LIMESTONE LAKE AREA MULTI USE

 

Limestone Lake Area – Multiple Uses

By: G.T. Marek, Management Forester

Weekly Report  March 4^th, 1970 

District of Geraldton, Ontario Department of Lands and Forests

Many people from the Nipigon-Red Rock area are familiar with Limestone Lake.  This small spring fed lake is in the centre of an unique 45 square mile territory located a few miles north east of Nipigon, between Jackfish River and Highway 11.  Large grassy meadows on lower land alternate with brushy rolling hills in generally open country. Cedar Mountain – highest point in this 30,000 acres of “God’s Country” – presents an excellent and picturesque view of the Orient Bay rocky cliffs to the north and Kama Bay on Lake Superior to the south.

While the rest of our bush country remained relatively unchanged many changes occurred at Limestone Lake in the past forty years.  Some old timers still remember logging for large white spruce which took place there for many years before the Second World War. It was started by these people that timber cut at the time was the best and biggest in Thunder Bay District. One old lumber jack put it this way, “I was given a strip to cut and I stayed in it and kept cutting for a whole year”.  Then fire swept through the cut-over in the very dry year of 1940, and the area was burned again in 1948.  After these fires the grassy and bushy land lay barren.

In the fall of 1960 the first steps to reforest these very productive sites were undertaken by the Department of Lands and Forests, and a plantation of 600,000 trees was established.  The only access to the area was the old Limestone Lake Road over Cedar Mountain which presented some difficulties but was pressed into use.  After two years of observing the first planting, a second plantation was established in the fall of 1962, and it became obvious at that time that a new man-made forest of white and black spruce could be established without difficulty.  After 11 miles of all-weather road were built during 1963-64 large scale reforestation was undertaken, a permanent camp established, and at this time over 12 million trees have been planted in an area of approximately twenty square miles.   This represents a investment of more than half a million dollars.  The planting, which is still incomplete, was successful and some exceptional growth of spruce can be seen.

Through intensive management of the total area of 15,000 acres, we hope to grow approximately one million cords of wood in the next 50 to 60 years for our industry. (ed. It is now 2018 at this printing…so that time is come.) Of course the establishment and growth of these trees is not our only responsibility.  Consideration must be given to fish, wildlife, recreation, etcetera, and all aspects of multiple use must be made compatible and must be of benefit to all of us.

While composing this, the writer asked his seven year old daughter to write down what she likes to do at Limestone Lake.

Based on the experience of family outings there, I quote: - “What I like to do at Limestone Lake.  I like to see the beaver house and dam.  I like to see the moose run.   I like to pick berries and eat them all.  I like to see the geese fly.  I like to have picnics at the lake.  I like to see the rabbits run too.  I like to see the butterflys fly.  I like to see the deer eat.  I like to see the birds fly over our head.  I would like to go swimming at Limestone Lake”.

Further elaboration on the subject is not needed after a statement of this kind.

One aspect which must be mentioned in conclusion is the still ever present danger of fire.  Fire in the dry grass in Spring is always a danger to the very young plantations.  Therefore, until they grow, choke out and eliminate the grass, special attention must be afforded the area by the Department and extra care must be taken by the public.

D.E. Gage, District Forester.