www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, January 22, 2010 · 10 Region backs off hunting ban Take a Cruise Without Leaving Oakville Even though you're active, winter isn't your best time of the year. This year you can actually enjoy it. At Delmanor Glen Abbey we offer furnished suites with cruise style services, fine dining, seminars, events, activities and professional healthcare staff around the clock. Choose one of the short term or all winter cruisecations you worked hard to achieve. Call us for our extensive list of "shipboard" features and a tour of our Model Suites. By Tim Foran OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville's Premier Retirement Residence (905) 469-3232 www.delmanor.com 1459 Nottinghill Gate (west of Dorval, south of Upper Middle) Ask about our move-in incentives Halton will not consult rural landowners and the farming community living near regionallyowned forests on whether they feel hunting in such areas should be expanded or banned altogether, Regional council decided Wednesday. The decision paves the way for hunting in the public forests, which currently consists of a one-week deer hunt in the fall using shotguns and a longer period with bows and arrows. This will be expanded to include a wild turkey shoot in the spring, which hunters had requested. The Region's forest stewardship advisory committee had previously endorsed the expansion, according to regional staff. Forestry staff will include the turkey hunt allowance when it drafts a new bylaw governing permitted uses in its 14 forest tracts, which are mostly located in the former Township of Nassagaweya in northwest Halton region (halton.ca/forests). The bylaw, which will come forward for final approval from council in the future, will also prohibit snowmobiling and paint- ball games from the forests. By a vote of 19-2, with only Oakville Councillors Allan Elgar and Tom Adams opposing, Regional council Wednesday backed an amendment by Milton regional Councillor Barry Lee to drop a recommendation from its planning and public works committee, put forth by Elgar, to investigate the discontinuation of hunting. Elgar clarified prior to the vote that he was not looking for a ban; rather, his suggestion was simply to consult with the Halton Agricultural Advisory Committee (HAAC) before allowing the turkey hunt. "If that (the turkey hunt) is what they want, that's great," stressed Elgar. However, Elgar's request that Lee accept the consultation with HAAC as a friendly amendment was refused. At the last planning and public works committee, Elgar had suggested consulting HAAC and rural landowners living near the forests to ensure they had no concerns about trespassers or noise levels due to an increase in hunting near their lands. He said he didn't want rural dwellers to feel their communities were being treated as playgrounds by urbanites, a concern that he heard last year. During debate last year on the Region's controversial imposition of a Natural Heritage System land use designation, rural landowners and farmers had expressed concern such an environmental network would encourage trespassing on private property by hikers and thus impinge on a landowners' right to "quiet enjoyment" of their properties, a right acknowledged by the Region as enshrined in common law. However, Lee said he saw no reason to create problems where none currently exist. He said, according to Halton police, there was 100 per cent compliance with regulations during last year's deer hunt. Long-time council members Milton Mayor Gord Krantz, Halton Hills Mayor Rick Bonnette and Oakville Councillor Fred Oliver, also said there was no need to dredge up a debate on hunting in the free forests when there have been no complaints about trespassing during the deer hunts. Both Krantz and Bonnette recalled divisive debates in 1985, the last time banning the deer hunt was broached.