposes, nobody seems to be making a big buck. The owners live elsewhere, and most of the equipment and labour is brought in from afar, too.

Yet some local labour was engaged in the site preparation work, and the crews employed by Schneider Power were obviously staying and eating somewhere, possibly fuelling up their massive trucks as well. And as owners of the property, Schneider will be contributing to the municipal coffers for many years to come.

Meanwhile, the towers have potential as a tourist attraction: a map of the Bruce Peninsula makes prominent note of its Ferndale wind turbine, and judging by the stream of people who stopped to gawk at the Schneider towers as they went up this past week, a compulsion certainly seems to exist to check out and photograph the distinct structures.

That's the bonus. The main thing is that these gangly-/elegant-/weird -looking contraptions will provide a source of green power that doesn't significantly compromise the land and water and air around them.

EDITORIAL

Park fulfills promise with recent additions

A visit to Low Island last Wednesday evening revealed a hive of healthful activity: skateboarders swarmed across the newly completed half-pipe and other curving features of the multi-use facility; soccer players bounded across a bright green patch of turf; dog walkers and other pedestrians strode leisurely among scarlet-leaved sumacs, fragrant cedars and fossil-embedded rocks, following freshly laid paths.

The following evening, the official opening of the skatepark portion of the Nolan Sisson Community Park was held, with dozens of local youth on hand along with parents, town council members, Lions Club representatives, Sisson Fund trustees and members of the Community Services advisory committee which guided the creation of the unique park.

Such individuals have much to be proud of, for this addition to the Low Island landscape, in combination with the creation of a soccer field and walking trails, has made the public green space the envy of the Island and an example that other communities might follow.

A swampy stretch of terrain once dominated by the detritus of defunct sawmills and the chirping of frogs can now be said to have truly fulfilled its promise as a public area for recreation and enjoyment.

The transformation did not happen overnight, and many groups and individuals have contributed over the years to the Low Island cause.

The Lions Club is to be credited for acquiring the land in the first place, purchasing the property in the mid-1960s to set aside as a park. The land later became a municipal responsibility, and various councils that predate the current one have made significant contributions to the improvement and maintenance of the site, establishing, among other things, the swimming beach, the beach volleyball court, and the playground equipment. A Legion-sponsored baseball team, meanwhile, took it upon itself to create the existing ball diamonds, which play host to the popular Haweater tournament each August.

Earlier councils were also instrumental in the creation of the picnic shelter/washroom facility, and the pine-topped berm which deflects wind from the baseball diamonds while providing an increasingly pleasurable corridor in which to have a stroll.

The current incarnation of town council, however, clearly chose to make the enhancement of Low Island a priority, and this group deserves plaudits for following through with its vision for the communal spot.

The soccer field, for which sod was laid this summer, filled a gap left by the temporarily inactive Island soccer league (which was unable to utilize the fields at Manitoulin Secondary this year), but it will continue to play a useful role for years to come, without supplanting the existing league. For this, we can thank the town's Community Services advisory committee, as well as the town itself for coming up with the money to level the earth and purchase sod, not to mention the numerous volunteers who participated in the sod-laying bee.

And the multi-use park, the ice-skating portion of which already proved a big hit last winter, now gives local skateboarding and biking aficionados a bona fide place to ply their passion, without creating a racket outside local businesses and possibly colliding with a car or pedestrian. It's also a neat engineering feature which, even if you don't skateboard yourself, inspires curiosity and interest as you walk, or cycle, or motor, by.

Town council oversaw and supported this development, but it was a $100,000 contribution from the Nolan Sisson fund, disbursed by Little Current United Church trustees, which really made it possible, along with a generous donation of $20,000 from the Little Current Lions Club.

Other initiatives at Low Island, meanwhile, are contributing to the greenery and overall charm of the area, including a tree-planting program by which individuals can purchase and dedicate a tree as a memorial to a loved one.

Communities are judged by many things-the state of their roads, the quality of their schools, the vibrancy of their commercial centres-but civic green space is key, for this is where we, and our visitors, come to relax, engage in recreation, stretch our legs, soak up scenery, swim, sniff the air, and socialize.

Little Current has always had a valuable asset in Low Island, but now it's gotten better, and for that, we should all feel fortunate.

The present edition of municipal council could experience a shakeup in coming weeks, as voters here, as elsewhere across the Island, go to the polls. But whatever the next council looks like, this one, at least in regard to Low Island, deserves to go out on a high.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Northeast Town library park a welcome addition

To the Expositor:

The new park at the library is a wonderful thing!

Having grown up in Little Current, I was no stranger to the teeter-totters, monkey bars and the yellow duck that made up the local park. I have to say I was a little sad to see them being ripped out of the ground. However, change is a good thing and I can't say enough how wonderful it is to see the new equipment in the park. The park is now full of life, not just with children, but with their parents as well. This park has become a great place for our children to play safely, as well as a great place for parents to meet and catch up while they watch  their kids have fun.

There have been rumours of benches for the adults. I think that benches and maybe another garbage can would make this the perfect place for any family with young children. Thank you very much to the Northeast Town and all others involved in this project.

Melanie Cortes and family

Little Current