Coalition collecting names to help save Springwater Provincial Park

By Cheryl Browne, Barrie Examiner January 13 2013

SPRINGWATER TWP. — Joan Hamilton will always cherish the memory of walking her dog ‘Bear’ at Springwater Provincial Park, just north of Barrie.

Her family pet recently passed away, and she knows that may make her a little sentimental about the park.

But signing the petition at the Barrie Farmers’ Market at the Springwater Park Citizens’ Coalition booth Saturday, Hamilton said she’s frustrated by the disruptions at both Sunnidale and Springwater parks.

“Springwater Park is so beautiful, it’s used by everyone. It’s so good for children and families,” said Hamilton, who has lived in the area for 25 years.

“This is such a beautiful city, but I’ve seen one beautiful piece of property after another destroyed. Why can’t we hang on to our heritage?”

Derek Cherun, who was helping at the coalition booth, said he’d received between 400 and 500 signatures on the petition at the busy market Saturday.

Handing out lawn signs that read ‘Paws off our Springwater Park’, Cherun also handed out lapel pins and information about the park and its history in Springwater, five minutes north of Barrie.

Around for more than 107 years, the 193-hectare park is home to 29 orphaned animals, including a black bear, timber wolf, two foxes; one red, one silver, two racoons; one is albino, two wild turkeys, a wild turkey vulture, a great horned owl, a peregrine falcon a rough legged hawk, a Trumpeter Swan, two mute swans, three Canadian geese, four white tailed deer, a bobcat, two lynx, two Bald Eagles and two skunks.

In 2012, the Ministry of Natural Resources announced its decision to restructure Springwater and move the wildlife to other locations. They said it costs about $59,000 each year to provide food, shelter and medical care and staffing at the park.

A meeting between the MNR, Springwater Township and members of Simcoe County’s council last week discussed options to keep the park open.

However, Les Stewart of the coalition, said he disagrees with shipping the animals out to other facilities.

“There are other options, there are definitely other options,” Stewart said at the farmers’ market.

Cherun, his wife, Karen, and their two children, Leeann and Adam, were throwing a stick for their dog Molly in the unseasonably warm afternoon sunlight Saturday.

Although the Cheruns said they buy a provincial park day-pass each year that allows them to enter all parks from April to November, they had noticed the payment counter at Springwater was closed, and the machine used for payment is out of order.

It hasn’t been function properly for three years, according to an AWARE Simcoe November letter to the county.

“There were two cars ahead of us, so that’s three cars that would have paid to come in here,” Karen Cherun said. “At $14 a car, that’s $42 they lost – in a matter of minutes.”

Tall stately trees mark the unpaved roads that meander through the park, with hiking and cross-country trails marked off from cars.

Plaques stating Red Pines planted in 1922 and White Pines planted in 1924 remind visitors how long the park has been maintained by staff and cared for by visitors.

The park is also home to the ‘Boys of Vespra’ cenotaph which remembers the young men who died in both World Wars.

To find out more about Springwater Park, coalition representatives will be back at the farmers’ market at city hall on Jan. 19 and 26.

Or visit the Save Springwater Park group on Facebook.