DEPARTMENT OF LANDS AND FORESTS FOR 1929 13 



ainimal house to accommodate live wild animals. The staff consists of the 

 Superintendent, two Chief Rangers, 27 Park Rangers, office assistant and house- 

 keeper, a total force of 32. 



Located at strategic points throughout the park are shelter houses for the 

 accommodation of the Rangers on patrol duty and for the convenience of 

 tourists in emergencies. 



The development during recent times of summer camps for adults and 

 youth in no section of Canada is so pronounced as in Algonquin Park. At 

 present there are twelve large camps, each having accommodation for 100 to 

 500 individuals. Separate camps for boys and girls have been judiciously 

 organized and highly developed on moral, educational, athletic and sanitary 

 principles, the patrons representing important though widely separated sections 

 of the United States as well as Canada. It is interesting and encouraging to 

 observe that new camps are under consideration which will mean an additional 

 contribution towards the upkeep of the park and an increase in the number of 

 summer visitors. 



The tourist travel during the past year was largely in excess of any previous 

 one and the record number of anglers visiting the park emphasizes the fishing 

 possibilities as one of its greatest assets and finest magnets. The hotels and 

 summer resorts were filled to capacity and the receipts from anglers' licenses 

 the highest on record. As the angling by summer tourists is more or less con- 

 centrated in the waters nearby headquarters there is a decided need for replenish- 

 ing these and to accomplish this in due course it may be advisable to start a 

 hatchery. The fishing is exceptionally good in the lakes and streams a few 

 miles from the railways and in the interior of the park. 



Under the patrol system every section of the park area comprising 2,749 

 square miles, is covered at intervals and during the year 11 convictions were 

 recorded for violation of the park laws. A rigid enforcement of the regulations 

 is producing the desired result and a wholesome respect is being shown the laws. 



Notwithstanding the very dry season, the park was almost free of fires. 

 The constant vigilance of the staff in maintaining a check on the action of 

 campers and fishing parties acts as a deterrent to carelessness. 



Guides to the number of 89 were employed in conducting parties on trips, 

 each guide being required to procure a license and to furnish information 

 regarding their activities, report fires immediately, the condition of trails, 

 canoe routes and portages, all of which operates in maintaining an effective 

 system. 



Game and Predatory Animals 



Reports from the Superintendent indicate that notwithstanding the wolf 

 menace, at times it is felt injustifiably charged against the park, there has been a 

 decided increase in the number of game animals within the park. Although 

 all the members of the ranging staff were solicitous in regard to killing wolves 

 they succeeded in securing only 32 during the fiscal year just ended. 



Rondeau Park nestling snugly in the southwest part of the Province, midst 

 arboreal surroundings, in Kent County, comprises a peninsula, extending into 

 Lake Erie, of 5,000 acres, with a beautiful sand beach sweep of several miles on the 

 lake and an enchanting shore line on the "Eau," with a summer population of 

 1,000 who are comfortably and conveniently housed in quaint cottages built by 

 individual owners under a leasehold arrangement on a twenty-one year tenure, 

 the park presents a modern recreational rendezvous. 



