Stoco Fen Park management statement

Approval statement

February 1, 2016

I am pleased to approve the Stoco Fen Provincial Park Management Statement as the official policy for the management of this protected area. The statement reflects the intent of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Ontario Parks to protect the natural and cultural features of Stoco Fen Provincial Park.

This document outlines the policies and implementation priorities for the park and summarizes the Aboriginal communities and the public and stakeholders involvement that occurred as part of the planning process.

The management statement for Stoco Fen Provincial Park will be used to guide the management of the park over the next 20 years. During that time, the management statement may be reviewed to address changing issues or conditions, and may be amended as the need arises.

I wish to extend my sincere thanks to all those who participated in the planning process.

Yours Truly,
Bruce Bateman
Managing Director, Ontario Parks

Introduction

Stoco Fen Provincial Park is a 203 hectare (ha) nature reserve class park located within the Municipality of Tweed, approximately 6 kilometres (km) east of the Village of Tweed and 35 km north of the City of Belleville, in Hastings County (Figure 1). The park protects the rare fen communities of the much larger Stoco Fen wetland complex, including its rich assortment of plants and animals.

Stoco Fen Provincial Park has been managed, since 1985, by an interim management statement. Recent examination of this document identified the need to replace this existing management direction with updated policy to address current pressures on the park ecosystem such as white cedar succession and human disturbance, and to consider potential pressures such as invasive species. Reducing these pressures will ultimately support the mandate of the Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006 (PPCRA) to maintain and restore ecological integrity.

This management statement provides the long term direction for managing Stoco Fen Provincial Park, including the park’s purpose and vision, permitted uses, zoning and implementation priorities.

Context

Legislation and policy basis for planning and management

Stoco Fen Provincial Park is managed according to the purpose, principles and objectives of the PPCRA and related provincial policies.

The PPCRA has two guiding principles for planning and management:

• Maintaining ecological integrity shall be the first priority and restoring ecological integrity shall be considered.
• Opportunities for consultation shall be provided.

Ecological integrity

Ecological integrity is a concept that addresses three ecosystem attributes – composition, structure and function. This concept is based on the idea that the composition and structure of the protected area should be characteristic for the natural region and that ecosystem functions should proceed normally. Simply stated, ecosystems have integrity when their lands, waters, native species and natural processes are intact.

Enlarge Figure 1 map

Planning context

Other legislation (i.e., Endangered Species Act, 2007 (ESA), Ontario Heritage Act, 2005 (OHA)), policies, initiatives (e.g., climate change, invasive species) and best practices (e.g., adaptive management, landscape level planning) also provide additional direction for protecting Ontario’s biodiversity and contribute to guiding protected area planning and management.

This park management statement has been prepared consistent with relevant legislation and provincial policies. The implementation of projects in this provincial park will comply with the Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves (Class EA-PPCR). This may include further opportunities for consultation, as required.

Aboriginal communities

Stoco Fen Provincial Park is located within the asserted traditional territory of the Williams Treaties First Nations, which includes the Mississaugas (Alderville, Hiawatha, Scugog Island and Curve Lake First Nations) and Chippewas (Beausoleil, Georgina Island and Rama First Nations), and within the Kawartha Nishnawbe asserted traditional territory. Specifically, the park is located within the Crawford Purchase (Treaty with Mississaugas) of 1783. Stoco Fen Provincial Park is also within an area of interest of the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte.

Park classification

Through park classification, Ontario’s provincial parks are organized into broad categories, each of which has particular purposes and characteristics. Stoco Fen Provincial Park is a nature reserve class park.

Nature reserve class parks protect representative ecosystems and provincially significant elements of Ontario’s natural heritage, including distinctive natural habitats and landforms, for their intrinsic value, to support scientific research and to maintain biodiversity. Stoco Fen Provincial Park’s fen wetland, highly uncommon in southern Ontario, supports high species diversity and presents unique research opportunities.

Park values

Protected areas play an important role in representing and conserving the diversity of Ontario’s natural features and ecosystems across the broader landscape. Protected areas include representative examples of life and earth science features and cultural heritage features within ecologically or geologically defined regions. Ontario’s Ecological Land Classification (ELC) system (Crins et. al. 2009) provides the basis for the life science feature assessment, and the geological themes provide the basis for earth science assessment.

