Bell Bay Provincial Park Interim Management Statement

Ontario Parks
Central Zone, Huntsville
February, 1998

Approval Statement

I am pleased to approve this Interim Management Statement for Bell Bay Provincial Park. This Natural Environment Provincial Park contains biological features of provincial significance and representative rock types of the Algonquin Batholith. A cliff face supports the southern-most community in Ontario of a relict Arctic community of plants. These plants are a remnant of flora related to the last period of glaciation indicating this community is at least several thousand years old.

This Interim Management Statement will provide direction for the custodial management of Bell Bay Provincial Park until a comprehensive Management Plan is prepared. The Park is operated under the jurisdiction of the superintendent of Bonnechere Provincial Park.

Brian Pfrimmer
Central Zone Manager
Ontario Parks

Management Guidelines

Interim Management Statements identify: park values; guidelines to protect those values; and restrictions on use.

The policies in this Interim Management Statement are consistent with provincial policies for park planning and management, and reaffirm the priority on the protection objective of Bell Bay Provincial Park while having regard for the other three park objectives of heritage appreciation, recreation and tourism.

Land Uses

The Park boundary is delineated by the following plan: Ontario Regulation 259 / 89 Schedule 233. Figure 2 illustrates the approximate boundary of this 404 hectare Park.

There are no existing facilities in the Park. Self guided interpretive facilities may be considered for the Park following management planning and approved site plans.

The extremely sensitive plant community within the Park will not be mentioned in Park information during the interim management period.

There is an unauthorized occupation of park land within the boundaries of Bell Bay Provincial Park. Several small buildings are situated on Lot 5, Concession X, Jones Township. This issue is being addressed and will be dealt with as soon as possible.

Adjoining Land Uses

One Land Use Permit (L.U.P.) allows for the transmission of power to the patented lot on Parissien Lake. Relocation of this powerline will be examined during the park management planning process. Two parcels of land on Parissien Lake are surrounded by a block of Crown land. Access is via several bush roads from Highway 60. A former railbed, Cameron Track, provides access to parts of Lots 123, 124 and 125 Range B South to cottages on Bell Bay. Part of this same railbed crosses Crogen Point through a large rock cut. Other bush roads provide access to the former sawmill site and abandoned farm fields.

Bark Lake is used as a reservoir by Ontario Hydro and is subject to an annual draw-down of over 9 m. There is also a former pegmatite mine on the north shore of Bell Bay.

The disposition of real property or rights to Crown resources will not be permitted in the Park. Existing dispositions will not be expanded.

Recreation Activities

Bell Bay Provincial Park is used by anglers, snowmobilers, day-trippers and some campers. An existing forest access road dissecting the centre of the Park is part of the provincial snowmobile trail system. At present there are no access points maintained in the Park. No access points will be constructed during the interim management period. Existing recreation activities are not managed but will be permitted to continue without expansion until management planning is complete.

Hunting is not permitted in the Park by regulation under the Game and Fish Act (R.R.O 502 O.Reg. 49/95, s.1) and by provincial park policy.

Commercial Activities

Commercial uses are not permitted (e.g. trapping, bait fishing on lakes completely enclosed by the park, mineral resources exploration/ development, fore stry, hydro development, commercial tourism services during interim management period, etc.) within the Park . There is one registered trapline in the area, AN08. Only those commercial traplines operated by Status Indians protected by treaty rights will be permitted. Non- native trapline licenses will be phased out by 2010, or when the trapper retires, whichever is sooner. Once a non-native trapper retires, the line may be transferred to a native trapper, or the line may be surrendered with no transfer taking place. An amendment to existing traplines would restrict trapping along the portion of the line that is situated within park boundaries. The bait fish license on this area will also be phased out.

Aboriginal Interests

The Park is subject to the Golden Lake land claim.

