Backus Woods
is a forest of hundreds
of acres north of Lake Erie in Norfolk County, Ontario. It’s part of the Backhouse Mill and
homestead, established in 1797 by John C. Backhouse. In a past generation, many of the family
members changed their name from Backhouse to Backus. (Who knows why?) Backus Woods is the best remnant of an
extreme southern Canadian forest; the jewels of these woods are the groves of Tulip
Trees that tower over the forest canopy.
Decades ago,
I had a central role in the saving of the old-growth character of these woods,
and I helped to write a management plan designed to be protective of
biodiversity rather than the promotion of the optimal production of logs.
A narrow sand road has always twisted
north-south through the forest, providing access for the Backhouse family’s
horse-drawn equipment. This access has
until lately allowed cars to drift along in the woods under the trees---access
for anyone: even those of limited mobility or stranger’s short-of-time. We had signs erected that disallowed unlicensed
vehicles in the hope that wheel-spinning off-roaders would be discouraged from
going there. I think it worked.
Often, I’ve
taken nature tourists in there on low-speed car safaris, and that sometimes
included people who had only an hour to spare.
I think that in that hour---in those times---I’ve created life-times of
nature appreciation through the memories.
These were quiet times: I have never met another car in the woods--- and
moreover, I’ve never seen damaging tracks.
The woods
now have different management plans. It
is now owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and the NCC has its special
rules. Brightly-painted gates bar the
roads (open, quaintly, only on Mothers’ Day). And in a second move, a deal has been made
with the county to close off even the central, connecting municipal road,
making most of the woods even more out-of-reach, and to many, simply
off-limits.
From now on,
many nature-lovers will never see that magnificent forest interior. Mother Nature’s interests have not been hurt,
but neither served, either. She’ll never
notice the difference. Ross
Bateman
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