Life sciences

Located within Ecodistrict 6E-9 (Crins et. al. 2009), the 500 ha Stoco Fen wetland complex lies within a shallow depression between limestone plateaus at the head of a valley that served as a meltwater channel during early postglacial times. The wetland basin is a known groundwater discharge area. Consisting primarily of cedar swamp, the wetland^{footnote i[i]}complex also includes an open fen with a mosaic of sedge meadows, shrub thickets, marl-bottomed pools and 'islands' of stunted conifers. Supporting a rich assortment of plants and animals, including several provincially and regionally rare species, Stoco Fen is both a Provincially Significant Wetland (Mosquin et. al. 1986) and a provincial life science Area of Natural and Scientific Interest (Lindsay 1986).

Earth sciences

Stoco Fen lies in the Dummer Moraine physiographic region (Chapman and Putnam 1984), where till moraine overlays Ordovician bedrock just south of its contact zone with the Precambrian Shield. To the south of the wetland complex is a 25 to 75-foot high escarpment that surrounds the south and southeast boundaries of Stoco Fen Provincial Park and plays an important role in maintaining the marl fen. Although located outside the park, the escarpment is significant to Stoco Fen for its role in defining the wetland’s watershed boundary (Boundary section).

Cultural resources

There is no evidence of pre-contact Aboriginal use or past human settlement within the park, and current human impacts on the landscape remain minimal.

See Cultural heritage resources section for policy regarding any new resources discovered.

Boundary

The open fen component of the Stoco Fen wetland complex formerly consisted of public lands held partly by the Crown and partly by the local conservation authority. In 1981, these lands were recommended for regulation as a provincial park, so as to best protect the wetland’s most sensitive communities. Following acquisition of an additional 20 ha of private lands within the wetland boundary, Stoco Fen Provincial Park was established in 1985.

In 1998, three 20 ha parcels of adjacent land^{footnote ii[ii]}were acquired for addition to the park by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC) through the NCC—Ontario Parks Legacy 2000 program. A further 39 ha of land^{footnote iii[iii]}was acquired from a private owner in 2011 by NCC, again in partnership with Ontario Parks. These parcels have been added to the park through regulation under the PPCRA. All four park additions are within the wetland boundary and will protect sensitive habitat and important water resources.

The park boundary (Figure 2) is delineated by straight-line limits of parcel lots, with no noticeable landmarks. The park is bisected by East Hungerford Road and a utility corridor (telephone line) that runs along the road. There are no private land holdings within the park boundary. The park is surrounded by privately-owned woodlot and rural agricultural land on limestone bedrock.

Proposed park additions

Three adjacent parcels of land previously owned by Quinte Conservation have been transferred to Ontario Parks for the purpose of addition to Stoco Fen Provincial Park (Figure 2). These lands will be proposed for addition to the park.

Park management within the greater ecosystem

Both the PPCRA, which governs provincial parks, and park management direction pertain only to lands and waters within regulated park boundaries. In this capacity, park values and features will be protected through legislation, park policy, appropriate zoning, managing land use and activities, education and by monitoring ecological impacts.

MNRF is committed to a landscape approach to park planning and management. This approach allows park management to consider the relationship between the park and the broader landscape. At Stoco Fen Provincial Park, the greater ecosystem includes the Stoco Fen wetland basin and watershed as well as the adjacent woodland buffer (Life sciences section).

Understanding the health and hydrological function of the Stoco Fen wetland is a research priority (Research section). In 2011, surface water modelling identified the fen’s groundwater source and delineated the Stoco Fen wetland’s likely watershed^{footnote iv[iv]}, based on both topography and the overall hydrologic connectivity of the greater park ecosystem. Defining the wetland’s precise catchment area may allow MNRF and conservation partners to delineate a surrounding zone where development proposals should be examined closely based on their potential to impact the fen.

The Official Plan of the County of Hastings (office consolidation 2009) directs that new development or site alteration within 120 m of any Provincially Significant Wetland will be assessed to ensure no negative impact on wetland function. Any development activity on adjacent land must therefore consider impacts to the park’s natural heritage features.

