A couple of weeks ago the McDonald Creek Rd., off the Mile 38 Rd., was suddenly closed by the MNR for no good reason.
The perfectly good road was suddenly bermed and bridges removed. Over a dozen camps are behind the removed bridges, and outdoors people have been using the road for years with no problems.
The MNR claims public liability, which is nonsense. Just another excuse to arbitrarily restrict our use of public lands.
There’s a good discussion of the issue in OntORA’s Forums – Road Closures. Please read this, and add any opinions or information that you may have.
Comments on this entry are closed.
There are a lot more than a dozen camp owners affect by the road closure and bridge removals. This was an access road for all of the cottage owner in the Desbiens twp area as well. On Dr Hoder’s property in the Desbiens Twp there are 33 cottages that used that road for access. The distance from Sault Ste. Marie to Desbies Twp is roughly the same if you take the Whitman Dam Rd or the McDonald Creek Rd. This Road is a second road available in emergency evacuation to get out of the Desbiens Twp area if problems occur with was outs. The real reason why these bridges had to be removed was because of lack of supervison by the MNR. The loggers continue to grade roads and while doing so when they come to the bridge they end up covered with gravel and no one does or says anything about it. The bridges installed should have lasted another 10 years if they had been properly maintained. Beaver dams and beaver plugging culverts continue to be an issue causing Road wash outs and again MNR falls short on preventative maintenance. A lot of the road wash outs and damage occuring is due the lack of taking care of these roads. MNR leaves it to the local cottagers to try and maintain the roads but there are regulations that deter you from doing it legally. Kind of like the individual that took car of the Bear problem in the Folyet area. He cured the bear issue and MNR hung him out to dry. That was another issue that MNR failed to deal with and someone else took matters into thier hands and ended up in trouble. It’s time for a change in management at the MNR and a time for MNR to start providing customer service to those who use the outdoor resources. I’ll be joining your membership. Keep up the pressure with the TV adds. Thank you