The Haliburton Highlands Land Trust’s (HHLT) Joan Duhaime says there’s no guarantee the Dahl Forest will reopen to the public this summer.
The 500-acre site was “badly damaged” during the late-March ice storm, with hundreds of trees and two hydro poles felled, Duhaime said. While not live, she noted wires connecting 10 hydro poles on the property are still lying on the ground.
Because Dahl Forest is privately owned – donated to HHLT by Peter Dahl, his wife Jan, and Nana McKernan in 2009 – responsibility for getting power re-established falls on the property owner. The non-profit has insurance, so costs are covered, but Duhaime said it’s been a challenging few weeks assessing the damages.
“It’s quite a mess. All of the seven trails are impassable – there are literally hundreds of trees down,” Duhaime said. “My husband and I tried to walk in through one trail shortly afterwards. We climbed over two piles of trees, but the path ahead was covered as far as our eyes could see.
“There are quite a few dangerous situations where tree limbs have snapped off but are stuck on other branches 20-feet in the air. With power lines still down, we can’t reopen until we feel the area is safe. We’re estimating for later in the summer, but it’s a big, big question mark. A lot depends on getting hydro workers in.”
Not all of the approximate five-kilometre trail system has been inspected yet, with Duhaime saying HHLT members still can’t get to some of the deeper pathways.
Clean-up started May 3, with about 15 people helping to clear debris from around the Dahls’ home, which they still use part-time. Duhaime said Peter and Jan were home when the storm hit and were trapped for two days. Neighbours pooled together to clear their driveway, which also allowed Duhaime and other HHLT members to access the wider property.
The land trust isn’t responsible for financing repairs to structures and hydro, with insurance taking care of that, but will have to find the money to restore the trails. Duhaime said HHLT is aiming to raise $30,000 for the work.
“We have a lot of work that we need to hire an arborist for,” she said, noting the forest’s red pine population “took a pretty big beating.”
All of those trees were planted by Dahl and his father, William, over 60 years ago. Duhaime said the makeup of Dahl Forest has been forever changed.
“It will be emotional for a lot of people, because it will look different. It’s not necessarily a bad thing – it’s nature. The forest will regenerate, and we’ll get some new growth in there, but it’s such a quick switch from what it was to what it will look like from now on,” Duhaime said.
Given the destruction County-wide, Duhaime said HHLT hopes to partner with U-Links Centre for Community Based Research and Trent University for a post-storm analysis of the Highlands’ red pine plantations.
“It will be really interesting to see over the next 10 years what’s going to happen in some of these areas that used to be densely forested, but now they’re not,” she said.
HHLT’s other sites, like Barnum Creek Nature Reserve, were minimally impacted and are open, Duhaime said.
Donations can be made online via haliburtonlandtrust. ca. Anyone wanting to assist with clean-up can contact admin@haliburtonlandtrust.ca.