Enlarge Figure 2 map

Purpose and vision

The purpose of Stoco Fen Provincial Park is:

To protect and manage the provincially significant Stoco Fen wetland to ensure the perpetuation of its plant, wildlife and hydrological values.

The vision for the park is an area in which native ecosystem functions are free from the detrimental effects of human disturbance.

Objectives

This nature reserve class park has no authorized trails or facilities, and public use is not encouraged in an effort to protect wetland flora and fauna sensitive to trampling. For this reason, no recreation or heritage appreciation objectives are proposed.

Protection

The protection objective for Stoco Fen Provincial Park is:

To maintain the near-pristine characteristics of the provincially significant Stoco Fen wetland.

All park values will be protected, not just significant features. Park management will be directed toward maintaining a healthy biodiversity, thereby also enhancing the achievement of the park’s scientific research objective.

Scientific research

The park’s scientific research objective is:

To encourage greater understanding of southern fen ecology in relation to natural hydrologic processes within the park and its broader landscape.

The results of scientific research and monitoring can be used to help protect and enhance the ecological integrity of the park, by allowing park staff to use the best available scientific information and technology to support planning and management decisions intended to ensure the ecological sustainability of the fen.

Research results will also contribute valuable information on the ecology and hydrology of southern fen communities.

Specific research priorities are described in the Research section.

Zoning and zone management policies

Lands within Stoco Fen Provincial Park are zoned according to their natural and cultural values, as well as their requirement for protection. Permitted activities in each type of zone are derived from the Ontario Provincial Parks: Planning and Management Policies (1992 update).

Nature reserve class parks may include three possible zoning categories: nature reserve, historical and access. Zones differentiate the sensitivity of natural values and the permissible degree of management practices within the park. Only one zoning category, nature reserve, is proposed for Stoco Fen Provincial Park (Figure 2).

Nature reserve zones provide the highest degree of protection to significant earth and life science features. Development in nature reserve zones is limited to trails, necessary signs and temporary facilities for research and management.

Zone NR1 – Fen, Swamp & Woodlands (203 ha)

The entire park is within a single nature reserve zone, NR1.

• The open fen community will receive the most stringent level of protection.
• Upon regulation, all recommended and future park additions will be included in zone NR1.

Park policies

Stoco Fen Provincial Park was established to protect the wetland’s diverse and uncommon flora and fauna. Human visitation of the fen may be prohibited (Operational policies section), to minimize potential habitat disturbance through vegetation trampling and alien and invasive species introduction. The following management policies will focus on protecting and preserving the integrity of the park’s wetland habitats.

This section provides site specific management policies and any associated actions required to effectively manage Stoco Fen Provincial Park in accordance with applicable legislation and provincial policies.

Industrial and commercial uses

• The following industrial and commercial uses are not permitted within Stoco Fen Provincial Park:
  • timber harvest
  • prospecting, staking of mining claims, developing mineral interests and working mines
  • electricity generation
  • extraction of sand, gravel or topsoil
  • other industrial uses
  • commercial trapping and bear management operations

Resource management policies

Land and water management

In 2012, through the boundary regulation process, it was discovered that one of the 20 ha additions previously supported a household waste disposal site. This private landfill has been closed for over 25 years. The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change has no concerns with the site and it is not deemed a liability or a hazard.

• Land and water management will be directed toward sustaining natural ecological processes on the landscape.
• There are currently no water control structures in the park. Water level control structures (e.g., dams or weirs) may be considered as a management tool for slowing or preventing eastern white cedar encroachment (Inventory and monitoring section) into the fen.
• Any waste remaining within the former disposal site may be removed and appropriately disposed of outside the park. Site rehabilitation may be considered subject to available resources.

A travelled road through the fen, now the East Hungerford Road, has been in existence for well over a century (H. Belden & Co. 1878). From physically bisecting the Stoco Fen to channelizing water flow via culverts, the road is presumed to have disrupted the original hydrologic connections within the fen.

• MNRF will work cooperatively with the Municipality of Tweed by sharing hydrological information about the fen and by offering recommendations to ensure that municipal roadwork, including culvert repair and replacement, does not further disrupt the natural hydrology of the fen.

