Message from the Chair: Citizens' Advisory Group For Burwash The citizens that form the Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash have a common interest yet come from a variety of backgrounds.  Some group members are former Burwash residents and are part of the history of Burwash.  Others simply enjoy what Burwash has to offer and are enticed by the potential of the Burwash lands as an educational, tourist, and recreational destination.  Included in the Citizens' Advisory Group are educators whose research or fieldwork is based on the Burwash lands.  All members are volunteer and totally dedicated to the future of Burwash. Coordination and Advisory Functions: Upon organizing as a group, we quickly realized that our role would be to co-ordinate. It became evident that many groups and individuals were using the Burwash lands and given the opportunity, many other groups would benefit from their use. To achieve maximum benefit for all, some form of coordination and consultation must take place.  Included in this coordination role is an advisory function.  The assistance of the Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash will enable various interest groups to co-exist at Burwash and exercise their specific objectives. Group: The Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash is a not-for-profit group.  We operate totally on a volunteer basis motivated by our respect for the Burwash lands and their potential. Burwash: Human activity has impacted the Burwash lands.  It is the legacy of these activities that make Burwash very special.  The Burwash lands are unique within our geographic area.  The extent of open grasslands is regionally, and may be provincially significant.  With the development of nature-based adventure tourism, the Burwash lands have potential to become internationally significant.  The Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash recognizes that the Burwash lands are home to the wildlife and that wildlife habitat should be protected.  With the existing roads and trails the area is very accessible and future disruption of the lands is less necessary.  We encourage the protection of this habitat. Burwash, as a prison town, was a very special place. Every community activity, be it construction, land development, or recreation, was shared by all in the community. There was a strong community spirit.  It is this spirit that the Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash and its volunteers would like to rekindle, by encouraging multiple and complementary use of the Burwash lands that all citizens can be proud of. There are many groups that have an interest in the use of the Burwash lands.  Some of these interests may not complement each other.  Advice from, and coordination by, the Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash will help minimize conflict between the interests of other groups. Purposefully we leave it to individuals and organizations to identify their present or future interests in the Burwash lands.  We received a number of suggestions about the potential use of the Burwash lands.  The Citizens' Advisory Group for Burwash through its unified voice, its co-ordination and advisory functions, and its volunteer base, will work with those groups to help maintain their interest or to help make a new land-use activity a reality for the benefit of the broader public. We will achieve our goal by raising the awareness of the public and authorities about the historical value and tremendous potential of the Burwash lands for educational, tourism, and recreational uses.  If we are successful, the authorities will protect the Burwash lands for these multi-purpose uses. We invite you, or your organization, to help realize our goal of ensuring that the Burwash lands become an investment in the future. Sincerely, Ken McCausland (Chair) Citizen's Advisory Group for Burwash   The Citizens Advisory Group for Burwash is a group of individuals with a common interest in the past, present, and future of the Burwash lands and resources. Ken McCausland (Chair): Area resident who has respect for the history of Burwash and concerns for its future.  He and his family have enjoyed the diversity of the Burwash lands and are dedicated to seeing that others can experience the same. Doug Cross: former guard and resident of Burwash village. Andy Fyon: has an interest in the natural aspects of Burwash including wildflowers. Len Gervais: Resident of Burwash from 1940 until closing.  Presently retired from sales manager of GMAC. Joe Hamr: Joe Hamr obtained his Ph.D. in Wildlife Ecology and has worked as a wildlife biologist in the Austrian Alps, the Canadian Arctic, and the Precambrian Shield of Central Ontario. From 1986 to 1991, he lectured and supervised research in the Department of Biology at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. Since 1991, he has worked at Cambrian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Sudbury, first heading the Canadian Institute for Natural Resources Management and later the Northern Environmental Heritage Institute. He also holds positions of Adjunct Professor in the Department of Biology at Laurentian University, Associate Graduate Faculty in the Zoology Department at the University of Guelph and Conjunct Professor in the graduate Watershed Ecosystems program at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. For the past 25 years, he has conducted and supervised research on red deer, chamois, white-tailed deer, elk, black bear and wild turkey. Since 1993, Burwash has been part of his study area. Included in his teaching duties in the Nature-Based Adventure Tourism program at Cambrian College are courses in white-water canoeing and kayaking, survival, orienteering, ornithology, fish & wildlife biology and field biology, also partially delivered in the Burwash sphere.  Merv Rinta: former guard and resident of Burwash village. A. Grant Vipond: A resident of the Sudbury area and with a longstanding interest in the environment, Grant has degrees in science (Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill) and education (Outdoor and Experiential Education, Queen's).  He has spent over 20 years as a teacher/naturalist working in government, conservation authorities, schools, and privately run facilities to provide outdoor environmental education to the public at large, particularly in the Sudbury and Midland areas. His interest in the natural environment extends to specializing in nature photography through the Sudbury Photo Club, and to the commercial production of wild jellies and jams under his own label (Grant's Wild Preserves)  As leader of Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, Grant continues to educate the younger generation to the value of the natural environment.