The mystery of the missing parking spots

Recent changes to the way highways are plowed have made it harder to reach the Algoma wilderness, charges the president of a group representing local trappers.

Robin Horwath said he noticed mid-February that snow plows on Highway 129, north of Thessalon, were no longer clearing the ‘push outs’ or small parking spaces that trappers, fishermen and other outdoors people have come to rely on in recent decades to park their vehicles while they access nearby lakes and trails.

“We’re talking about thousands of fisherman and trappers, snowmobilers - it’s not just a handful of people this is going to affect,” said Horwath, president of the Blind River Trappers Council. “The biggest issue is nobody has notified the public this decision has been made on our highways.”

Horwath said he took the issue to Transfield Services, the contractor responsible for that route, and was told it is a contractual issue with the province.

Asked about the change, the Ministry of Transportation says plowing of provincial highways “is continuing as it always has,” and Transfield is contracted to maintain ‘push-outs’ that are used for winter parking.

“As an example, there are multiple push outs maintained along Highway 556 (Ranger Lake Road) that will continue to be plowed until such time as snow storage becomes a problem,” said Carole Paiement, an MTO spokesperson, in an email to SooToday.

However, Paiement points out in her email that some areas are not included in the contract - forestry roads, side roads, boat launches and private property - “because they are off the provincial highway right of way and not under the care and control of MTO.”

“Where widened portions of the shoulder of the highway exist, these are considered push outs and are cleared and plowed to accommodate winter parking as part of our Area Maintenance Contract,” Paiement writes.

But Horwath said he knows that many such areas, including push outs along Highway 129 at Peshu Lake, Black Creek Road and Wakamata Lake, had been maintained until very recently.

“They were being done up to the second week of February,” said Horwath.

Horwath said the Blind River Trappers Council has written to Transportation Minister Steven Del Duca and copied provincial members of parliament for the area - David Orazietti in the Sault, and Michael Mantha for Algoma-Manitoulin.

Similar letters have gone out from the Ontario Fur Manager Federation, of which Horwath is general manager. 

He said he has received a number of calls about the issue, including one from a Huntsville man who has had a trapline in the Chapleau area for 30 years.

“He drove up to stay for two weeks to trap and fish in his cabin and he’s not able to park off the highway so he ended up going back home,” said Horwath.