Additions to the Park

Ontario Parks will support, in principle, adding property to the park, provided the addition is anticipated to enhance park values. If suitable lands within, nearby or adjacent to the park become available for addition they will be evaluated with regard to their contribution to park objectives, willing seller/willing buyer and other factors including available funding. Any park addition would require a change to regulation and an amendment to the Crown Land Use Policy Atlas.

Alien and invasive species

Alien species are plants, animals and micro-organisms that have been unintentionally or deliberately introduced by human activity into areas beyond their natural past or present distribution. Invasive species are those alien species whose introduction or spread threatens the environment, the economy and/or society, including human health.

There are currently no known invasive species present in the park. Within the greater park ecosystem, garlic mustard and the non-native subspecies of the common reed Phragmites are known examples of invasive species, and these may pose a threat to park values should they become introduced to the park.

• Alien species will not be deliberately introduced into the park.
• Actions to prevent invasive species introductions will be identified and implemented based on an assessment of risk and feasibility. Such actions may include regular monitoring (Inventory and monitoring section) to enable early detection.
• Where invasive species are discovered in the park, an eradication or control program may be undertaken if feasible and practical.
• Invasive species eradication or control will be undertaken in compliance with any existing best management practices or strategies.

Extirpated native species

Existing populations may be augmented, and extirpated native species may be reintroduced, if biologically feasible and desirable for perpetuating park values.

Insects and disease

• The occurrence of native insects and diseases is recognized as an integral component of the park’s ecology. Native insects and diseases may be allowed to progress naturally.
• If outbreaks of insect and disease species threaten park values or adjoining private lands, the outbreak may be controlled, where feasible, using species-specific controls whenever possible (Alien and invasive species section).
• Where control is undertaken, it will be directed as narrowly as possible to the specific insect or disease, so as to have minimal effects on the surrounding park environment.

Pesticide application and use

• Pesticides may be used for natural resource management projects to control invasive plant species (Alien and invasive species section), to control insects or disease (Insects and disease section), to protect or restore the habitat of native species, or to protect or restore rare ecosystems (e.g., where recommended by best management practice).
• All pesticide use must be in accordance with Ontario Parks and MNRF policy and guidelines, Ontario’s Pesticides Act and regulations, as well as any additional federal or provincial requirements.

Fire management

Stoco Fen Provincial Park is located within the Deciduous Forest region of Ontario. In this region, frequent low-intensity surface fires predominate while higher-intensity, stand-replacing fires occur at much longer intervals (Van Sleeuwen 2006). MNRF recognizes fire as an essential ecosystem process, fundamental to restoring and maintaining the ecological integrity of protected areas. The park’s lowland coniferous forest community, however, is highly resistant to natural fire and is capable of perpetuating in its absence.

Ontario’s Wildland Fire Management Strategy (2014) provides strategic direction for managing wildfire across the province. Stoco Fen Provincial Park is in the Northeast Fire Region where forest fire response and management is the responsibility of MNRF. However, under agreement with MNRF's Haliburton Fire Management Headquarters, the Municipality of Tweed fire department takes responsibility for fire protection in the park.

• Fires will receive a full response to protect human life and property, and other values.

Prescribed burning is the deliberate, planned and knowledgeable application of fire by authorized personnel to a specific land area to accomplish predetermined objectives.

• Resources permitting, prescribed burning may be considered within Stoco Fen Provincial Park to achieve ecological objectives, such as slowing or preventing the encroachment of eastern white cedar into the open fen (Inventory and monitoring section).
• Plans for any prescribed burning will be developed in accordance with MNRF policy in cooperation with MNRF fire management staff and/or the municipal fire department.

Species at risk

• Species at risk and their habitat will be protected in a manner consistent with the ESA and associated regulations, and the PPCRA.
• Actions identified in a recovery strategy, implementation plan, or government response statement may be implemented.

Vegetation and landform management

• Vegetation management will be directed toward promoting the health and diversity of native vegetation communities.
• Where planting or seeding is necessary, use will be made of species native to the park and sources of these species that originate in or near the park.
• Dead or dying trees that are infested with damaging insects or disease may be cut, chipped and removed from the park to reduce or eliminate the spread of infestation.

