PHOTO: A timber wolf stares through the underbrush at Meditation Lake. (JOE.BRYKSA@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

Whiteshell park area hardly pristine now

MEDITATION LAKE -- The wolf ambles through the clear cut, poking its nose in what little underbrush there is.

A 2007 wind storm toppled thousands of trees here that loggers have cleaned up, so it's easy to pick out the lone animal.
Chris Monk doesn’t want the proposed youth camp and all its services to set up in the area, where his family has fished for years.

The wolf looks at us for a few brief seconds and continues with his scrounging, not caring if we're there. A few minutes later, he trots off.

To borrow a line from an old song, will he survive?

The Doer government is entertaining the idea of allowing coffee-and-doughnut juggernaut Tim Hortons, through its Children's Foundation, to build a wilderness youth camp on the shore of Meditation Lake.

Some fear the camp will ruin a pristine area of Whiteshell Provincial Park. Others say a year-round facility will only improve an area of the park that has been underserved by government.

But to say Meditation Lake and the area around it is pristine wilderness is stretching things a bit. The wind storm and earlier logging operations -- now banned -- have changed virgin forest to a moonscape. On the way into Meditation Lake off Highway 307, there's also a big quarry with high piles of gravel and crushed rock, and a second but inactive quarry.

The proposed $10-million camp that was to open by 2011 now appears to be in limbo as the province and the Tim Hortons Children's Foundation study its feasibility.

Hiker Chris Monk and a companion want Meditation Lake to stay as it is, and any camp built in a more accessible area.

"This is a paradise," Monk, 71, says, despite the rain and mosquitoes. "You're not going to have it back once you put the camp in here."

His family fished for northern pike on the lake, taking their boat down the trail on a makeshift bicycle-wheel trailer. Many still do.

If Tim Hortons gets the green light, it means building a new road to the lake for several kilometres off Hwy. 309 that's big enough to accommodate buses taking kids to the camp and trucks delivering groceries and taking away garbage. It also means extending electricity service and likely building a sewage lagoon and water-treatment system.

With increased vehicle traffic, the province may have to improve Hwy. 307 from Rennie north to White Lake and Hwy. 309 from White Lake to Big Whiteshell Lake.

"It's going to improve the park as a whole," Big Whiteshell Lake Lodge owner Karl Fabian says. "If they improve the roads, do you think any of the cottagers are going to complain?"

Tim Hortons Children's Foundation vice-president David Newnham has said officials are to review a summer's worth of provincially collected water-quality data before any decision is made.

Opponents say because the lake is shallow, and in dry years restricted in its outflow, it's plagued with blue-green algae blooms, making it unsuitable for swimming and canoeing activities.

What causes the toxic algae is unknown. One theory is airborne contaminants from fertilizer used in agriculture might be to blame. The same algae blooms appear on Lake Winnipeg from time to time.

"We want to make sure the water quality in the lake is appropriate for a children's camp," Newnham said. "It is possible we will need to take a look at other locations if Meditation Lake is not deemed to be an appropriate spot." Eric Reder, the Manitoba campaign director for the Wilderness Committee, said one option might be for Tim Hortons to take over and improve an existing facility elsewhere in the Whiteshell, though he wants the government to be more open should that happen.

Reder also said new legislation should be enacted restricting development on Meditation Lake and nearby Horseshoe Lake.

Maybe then, too, the wolf will survive.