Geological and Biological Features

Initial work on the natural heritage values of the Park was completed in the 1970’s. The earth science features include representation of part of a large intrusive mass known as the Algonquin Batholith (Lumbers, 1980). This same body underlies most of the eastern side of Algonquin Provincial Park. These are Mesoproterozoic intrusive rocks some 1450 to 1420 million years old. Work by Easton (1992) and others of the Ontario Geological Survey indicates this area to be part of a structural area termed the Opeongo Domain of the Algonquin Terrain. Quaternary deposits are confined to the east end of Bell Bay. Parissien Lake is a small kettle lake in shallow outwash deposit. The rugged cliff on Black Cat Hill supports a provincially significant community of relict arctic plants. These include the encrusted saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoon), three-toothed cinquefoil (Potentilla tridentata ), fragrant cliff fern (Dryopteris fragrans) and a grass (Trisetum spicatum) (Simpson, 1979). The base of the cliff supports another species, grape fern (Botrychium simplex) which is rare in the region (Simpson, 1979). Despite the granitic nature of the cliff face, it supports an abundance of the orange lichen Xanthoria. This is due to the presence of calcium rich soil pockets in the faulted and fractured cliff face. Brunton (1992) reports another site immediately to the northeast, outside the Park.

Management in the Park would ideally allow natural processes to continue to shape the ecology of the forest and non forest communities, particularly in those areas of the Park potentially to be recommended for Nature Reserve zone status. The cliff site at Black Cat Hill should not be disturbed and no access to the site should be provided. Other areas of the Park may require management following an approved management plan and site plans. Further inventory would be required to support management.

Natural fires will be suppressed. Fire management through natural or prescribed burning will be considered during the park management plan and fire management planning process.

Cultural Resources

There has been little in assessment of cultural resources: archeological sites, historical use and artifacts, or historical landscapes. This area has seen a variety of land uses in historical times including a rail line to the village of Madawaska and Algonquin Provincial Park, evidence of early drilling and blasting techniques on the line (Crogen Point), past pegmatite mining, depot farming (lumbering era) and logging.

Visitor Services

Visitor services in this location will deal with information and self use interpretation. Information on the area should identify: Park boundary, natural heritage target achievement, past historical use, lack of maintained access points and research objectives.

Research

Research will deal with all aspects of scientific study, inventory or surveys such as studies of vegetation and ecological processes, cultural resource inventories or special studies, and user surveys. All research is to be consistent with provisions of Ontario Parks Research Policy. An approved research application is required to conduct research in provincial parks.

As in the past biological and geological research will be encouraged. Research will be used to develop a data base on the geological and biological features within the Park and related properties.

Comparative studies will be encouraged to understand the features and processes within the Park in the context of other similar areas in Site District 5E-9.

Completion of an earth science theme study for the Central Gneiss Belt, and an up date of the Regional Earth Science Systems Plan would provide a more complete context in order to assess the significance of the Park’s earth science features.

Marketing

A marketing strategy is not a priority for the Park. A marketing strategy may be considered when further information on park values is obtained and access developed.

References

Brunton, D.F. 1991. Life Science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest in Site District 5-10, Parks and Recreation Areas Section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Algonquin Region, Huntsville, 178 p.

COSEWIC, Canadian Species at Risk, April 1997

Easton, R.M. 1992. The Grenville Province and Proterozoic history of Central and Southern Ontario, Geology of Ontario, Ontario Geological Survey, Special Volume 4, Part 2, pp. 714-907.

Lumbers, S.B. 1980. Geology of Renfrew County, Ontario Geological Survey, Open File Report 5282, 118p.

Mihell, J. 1997. Personal Communication.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1992. Ontario Provincial Parks: Planning and Management Policies, 1992 Update, 90 p.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, 1983. Pembroke District Land UseGuidelines, 59 p.

Simpson, H. 1978. Life Science Inventory of the Bell Bay Candidate Perimeter Park , Environmental Planning Series, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources , Algonquin Region.

Simpson, H. 1979. Bell Bay Park Reserve, Life Science Inventory Checklist, Ontario Nature Reserves Program.

Spek, C.M. 1978. Earth Science Inventory of the Bell Bay Candidate Perimeter Park. Environmental Planning Series, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Algonquin Region.