Cultural heritage resources

Cultural heritage resources will be protected, maintained, used and disposed of in accordance with the protected areas mandate (legislation and policies) and the evaluation process developed by MNRF consistent with MNRF's Technical Guideline for Cultural Heritage Resources (2006) and other relevant cultural heritage documents.

If cultural heritage values are discovered, decisions on activities that may affect them shall be based on appropriate studies and research (including analysis of physical, documentary and oral evidence) aimed at understanding the cultural heritage value, including its level of significance (e.g., local, regional, provincial), the impact of proposed activities on the value, and measures to mitigate these impacts.

Research

MNRF encourages scientific research by qualified individuals contributing to the knowledge of natural and cultural heritage and to environmental management. Proposed research is reviewed to ensure adequate consideration of potential impacts on protected area resources, features and staff.

Research activities require authorization issued under the PPCRA, consistent with relevant policies. Research must meet all requirements under applicable federal and provincial legislation, and may require additional permits or approval (e.g., MNRF Wildlife Scientific Collector authorization or ESA permits).

• Only non-intrusive research activities will be considered within Stoco Fen Provincial Park, with conditions applied to protect the park’s sensitive habitat.
• The following general fields of study are particularly appropriate to Stoco Fen Provincial Park, and may be considered for qualified researchers:
  • succession of the park’s native ecological communities in relation to natural processes
  • species at risk population dynamics
  • effect of climate change on fen communities (Inventory and monitoring section)
  • health and hydrological function of the fen wetland (Park management section within the greater ecosystem)

Inventory and monitoring

Decisions made during planning and management must ensure that ecological integrity within the park is maintained, using the best available information.

• Ontario Parks may conduct inventories and monitoring to obtain additional or required information on management considerations such as fen hydrology and eastern white cedar succession. Such efforts will be undertaken based on established methodologies and best practices.
• Regular monitoring will help identify the early presence of invasive plant, animal and insect species.
• Updated life science inventories, including ELC mapping, are a priority, should funding resources permit.

Successional changes in vegetation composition and abundance, perhaps related to climate change (Research section) or hydrological disturbance from dissecting roadways and culverts, may be resulting in eastern white cedar encroachment into the open fen and a subsequent decrease in shade-intolerant flora due to loss of open fen habitat.

• Eastern white cedar succession will be periodically monitored to help document changes in vegetation communities and the wetland boundary.
• Ontario Parks will support partnerships to accomplish long-term monitoring of the health and hydrological function of the Stoco Fen wetland complex.
• Particular attention will be given to determining the cause of eastern white cedar succession; following which appropriate action may be taken to prevent further encroachment.
• Management action will be considered if eastern white cedar succession is found to be the result of human disturbance.
• As much as possible, natural processes will be left to continue unless a Government Response Statement for a species at risk affected by eastern white cedar succession commits otherwise.

Operational policies

As a nature reserve class park, Stoco Fen Provincial Park supports Ontario Parks' protection mandate. Stoco Fen Provincial Park is currently designated as non-operating. Non-operating parks typically provide minimal to no facilities and services. Any decision to change the status of the park from non-operating to operating is subject to internal business case approval which may address the following: visitation and use, analysis of revenue and expenditures, and infrastructure needs. Changes to the non-operating status of this provincial park may be made by MNRF without the provision of external involvement.

• Visitation of Stoco Fen Provincial Park is discouraged so as to avoid human disturbance of the park’s sensitive features.
• Signage may be posted to prohibit public entry into the park, should this be deemed necessary to support the maintenance of ecological integrity.
• Except where necessary to prohibit access to the park, signage will not be used to identify the park boundary.
• Ontario Parks' staff and other public agencies may use any vehicle to the extent necessary for emergency search and rescue operations only, subject to approval from the park superintendent.
• Public information regarding the park will be limited to existing literature on the Stoco Fen Provincially Significant Wetland, available at local MNRF offices and from other sources, and any additional literature required to encourage the protection of park values (Marketing and communications policies section).
• Ontario Parks may consider special requests by naturalist groups or conservation organizations to lead field visits into less sensitive areas of the park.

