From March 6, 2001
Original background study April 19, 2006
https://web.archive.org/web/20100704170733/http://www.ontarioparks.com/English/planning_pdf/quee_background.pdf
News item March 14th,2019
From https://www.mymuskokanow.com/87230/queen-elizabeth-ii-park-working-towards-operational-status/
Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial Park is pushing to be made “operational”.
Park Superintendent Jason Dwyer says right now, the park that borders Minden, Gravenhurst, Washago, and Kirkfield is “non-operational.”
That means that he is one of only five staff members taking care of the entire 33,505 hectares of park. Without operational status, Dwyer says that the park staff don’t collect fees, and they do not get the same level of funding.
According to Dwyer, the park is at the “Management Decision Stage” of the planning process. Pam Sayne, a councillor from Minden Hills, says that there is a lot of work left to be done before they become operational, including ongoing conversations about the Williams Treaties.
The treaties themselves created in 1923, they were an agreement between the federal and provincial government and seven different First Nations groups. The crown took over 20,000km of central Ontario in exchange for a cash settlement. More recently, another deal was reached over the treaties in July of 2018.
This is the second time the park has started the planning says, Dwyer. The first attempt was back in 2006 before it stopped, only to restart in 2014.
Trying to emphasize the importance of becoming operational, Dwyer said the park is home to hundreds of species of animal and plants. He also pointed out that the park is used by hundreds, pointing out that people can camp there and do outdoor activities there. Another use of the park according to Dwyer is a corridor for commercial and municipal traffic.
If the park was operational, Dwyer suggested that they would have more staff and funding to address these uses.
Trails closed in Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Park - As many of you have seen, there has been a lot of information going around regarding the QEII park now banning motorized users. We met with the park superintendent in September 2018 regarding the ATV trails in the park, specifically the KATVA trails at the south end. That's when we were advised that the park is now going to become an operational provincial park which means as per legislation motorized vehicles are no longer allowed within the park boundaries. We've been advised that this will be strictly enforced by park staff and we are aware of riders being stopped by the park wardens. We will continue to work with the park superintendent and his staff to try to seek a resolution that might allow us limited access, but until then the park trails are closed to motorized vehicles. The KATVA trails will be removed from the 2019 trail map. Please stay out of the park as trespassing only makes it harder for us to work on a resolution.
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