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In 1920 the Uren Prehistoric' Village was uncovered on lot 8, con. 7, of S. Norwich township and from this find and explorat- 1on of neighbouring farms, knowledge of the Neutral Ind.. ians who lived centuries ago, WES gained. These Neutral Indians were wiped out in 1652-by the Iroq- uois, who were the inhabitants of the white pine forests of Nor, wich township at the time of the European settlement at the turn of the 19th century, What a contrast can be visualized when one thinks of the settlers travelling through the forests al- ong blazed trails travelled by indians and wild animals, in- stead of modern highways. ' Speaking of roads, I notice that the stage fare from Nor.. wich to Burford in 1851 was 2 shillings and 6 pence Some things of interest about the village of Norwich are fou- nd in the Centenary Souvienir Book of Norwich published in 1_910. In this book it states that in 1809 Peter Lossing came from Duchess County, NY. to look for a suitable home for himself and family and being informed that there were desirable lands in Oxford County he visited them and found that they suit- ed him. He purchased 15000 ac- res of land for 50c an acre. I am told the original deed is still in the Lossing family. In a letter addressed to the Editor of the Review (presumed to be the Woodstock Review) a writer named Milton Cameron, about the year 1878, reviewed his "Reminiscences of Pioneer Life in S Norwich." Some por- tions of this letter are worth repeating. He states the first house was built in Otterville 1808 and the builder finding a suitable mill site on the Otter, built the first mill ever to ad- orn the banks of the Otter cre- ek--thus the name Otter Creek Mills and then Otterville. The first white child ever born in S. Norwich was born in 1809 and her named was Sarah Gilbert. The first marriage was in 1813 when Miss Erennis Cook of Otter Creek Mills was united in marriage to Mr. Gilbert Har. ris of West Oxford. The first death was a lad, aged 16, Royal Sweet, son of Robert Sweet - cause of death was white swel- ling on the knee. Pioneer school house was built in 1812, first store 1816 at Otterville, the sa- me year a famine occurred and the settlers were obliged to live for 4 weeks on green wheat bo. iled in milk. The first post of- fice was built in 1830 being the 3rd in the county. Ingersoll claimed to be the first in 1821 and Norwich village just earlier than Otterville in the same year. The first licensed tavern, in Ot- terville, was built of logs in 1830. One could go on and on, in history with firsts in our county and all are of interest to someone. but when we are aw- are of how rapid the change in our area has been, then we know planning for the future .is of the utmost importance, not just planning for construction how and where, but planning how we are going to maintain our natural resources. As a boy the word conservat- ion meant only one thing to me, the protection of our forests. Probably to many others it meant the same, but as time passeslwe soon learn the broad- er meaning of the word conser- vation-wildlife management, pr- otection of source areas of riv- ers and streams, re-forestration. The first step in establishing a Conservation Authority is un- dertaken by all the municipal- ities wholly or partially within a watershed. Two such munity ipalities must firsrby resolut- ion petition the Government to call a meeting for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not an Authority should be estab- lished. Two-thirds of the num- ber of representatives which the muneipalities are entitled to appoint (on a population basis) must be present lo make the meeting legal. It two-thirds of those present vote in favor of establishing an Authority a res- olution is forwarded to the Gov. ernment. The Authority is then established by order-rn-Gut cil, including representatives from all municipalities in the watershed. Apparently our governments realized something must be done, so by an Act of Parlia- ment in 1946 it became possible for.Conservation Authorities to be established. woodlot management, flood and pollution control, improved land use and provision for recreat- ion facilities Since Authorities are not eq- uipped to carry out extensive investigations where conservat- ion work should. be done, the Conservation Branch of the De- partment, now Lands and For- ests, carries out preliminary in- vestigations as a service to the Authorities, to appraise by mea- ns of surveys and reports. the conservation needs of each wa- tershed, and to submit to the Autho] ies a detailed report outlining the conservation mea- sures that should be implemen- te . I would like to make mention of some of the work that has been accomplished in the B.C.R. C.A. and I will comment only on what has been done since we were assigned a Field Officer in 1955. We have purchased 2118 acres of forests at a cost of $131,495,00; of this amount $59,- 125 was a timber grant from the Department in inspect to mer. chantable timber We have as- sisted in planting 84,400 trees on private lands. Provided sub- sidy assistance for 33 irrigation structures. We have provided en. gineering service and 25% sub- sidy to landowners wishing to build dams to store runoff wat- er for irrigation or livestock wa- tering. Seven landowners have taken advantage of this. We sponsored the construction of a plastic lined pond. at the Dom- inion Experimental farm at Del- hi; Assisted a private landown- er on channel improvement; sponsored a gully control pro- ject; sponsored an experimen- ta? installation of 3-150' gabionf groynes in Houghton township; sponsored 3 land ludging comp- etitions. We have had our Au- thority foremen build and erect wood duck nests and assist the 0.A.C. in theevaluation of the results of this project. We clean- ed the Backus pond of carp and: planted wild rice for ducks-- also stocked the pond with bass and perch to promote family fi- shing at this popular picnic; place. We have planted shrubs, to provide food for wildlife at. Backus and Waterford Conser- vation Areas and at Waterford we will stock one of the spring, ted ponds with rainbows next spring. _ "e" _ , The survey work is grouped under five general headings, namely History, Land Use, For. estry, Water, Wildlife and in so. me instances, Recreation. From these reports we try to practise conservation in our own water- sheds. between two points. uur mum- lane highways and hydro lines appear to regard valuable trees as incidental. . . F In total, iresponsillle haste has produced a frightening waste of wealth and effort and of basic natural resources. Ultimately, humanity is the loser of the true values. f Conservation business Th: ttion is everyone's The earth_h_2}s been Vivrrequnsib'le haste has point?. /hy mylti- To promote our Public Rela- tions the Authority has conduct- ed a broad program to reach as wide a segment of the peo- ple as possible. Various media have been used including press. and radio releases, elementary, scrapbook competitions, fair,' displays, educational literature, demonstrations of conservation! practices, nature trails and-pub-j lic speaking engagements. We) conduct a bus tour every sec-: ond year to keep members in: touch with our activities. We, have several conservation areas; where we demonstrate various ," conservation practices and phil/ osophies and provide public.rets reation facilities. We have nine of these areas and the public. giakes good use of several. Our iggest, at Waterford, is 250, acres. Three lake-w ctNer ap- proximately 100 a!.es This ar- ea provides a concession, boat- tng, fishing, picnic tables, well' water, barbeques, parking lot, toilet facilities, swimming and' chapg.e.houtes. This area is self sustaining from a parking fee' and it is estimated that 90,000 people made use of this area last year. . Highways, hydrdruies, oil and gay line? are pujlt upon the pre. This gives some idea of our work, but we hay? scarcely sta- rted and I say this because how tragic it is that Progress and Destruction go hand in hand. Price rules supreme and some of our best arable land has be. en taken out of agricultural pro. duction as if there were an end.. less supply Mining and indust- rial waste, as well as domestic sewage, have all contributed to the pollution of lakes and strea- ms. Smelters with their noxious fumes have wrought havoc on trees and vegetation. Fish and wildlife have disappeared. Wat- er supplies have been endang- ered. The beauty of our natural environment has been obliter.. ated and its use denied. inise of thr., "s; destroy. given to us in Trust to deveh and replenish, not to deplete' at PM; “I n'crance Cl