Thank you for this…

Thank you for this opportunity to comment on ERO # 019-4093 "Amending the Darlington Provincial Park Management Plan to allow for the management of native species".

Your request to manage Double-crested Cormorants, a native species, as they might "threaten the ecological integrity of the wetland and we may need to undertake cormorant population control" is without merit. All native species are part of the ecological integrity of the Park. You have given no valid need or reason to "manage" or kill cormorants in your proposal.

You've implied that cormorants would interfere with the recovery of Piping Plovers, a species at risk. Yet you haven't told us how they would interfere. When you assess the needs of Piping Plovers and cormorants you see that they are entirely different and don't overlap. They reside in totally different parts of the Park. You mention none of the real threats to Piping Plovers, humans using the beach and bird and mammals that eat birds, their chicks, and their eggs. Cormorants don't eat other birds, their eggs, or chicks.

Only two failed Double-crested cormorant nests were recorded in 2019, according to the Park Superintendent, and this species made no further attempts to nest.

I believe your request to "manage" cormorants is based on a dislike of this species. You want to pick and choose which native species you like. Hence there is no "ecological integrity" intent to your proposal regardless of what you say.

Please protect the true ecological integrity of the park by protecting Double-crested Cormorants, both individual birds and their nests in Darlington Provincial Park and educate the public about cormorants and their role in the environment as ecosystem engineers.

The Toronto Regional Conservation Authority (TRCA) has done an excellent job managing and welcoming cormorants at Tommy Thompson Park also known as "The Spit". My hope is that you will decide to honour nature as the TRCA has done by protecting the cormorants.