I have been an annual …

I have been an annual visitor to Lake Temagami for over 50 years, and I am the fourth generation in my family to consider the lake a home away from home. The near wilderness-type experience that I have at Lake Temagami has shaped who I am as a person. I canoe tripped in the area as a teen, and value the unique experience that I continue to be able to have there.

Over-water camping begin to show up on the lake a year or two ago, and I have been concerned about it ever since. Without proper regulation, this form of use will change the Temagami experience in a very negative way, and I'm sure it will change other lakes and other water bodies in Ontario as well. It can also create navigational hazards and have significant negative environmental impacts. I was dismayed that some common-sense provisions originally proposed as amendments to this Regulation were removed, and I am requesting that some of the removed conditions be reinstated when updates to the Regulation are finalized. Specifically, I request that the following conditions be included among the amendments:

1. reducing the number of days that a person can camp on water over public land (per location, per calendar year), from 21 days to 7 days;

2. increasing the distance that a person camping on water must move their camping unit to a different location, from 100 metres to 1 kilometre; and,

3. prohibiting camping on water within 300 metres of a developed shoreline, including any waterfront structure, dock, boathouse, erosion-control structure, altered shoreline, boat launch, and/or fill.

Camping on water over public lands might seem like a good way to expand use in Ontario's many lakes and waterways with little impact. However, without the conditions that I'm requesting be reinstated in the proposed amendments to the Regulation, the impacts of this type of use will be significant and will diminish the natural beauty, ecosystem health and visitor experience of many of Ontario's true gems. Please reinstate these common sense conditions.