Partnerships

Partnerships will be essential to achieving the park’s protection and scientific research objectives.

• Ontario Parks may explore and pursue opportunities for new or continuing partnerships involving other agencies and groups, through formal and informal partnership agreements.
• Partners may represent the local community, local and provincial interests or the private sector.
• Ontario Parks will explore the possibility of a partnership with Quinte Conservation to further increase the understanding of Stoco Fen wetland hydrology and its role within the greater park ecosystem.

Recreation management policies

As a nature reserve class park established to protect provincially significant and sensitive habitats, recreation and visitation of Stoco Fen Provincial Park are not encouraged. There are no existing recreational facilities or authorized trails in the park.

• Should entry to the park be prohibited, visitation by naturalist groups, private individuals and other organizations – including MNRF staff outside Ontario Parks – would require permission of the park superintendent, with input from the Ontario Parks Southeast Zone Ecologist, and advance notice to park staff.
• Wildlife viewing and nature appreciation may occur from roadside locations.
• The following activities are not permitted within the park:
  • geocaching, including both physical and virtual geocaches, and orienteering
  • pedestrian travel, including hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing
  • motorized vehicle travel (including all-terrain vehicle and snowmobile)
  • mountain biking
  • hunting (by regulation under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1997)
  • horseback riding
  • overnight camping
  • aircraft landing

Activities which are not specifically addressed in this management statement may be considered. New activities must be reviewed to determine if they are consistent with legislation, regulations and policies. An adjustment to the management statement may be required.

Marketing and communications policies

• Stoco Fen Provincial Park will be given a minimal profile in Ontario Parks communications.
• A modest brochure and information package may be prepared to further aid in responding to public inquiries if it is determined that this will further the park’s protection objective.
• Ontario Parks will request prior approval for any text required for Stoco Fen Provincial Park promotional materials prepared by partners. Such materials should adhere to the policy direction outlined in this management statement.

Development policies

As a nature reserve class park, only an absolute minimum of development will be considered within Stoco Fen Provincial Park.

• An existing trail originates along an unopened road allowance within the park boundary and then bisects the southeast corner of the park, providing vehicular access to an adjacent, landlocked property formally owned by Quinte Conservation. This trail will be gated to limit access and no new trails for vehicular travel will be developed; these conservation authority lands have been acquired for addition to the park (Proposed park additions section), and this trail will be decommissioned.
• Fencing along the East Hungerford Road will be repaired and maintained, and possibly enhanced to prohibit public entry into the open fen.

Park operations and resource management will be contingent upon funding availability and unforeseeable changes in priorities or policy.

Implementation priorities

Resource management at Stoco Fen Provincial Park will be contingent upon funding availability and unforeseeable changes in priorities or policy, and will be undertaken in accordance with the requirements of the Class EA-PPCR, ESA, OHA and other applicable legislation. Park management and development proposals will be phased in as follows:

• Propose addition of land acquired from Quinte Conservation to the park through regulation under the PPCRA (Proposed park additions section).
• Maintain and possibly enhance the existing fencing along the park boundary at East Hungerford Road (Development policies section).
• Gate the existing trail through the park to limit access (Development policies section); decommission the trail.

Statement examination and adjustment

This management statement will be examined in accordance with the provisions of the PPCRA to determine whether the management direction is still relevant, effective and current, or if an adjustment is required. In circumstances where this statement is not providing sufficient direction, it can be examined prior to the next scheduled examination.

External requests for adjustments to address specific concerns may be considered. Ontario Parks can provide further guidance to external parties on the process for requesting an adjustment to this statement and whether specific requests can/will be considered.

References

Chapman, L.J. and D.F. Putnam. 1984. The Physiography of Southern Ontario, 3^rd Edition. Ontario Geological Survey Special Volume 2. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 270 pp.

County of Hastings. 2002. Official Plan of the County of Hastings, Office Consolidation: February 2009. Planning Department, Belleville. 152 pp. + appendices + schedules.

Crins, W.J. 2002. The Ecozones, Ecoregions, and Ecodistricts of Ontario. [Map] Prepared for the Ecological Land Classification Working Group, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario.

