Property Owners at Odds with MNR Over Rare Bug

The owners of the Scone Dam in Ontario, Canada, say they've been unfairly stuck with the $200,000 cost of restoration and protecting an endangered beetle, and they're demanding provincial government compensation.

The Scone Dam, near Chesley, is one of the oldest hydro electric generating facilities in Canada. The dam was founded in 1850 and began generating power in 1890. It continues to generate power today at a maximum rate of 70 kilowatts.

The dam is also home to Hungerford's crawling water beetle, which is classified as rare in Canada and endangered in America. Under new Ministry of Natural Resources water management guidelines, owners of hydro facilities must ensure the safety of any protected or endangered wildlife.

That effectively puts Dave Dansereau and Tim Green, owners of the Scone Dam, in the conversation business - something about which they're not happy.

"To me, the protection of an endangered species is the responsibility of the government," Dansereau said. "I don't feel that private land owners should be saddled with the responsibility and the expense, especially when there are so many opportunities for an easier resolution."

The owners estimate the combined expense of restoring and maintaining the dam, as well as the habitat needed in order for the beetle to thrive, is $200,000.

The Ministry was unwilling to provide anyone who could speak directly on the matter, but responded with a written statement. The letter stated "...a Water Management Plan is an enforceable legal document that all hydro electric dam owners are required to sign and adhere to."

Dansereau and Green say they would like to resolve the issue in a fair and amicable way. "We're only asking them to deal with us in a fair and honest way." said Dansereau.

The owners have been at odds with the Ministry before. In August of 2005 a ministry representative attempted to have Mr. Green arrested for adjusting the level of the dam. A conservation officer was dispatched, but decided not to charge Green with "performing work without a permit" as the Ministry had requested. Later, the Ministry reversed its position and acknowledged that a permit was not necessary for performing such routine daily maintenance.

The owners have offered to sever the property and sell the dam portion to the Ministry, or sell the water management rights to the MNR, offers which the Ministry has so far turned down. The pair has also tried to get an official Natural Heritage Land status through the Ontario Heritage Trust. Dave Dansereau says of the application process "There are six qualifications that a property needs to meet in order to get status with the Heritage Trust. The property meets all of those qualifications, but we are still being denied status because of the MNR's lack of co-operation."

In the Meantime the Ontario Heritage Trust says the Dam is historic, but has declined to grant the property historic status "the Scone Mill possesses historical value for its association with early mill activity...and for the development of hydro-electric power". The report issued by OHT director Beth Hanna went on to state that the Trust would not grant the property special status because it hadn't been preserved in a manner that represented the original appearance when the facility was first built in the 19th century.

The owners are already responsible for the day-to-day maintenance of the dam, which includes monitoring the water levels and adjusting the height of the dam accordingly. Scone is a small rural community of approximately 100 people.

Local residents like Grant Turner feel that the dam is important because of the mill pond that has existed for over 150 years that serves as a habitat for many wildlife species. Turner and his family members worked for various owners of the dam for over sixty years. "It definitely should be preserved. That dam is an asset to the community and has been very important to the families living around here for a very long time." said Turner. "I know quite a lot of us in the community would get together and help with the restoration if the government was there to help. I feel that's reasonable." Turner was a member of the town's emergency team that maintained the dam for decades, and a part of the team that helped keep the dam from breaking during Hurricane Hazel in 1954.

The owners say the dam is important to the water flow and users of the land both up and down stream. Tim Green says that daily maintenance is especially important in the spring in order to prevent flooding of property and basements on neighbouring land lots. "It's a very delicate balance. We have to keep users of the land on both ends of the dam happy, while still maintaining the proper levels for the wildlife in the mill pond." said Green.

The response issued by the MNR's Communications Department also stated, regarding the beetle: "... The beetle is not listed as endangered, but it is rare."

Although the Ministry has not recognized the beetle as endangered in Ontario, information on the MNR's own website ranks Hungerford's globally and provincially as "G1" and "S1". These are the rarest possible rankings for any living species in the world and the province of Ontario. Several sources quoted on the page also refer to the beetle as being endangered. The info for Hungerford's on MNR's website can be found at : http://nhic.mnr.gov.on.ca/MNR/nhic/elements/el_report.cfm?elid=180823#RANK

American habitats where Hungerford's can be found have approximately three times the number found in Scone, and the species has been recognized as endangered there.

Dr. Rob Roughly, the University of Manitoba Entomology Professor, says the government should do more to protect the beetle. "To me these habitats are quite pristine and I would like to see them protected. I consider our treatment of Hungerford's to be a flagship for Canadian aquatic habitats in terms of preservation and conservation."

Roughly was the first person to discover the beetle in Canada, back in 1987.

"Canada is one of the only countries that have conservancy programs in place that have yet to adequately protect aquatic species with the same importance given to fish, birds and other wildlife" Roughley said.

Identifying characteristics of the beetle in question are that it is yellow in colour with a brown stripped pattern. Full sized adults measure only four millimetres in length.

The species is so rare that a section of the University of Michigan campus had to be moved in order to protect the beetle's habitat. The beetle has only been found on four sites in the world, three of them in the state of Michigan. Scone is the only place that the beetle is found in all of Canada.

New meetings between the owners and the Ministry of Natural Resources are now scheduled and continuing on an ongoing basis.