I am a cottage lease holder…

I am a cottage lease holder at Rondeau Provincial Park. I am also a keen naturalist and longstanding member of Nature London and Ontario Field Ornithologists. There has been an unnecessarily polarized and misleading debate about the presence of cottages in Rondeau. My family purchased a lease in Rondeau because we love nature and because we are interested in the natural environment. I know of many other similarly minded lease holders.

At one level it is, of course, true that any human presence - whether it be a cottage, campsite or hiker -has an effect on the natural environment and on the balance of the elements within that environment. However, it is also true that Rondeau is not a pristine wilderness. Rondeau has hosted cottagers for over one hundred years. As one walks around Rondeau it is obvious that the Park is under threat, not from the cottagers but from invasive species, particularly invasive plants. Yes, I hear people say that exotic plants were brought in by cottagers, but the major scourges, such as phragmites are present throughout Ontario. Moreover, garden plants can, and should, be regulated by the Park.

Rondeau can never be returned to its pre-charter state, or indeed, to its pre-European contact state. But with effort most of its unique environment can be maintained – and hopefully improved – thereby providing a safe haven for a number of threatened species. The effort required to achieve this goal is surely not a prolonged and costly battle with the lease holders. Rather it will require increased financing and increased efforts to push back invasive species.

The constant uncertainty regarding future leases leads to a tension between the cottagers and Ontario Parks. In my opinion the tension between the cottagers and Ontario Parks wastes an important opportunity. If Ontario Parks adopted a position that cottagers are welcome long-term residents of Rondeau, as they originally were when the Park was chartered, this would increase the sense of ownership and pride amongst the cottagers. The feeling that that this is our Park and that we will work to keep it as one of the crown jewels of Ontario parks could be used to the Park’s advantage. Many cottagers would happily join Park led crews to push phragmites off the beach or to extend the range of beach cleaning operations. Ontario Parks could work with the cottagers to join and support the work of the Friends of Rondeau.

So yes, renew the lease for two more years: although I have to shake my head in disbelief as to why we need a third short-term lease to agree on a long-term solution. It seems an unconscionable waste of time and money to be going through this current bureaucratic exercise when we have done it before so recently.