Crins, W.J., P.A. Gray, P.W.C. Uhlig and M.C. Wester. 2009. The Ecosystems of Ontario, Part 1: Ecozones and Ecoregions. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Peterborough, Ontario, Inventory, Monitoring and Assessment, SIB TER IMA TR-01. 71 pp.

Endangered Species Act, 2007. Available at: /laws/statute/07e06

H. Belden & Company. 1878. Illustrated Historical Atlas of the Counties of Hastings and Prince Edward, Ontario. Toronto.

Lindsay, K.M. 1986. Life Science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest in Site District 6-9: A Review and Assessment of Significant Natural Areas in Site District 6-9. Parks and Recreational Areas section, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Open File Ecological Report 8601. 72 pp. + folded map.

Mosquin, T., J. Wilson and A. Mosquin. 1986. Wetland Data Record and Evaluation – Stoco Fen. 2^nd Edition. June – August, 1986. Mosquin Bio Information. Manuscript. 11 pp. + map + 1 pg. supplement.

Ontario Heritage Act, 2005. Available at: /laws/statute/90o18

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 1992 update. Ontario Provincial Parks: Planning and Management Policies. Ontario Parks. 90 pp. + appendices.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2005. A Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Toronto, ON. 47 pp. + appendices.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2006. A Technical Guideline for Cultural Heritage Resources for Projects Planned Under the Class Environmental Assessment for MNR Resource Stewardship and Facility Development Projects and the Class Environmental Assessment for Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2009. Ontario Protected Areas Planning Manual. Peterborough. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. 50 pp.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 2014. Ontario Protected Areas Planning Manual: 2014 Edition. Peterborough. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. 33pp.

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. 2014. Wildland Fire Management Strategy. Toronto: Queen’s Printer for Ontario.

Provincial Parks and Conservation Reserves Act, 2006. Available at /laws/statute/06p12

Van Sleeuwen, M. 2006. Natural Fire Regimes in Ontario. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 130 pp. + appendices.

Appendix: Summary of involvement

Summary and Results of Aboriginal Involvement

Aboriginal involvement is a very important part of park management planning. There were opportunities for local Aboriginal community involvement throughout the planning process. Local First Nation and Aboriginal communities were provided with an opportunity to comment on the final draft preliminary management statement, including the Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte and Williams Treaties First Nations Mississauga communities.

Hard copy Invitation to Comment notices and covering letters, were sent inviting review and comment on the proposed management statement. The letter also expressed Ontario Parks' willingness to meet with the communities to provide an opportunity to ask questions about the planning process and to offer information about the park and management direction. No comments or concerns were received.

Summary and Results of Public Consultation

Public consultation is a very important part of the Stoco Fen Provincial Park management planning process. Ontario Parks was committed to consultation with government agencies, other ministries, interest groups and the public throughout this management planning process. Consultation methods included: direct mailings, public postings and policy proposal notices on the Environmental Registry.

Public consultation opportunities were provided at the preliminary management stage of the management planning process, as outlined below. Responses received during the management planning process were considered when developing the final management statement. Each stage of planning included an Environmental Registry posting and mail out, with information and materials available on the Ontario Parks or Ontario.ca website.

• Stage 1 – Preliminary Management Statement: On October 31, 2013, the preliminary management statement for Stoco Fen Provincial Park was released through a policy proposal posting on the Environmental Registry of the Environmental Bill of Rights. A background information file was also available for review. Invitations to participate were mailed to persons and organizations on the park planning mandatory contact list, adjacent landowners, stakeholders and interested individuals. A 46-day public consultation period followed, during which one written response was received.

• Stage 2 – Public release of the approved management statement for Stoco Fen Provincial Park.

Minor wording and format changes were made to address current document standards. A comment received during the consultation period resulted in an update to the cultural heritage resources section of the management statement to reflect current standards and guidelines.

© 2016, Queen’s Printer for Ontario
Printed in Ontario, Canada

Additional copies of this publication are available from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry from:
www.ontario.ca/page/provincial-park-management-direction
or
Bon Echo Provincial Park
R.R. 1
Cloyne, Ontario
K0H 1K0
Tel: 613-336-2228

62822 (Print)
62823 (PDF)
ISBN 978-1-4606-3652-7 (Print)
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