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Firewood ain story it teils WOODS, WATER AND measurt WILDLIFE comple by Mike Singleton - ly becat Federation of Ontario ring of Naturalists season. the larg Backdropped by winter's wet spi chili, there's a romance to ed, titil lazîng before a crackling fire, drougli watching Iogs roar up the '40s. chimney. But, for those black, whoill pause a moment, that crinotinr firewood has another - even forest fi more interesting - story to and ti- tell. -recover. Every piece recounts tales. growth 0f dry summers and wet. 0f tÇee -wa forest fires and insects. Many that a r( recount iightening strikes, or perhapys bitterly coid days when frost attowir burst the tree's very heart. througli Others tell of life's little And the mysteries. 0f special adapta- enidured tions. Or complete, tittle- years,t worid mnicrocosms, with clearniri fascinatîng, predatory beetles water fi and prey, and finely struc- lt's si tured animal comimunities. miany su, Take a lowly piece of elm, growing now in my hand, sawni from of the1 the crumnbting giant 'out deed, ai back'. ln remarkable oftoday id the re, it cati recount its ete fle history, precise- ause it laid down a new )f wood every grow 1ng i.Looking care* y, rge rings recount ig nings. And the wizzen-. tile layers tell, of the ht years in the '20s and The tinmistakable overlain by years of te-like scar recal the 'ires of 1873 and 1922, he tree's struggte to rA sudden spurt of ithat began when the is Il years, suggests neighbouring tree feil - Yin a mîghty storm - ng growth tight h -the, forest canopy. ie sudden spurt, which ithe tree's iast 20 tells of agricultural ng, which freed more fr this elm's growth. sberin.- to realize that mch trees were already ýwhen devetopment province began. In- tconfederation, many ty's stately giants were atready in middle age. 1 feel certain remorse we a tree of such stature dies. Vet, the death of a single, otd rree is not necessarily sad, nor the end of the tree's rote in nature. To the contrary, the periodic death of such in- dividual trees atiows re- juvenation and hetps to main- tain the forests as a pat- chwork quilt of different habitats. That patchwork, in turn, provides the very bais for diversity, and heath, of countless species. .Moreover, as these crumbl- ing behemoths, slowty rot back into eartnen sustenance, they tood provide habitat. For hares and rabbits, and countiess other small mam- mals which take sheiter, feed or reproduce in their hollows. For grouse, thrashers and chickadees - and literaliy dozens of other birds - which use the togs as larders and nesting sites. For the predators, which depend upon these mammats and birds. And for reptiles and salamanders, whose very sur- vivat is based upon the rîch buffet afforded by the creep- îing, seething mass of in- vertebrate ife which gnaws Municipal ta, recreational t The Ministry of Munici- pal Affairs and Housing will conduct discussions during 1985 Io examine munici[pal taxation of recreational trailers occupying campsites on a long-term basis. The announ'cement by Municipal Affairs and Hous- ing Minister Claude Bennett follows a series of prelimin- ary discussions held recentiy to consider if municipalities should be allowed to charge fees for recreatioxial trailers situated in campgrounds on and saws, hunts and flees, al within the iog's steely sheil. Forests, cleariy, are miuch more than short-term tree érops.' Rather, they are vibrant ècosystems, hundreds - or even thousands- of years in the making. They also make the point - to ail who wili listen - that We shold ýbe managing our forests not so, much for us as for our grand- chîildren. The next piece of firewood hias a tale tu tell. a long-te 1This r ply t0 sh campsite or daily said. Under the own trailers payingi taxes be, the time enacted transienl temp ora municip. Howev municip pointed ers of r now doi province trailer ai use il se year. A nurr ties hav such Ioni trailerc quired îc revenues. «Muni( Oroiio Weekly Times, Wednesday, Februar 20, 1985-9 flot concerned with tourists j' moving about the province X atio nf in their trailers, spending a few days or a few weeks at a *i traiter camrpsite,» Bennett t raid ers said. «Therp bas nvrbe any thought of charging erm hasi'S. those people a fee.» eview would not ap- «The main concern muni- horter termn users of cipalities have voîced is with es, such as weekend the long-term residents of y' rentaIs, Bennett trailer campsites, who are using the saine municipal r current legislation, services as cottagers but ers of recreational where it is uncertain thai are exempt from the current taxes on camp- municipal property grounds are commensurate ,cause il was felt at with those on cottages.» the legislation was Bennett said bis ministry that trailers were plans to consuit with varieus it vehicles located representatives of the tour- arily in different ism and campgrounid indus. ýalities. tries during the next year, ver, a number of as well as with a large num- al councils have ber of municipalities. out that many own- The minîstry has no plans ecreational trailers to bring forward legisiation not move about thse on the issue until the matter ,but park their has been discussed fully, t one campsite and Bennett said. everaI months each > «This is a coniplex issue which requires careful ex- riber of municipali- amination and study,» Ben- ve requested tbla n'ett said. «I am confident ig-term residents of that our discussions during campsites be re- the next year wilI result in a i contribute to local solution whicb will be ac- ceptable to Al parties in- icipal counicils are volved with this issue.»