Municipal, provincial and federal staff and politicians met in Wasaga Beach to hear presentations in support of a regional waterfront management plan for Georgian Bay.

The Blue Mountains Mayor Ellen Anderson called together politicians from Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, Meaford, and other municipalities along the waterfront of Lake Huron to ask for their involvement in developing a regional plan.

The meeting, held at the Wasaga Beach council chambers on Wednesday, April 16, saw about 40 attendees from various provincial and federal ministries including Environment Canada, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Ministry of National Resources, Ministry of the Environment, Parks Canada and Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Anderson along with Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson, welcomed everyone, explaining that she and others have noticed that illegal dredging and waterfront stewardship is plaguing the shores of Georgian Bay and Lake Huron, but there doesn’t seem to be anything municipalities can do about it.

“An integrated waterfront management program creates a tool to enable municipalities to jointly protect our waterfronts from dredging, control invasive species and protect existing species,” she said.

This would be one of the first of its kind, and would set a precedent for future waterfront plans.

She is a member of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a bi-national group of mayors and other local officials committed to working with federal, state and provincial governments to protect the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway.  

She explained that getting the local municipalities together with the experts from various ministries and organizations would be a more efficient way of protecting Lake Huron and enforcing whatever management plan is in place.

“To change legislation, it takes forever,” said Anderson. “Municipal powers can work together and things can happen.”

Janette Anderson of Environment Canada made the first presentation on the existing Lake Huron bi-national partnerships and a document released by Environment Canada entitled Lake Huron-Georgian Bay Watershed: A Canadian Framework for Community Action.

She explained the issues for the Lake include introduction of aquatic invasive species, loss and degradation of fish and wildlife habitat populations and contaminants in water, fish and wildlife.

She directed the audience’s attention to the website www.lakehuroncommunityaction.ca for more information on what’s currently happening to protect the shorelines and the water.

Fred Dobbs of the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority then presented on the Nottawasaga watershed improvement program, which includes representatives from Wasaga Beach, Collingwood Clearview, Springwater and The Blue Mountains.

Allan Crowe of Environment Canada presented on the water quality and beach issues along the Southern Georgian Bay Coast. Having owned a family cottage on the coast since the 1950s he had personally seen the changes to the waterfront and the necessity of a management plan.

He explained that although there were lots of problems on the waterfront, there was good to go with the bad and ugly.

Crowe gave a history of shoreline development from the 50s to the present, explaining that cottages got bigger and lawns were extended closer to the water, sometimes overtaking land that characteristically was covered by a meter of water but had been dry for a few years. The destruction of natural dunes led to loss of sand and beach grass. Turf grass invasions drew Geese and the danger of E. coli from their waste.

“Most efforts in the past focused on what’s in the water,” said Crowe. “We need to think about the beach too. What’s on the beach? How is it affecting the water?”

He gave his endorsement of an integrated regional management plan saying everybody needed to get involved to create one system for what is, essentially, one beach.

Ministry of Natural Resources representative Arunas Liskauskas presented objectives in support of fish community development, as outlined in a 1995 document entitled Lake Huron Fish Community Objectives.

“We are trying to retain and protect a viable sustainable fish community in Lake Huron; fish communities that provide numerous benefits to a variety of resource users,” said Liskauskas.

Brent Valere from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) was the final presenter and focused on the negative impacts of dredging in Lake Huron as well as the DFO’s efforts to protect the waterfront.

“Georgian Bay is especially dear to my heart,” he said. “It’s an area that has a lot of habitat and a lot of value. There’s still a lot there to protect.”

He explained that Lake Ontario, because of the destruction along the waterfront near the GTA, is in a restoration mode, but Lake Huron is in a conservation mode.

In his report, Valere explained that the DFO uses the Fisheries Act to protect the waterfront currently, and try to avoid approving projects that encroach on waterfront or habitat areas.

One problem plaguing the DFO today is the increase in requests for dredging, which doubled in 2006 and again in 2008 because of lower water levels, which, according to Valere, were lower in the 1930s.

Dredging is the act of digging out lake bottoms to make deeper water levels for boat launches, harbours, construction or other projects.

Digging, sometimes through several layers of different sediment stirs up the bottom and releases sediments and sometimes contaminants into the water, which spreads far and fast.

There are proper methods for dredging, which involve installing turbidity curtains to control silt, replacing common substrates on the bottom of the lake to restore the natural habitats and separating dry land digging and underwater digging with a wall.

Valere said, however, that these methods add costs, and sometimes crews or developers cut corners to save. He does believe that the solution is one of education rather than enforcement.

Mayor Anderson asked those politicians present to share their thoughts on the idea of an integrated plan after hearing the presentations.

“Count me in to the whole thing,” said Cal Patterson, Wasaga Beach Mayor. “Tourism is our industry, so we need to protect our waterfront. It’s very timely and great to see everybody here together.

Wasaga Beach councillor Stan Wells also attended the meeting and said this was one rare occasion where he and Mayor Patterson would agree right from the start.

“I’m right behind it all the way,” said Wells. “It’s critical that we develop a consistent approach to shoreline management all around Georgian Bay.

Harley Greenfield, councillor from Meaford, said he would back the issue when bringing it before Meaford Council.

“The protection of the shoreline is a given,” said Greenfield. “We have got such a beautiful part of the country, such a beautiful part of the world and I want to keep it that way.”

All other municipal representatives present, including Tiny Township, Georgian Bluffs, Owen Sound and the Township of Tay said they would support the initiative when they brought it back to their council.

Mayor Anderson said she would continue to communicate with the municipalities that showed interest, and hopes to start having regular meetings. Her goal is to have a concrete application ready for 2010 and have a plan in place by 2013.

“The true challenge is to stay focused and keep the motivation high,” she said.

She gives credit to the Ministry of Natural Resource, Ministry of the Environment and Department of Fisheries and Oceans representatives for their expertise and support for the project.