The Alfred Bog

Photo by Betty Campbell

The Ottawa Field-Naturalists' Club

The Alfred Bog

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RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

You may recall the flurry of press coverage in August and September 2000 when there was a lot of peat being taken out of Alfred Bog (but actually outside the boundary established by the Official Plan).

There was good news in January when the first Official Plan for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell became law. It designates the bog as wetland and maps the boundaries. To support the designation, a Wetland Policy prohibits any development within the wetland. This was a courageous move by the County Council and we salute them for it.

Unfortunately, the wetland policy as it applies to certain lands within the wetland has been challenged by a large land owner and a consortium of peat extractors. A Preliminary Hearing was convened by the Municipal Board in L'Orignal on March 30th for the purpose of setting a date for the Hearing itself (8 weeks beginning on October 2nd.) and identifying those who wished to be a "party" with the power to cross examine witnesses or a "participant" with the power to make a statement and defend it but ask no questions. The OFNC was identified as a participant. After years of lobbying municipal authorities to protect the bog, it is great to be on their side.

In view of the legal cost of a long hearing, the lawyers for the two challengers and the United Counties requested mediation in an attempt to settle the matter out of court. The OFNC was granted permission to sit in on the mediation. It is scheduled for June 21, 22 and 23.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE BOG

The Alfred Bog is a little piece of boreal forest, hundreds of miles south of anything like it. Yet, at 4200 hectares, it is the biggest bog of its kind in Southern Ontario, big enough to give refuge to many plants and animals that were stranded as the warming climate pushed the boreal forest northward. A domed peat bog that has been building for 10,000 years, it shelters many plants and animals that are rare or endangered, some of national significance. Examples include the Bog Elfin butterfly, Fletcher's dragonfly, spotted turtle, white fringed orchid, Atlantic sedge and rhodora. In fact the bog has been designated by the Ontario Ministry of Resources as a "Class 1 Wetland" and an "Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (ANSI)".

Early settlers found the bog of little use for farming and an obstacle to building concession and side roads. Nevertheless, drainage around the margins has reduced it to about half its original size.

In recent years pressure to exploit the bog has increased to the point where its integrity as a natural area is threatened. Thirteen agencies representing people who are concerned about the future of the bog as a natural area met in 1985. At that meeting, the Alfred Bog Committee was formed. It was made up of representatives from the Vankleek Hill Nature Society, the South Nation River Conservation Authority, The Ottawa Field-Naturalists's Club, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Nature Conservancy of Canada. In the last few years the Committee has expanded to include all stakeholders in the Bog.

The Alfred Bog Committee is dedicated to preserving the bog and the endangered plants and animals within it for future generations. It promotes use of the bog for research and education. The Committee has been responsible for the acquisition of a substantial block of land in the bog (thanks to the generosity of many concerned citizens), a report on the plants, animals and hydrology of the bog, contacts with other land holders in the bog and, recently, the construction of a boardwalk.

Chairing the Alfred Bog Committee is Frank Pope.

A CHRONOLOGY OF CONSERVATION EFFORTS SINCE 1985

April 1986	The Alfred Bog Committee authorizes a local real estate agent to acquire property.
November 1986	Two hundred acres are acquired. Acquisition, funding/communication and management plans are completed and approved.
December 1987	The Nature Conservancy of Canada is authorized to acquire the Cobi Foods property.
April 1988	The acquisition of the Cobi Foods property and a financing strategy is approved (3800 acres for $725,000).
September 1988	The Minister of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources attends the official announcement at Alfred College of the purchase of the Cobi Foods property.
November 1988	The Alfred Bog Committee authorizes the preparation of a life science inventory and a land owner contact program.
January 1991	A report on the land owner contact is received. Certificates are awarded to land owners pledging to preserve land they own in the bog.
January 1992	The Life Science Inventory by Ted Mosquin is received. The construction of a boardwalk is approved.
March 1993	The Committee approves a statement of management principles. Two hundred acres are added to the protected land.
July 1994	The boardwalk is put in place.
November 1996	The finished Alfred Bog Management Plan is accepted.
November 1997	The Alfred Bog Committee approves in principle and depending on the detail, that the land acquired to date be used to create an Ontario Parks Nature Reserve under the Legacy 2000 program. It also approves a list of jobs to be done when resources become available.
December 1999	The first Official Plan for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell becomes law but local peat extractors appeal those provisions of the Plan that protect the Bog. The Ontario Municipal Board will hear the appeal this year.