Why a heritage forest near Beeton represents ‘first chapter in town’s history’

Friend of the forest: Beeton resident Neal Arbic  -Metroland photo

Town donating property to Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust

by Brad Pritchard Alliston Herald

Residents who have watched over Beeton’s heritage forest for decades will continue to play an important role to ensure the property remains protected for generations to come.

Neal Arbic belongs to the group of 40 volunteers who have maintained the walking trails throughout the forest and lobbied council to protect its natural features and archeological sites.

“We call it a heritage forest because it’s the first chapter in our town’s history,” he said. “It’s the first known place where people lived, the First Nations, and when the Loyalists came to found our town, there were no roads leading there, they took single file trails established by the First Nations. They were very much like the single file trails you still find in the heritage forest today, so we consider it like preserving Beeton’s Main Street. It’s not just a forest, it’s part of our heritage.”

Arbic and other residents were instrumental in convincing council to protect the ravine forest.

They became quite concerned after some preliminary discussions took place about three years ago about designating the property as a dog park.

Now that council has signed off on the plan to donate the town-owned property to the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust (ORMLT) through a stewardship agreement, volunteers are looking forward to what comes next.

Arbic credited Ward 1 Coun. Marc Biss for championing their cause.

“I’m honoured that Neal and the ORMLT offered me the opportunity to play a role in the donation of this environmentally and culturally significant forest and wetland,” said Biss.

Moving forward, the volunteers will work with the land trust as members of the Heritage Forest Preservation Society, a nonprofit corporation.

“We’ll be signing a stewardship group agreement with the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust to look after the lands and follow their directives,” he said. “A big reason why the property interested them was that it already had a built-in stewardship group. They couldn’t afford to take the property without it.”

Hundreds of years ago, the property contained a First Nations village of between 300 to 400 people with 30 to 40 longhouses.

The village enjoyed prosperity for some time as a trading route that connected to the Albion Hills Trail.

“They were traders and they found stuff, like a flint, as far away as Pennsylvania, so there was a lot of trading back and forth there,” he said.

The village was abandoned after most of the people were killed during an attack.

“Bodies were left everywhere,” he said. “While there are proper burial sites on the property, there are also scattered remains, so that’s why we always felt this needs to be protected.”

It’s believed the survivors made their way north and joined another nation.

The history of the site isn’t widely known, but information is available at local libraries and there have also been archeological digs in the past.

The first one took place in 1966, and a second, much more elaborate, was done in 1976.

“They discovered a number of things and that’s also what led to the discovery of certain endangered plant species,” he said.

Arbic said the forest couldn’t be in better hands, noting how the land trust will do a baseline study of the property as a starting point.

“They are going to bring in soil specialists, botanists, every type of expert that will go through every acre, examining and taking samples,” he said. “By the end of that, we will know exactly where the archeological sites are, there might be more than one and some that are undiscovered.”