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Quiz
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The
Parks / Ontario
/ Point
Pelee National Park
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Pre-European occupation may
have existed on Point Pelee several thousand
years ago. Evidence of native settlements from
600 A.D. has been found near the marsh of a
culture relying on muskrat, fish and turtles
as the mainstays in their diet. Later groups
hunted larger animals, gathered plants and may
have harvested wild rice as well. Near the end
of the 10th century, there is evidence of some
limited cultivation. By the time Europeans arrived
in the 17th century, the natives of the area,
probably Chippewa, were living in permanent
villages and cultivating the land. In 1842,
250 aboriginal people were sharing the peninsula
with squatters whose smallholdings defied the
restrictions against living in what was then
a naval reserve. By 1871, the natives had vacated
their settlements entirely. In 1892 the Department
of the Interior, which held the naval reserve
land in custody, granted the squatters free
title to their land. By then, 22 commercial
fisheries were operating along the peninsulaŽs
shores and by the late 1800's, the deer
had been completely wiped out by over hunting.
10 000 muskrat pelts were sold at auction on
the point each spring. In spite of strong objections,
the Department of the Interior also granted
hunting rights to a group calling itself The
South Essex Gun Club. Strong protests were registered
again when the government granted a private
logging company the right to cut and remove
cedar on the reserve threatening the survival
of the red cedar. In 1902, a lease permitting
drilling for natural gas was authorized. Four
separate leases for the removal of sand remained
in force while the point receded 800 metres
as a result of offshore dredging of sand for
use in the U.S. In 1918 Point Pelee became Canada's
ninth national park. Between 1957 and 1970,
the land acquisition program reduced the number
of privately owned properties from 255 to 80.
In 1972 a newly adopted plan outlined the conservation
of natural resources and made the preservation
of wildlife habitat a priority.
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