Relatives of land donor barred from protected property
Relatives of a man who willed 135 picturesque acres on the north shore of Stoney Lake to Kawartha Land Trust (KLT) earlier this year have been barred from visiting the protected property now known as the Jeffrey-Cowan Forest Preserve.
Peter Cowan, brother of the late Norman Cowan, received a trespass notice from city lawyer Nathan Baker earlier this month. The land trust stated Monday it would not publicly state exactly why it sought legal and police involvement.
“It’s very unfortunate that as a registered charity KLT had to take necessary action in order to protect our volunteers, partners and staff from further harassment,” development manager Tara King stated via email.
Cowan, a White Lake resident, denied the claim, saying he never harassed anybody or entered his brother’s former property — which is in Douro-Dummer and North Kawartha townships — without legal permission.
“There has never been one raised-voice discussion … between me and the land trust. They have no basis for that claim,” said Cowan, who is also prohibited from attending a public event at Thomas A. Stewart Secondary School on Thursday.
The land trust, along with Trent University, will host Ontario environmental commissioner Dianne Saxe, who will speak about the commitment Canada has made to the Convention on Biological Diversity, a treaty to protect 17 per cent of land by 2020.
The trespass notices were issued for no reason other than worry that the family will ask “embarrassing questions,” said Cowan, who said he was also contacted by an OPP officer who informed him of the consequences of a violation of the notice.
His son and ex-wife first received trespass notices this summer after asking questions at meetings earlier this year, he said.
The property, which was donated in April, includes 1,300 feet of shoreline, 10 kilometres of trails and the largest undeveloped island on Stoney Lake.
East Syndicate Island was first protected in 2005 through a conservation easement agreement registered on the property’s title in favour of the land trust.
Norman Cowan, who died in 2016, also donated $250,000 that is being used to implement stewardship activities and grow the land trust’s stewardship fund, King stated. A celebration for the gifts was held at the site in July.
“Permanently protecting the Jeffrey-Cowan Forest Preserve is just one of our many exciting accomplishments so far in 2018,” she stated.
The situation has nothing to do with the access rights issues that started the dispute, Cowan said, explaining how the family initially requested certain lifetime rights, such as hunting, use of a road, garage and dock on the property.
The family wants to know how the property, which it estimates to be worth $3 million, will be fully protected so it isn’t developed down the road against his brother’s wishes, Cowan said. “If they say something, how do they make it happen.”
The family seeks two more things, on top of a charitable receipt it has received: A copy of the legal easement on the property to guarantee it is protected and a letter from the land trust stating they accept the land under the Ecological Gift Program.
A property registered in the Ecological Gift Program could provide a potentially large tax advantage to the donor, Cowan explained.
One of Peter’s sons, Glenn, wrote a letter to Saxe, asking what qualifies land as being protected — including if an irrevocable easement should be placed on it or if stewardship by a land trust automatically means the land is protected.