This amendment is extremely…

This amendment is extremely unsettling as this sale would give the Town of Wasaga Beach a dangerous amount of control for the use of corporate development over the 645 acres of wetlands, dunes, forests and public beaches which are imperative, critical habitat for many species such as the Piping Plover, Eastern Hog-Nosed Snake, Monarch Butterfly, Eastern Whip-Poor-Will, Barn Swallow, among others. The species which I will be focused upon in this comment is the Piping Plover.

Wasaga Beach Parks website has a page dedicated to these birds with documentation showing that the Piping Plover was historically abundant in the Georgian Bay area, before their population took a rapid decline at the demand for recreational beaches. By 1986, the Piping Plover had reached a record low of 16 +/- nesting pairs in the Great Lakes. With the implementation of the Piping Plover Recovery Program, which blocked off areas of the beach to protect this fragile and timid species from human activity, their population rose to approximately 76 mating pairs in 2017. Wasaga Beach Park’s website goes so far as to state that without this program and protection, the Piping Plover’s population would decline once again, making this greedy movement towards recreational development hypocritical and in direct opposition to environmentalism and conservation efforts.

This goes even further as it impacts Global Warming and the ecological crisis facing our country, and our world. As of right now, Ontario is off track for meeting climate targets. With more development and less protections for these vital ecosystems like the tragic loss of 70% of Southern Ontario’s wetlands, our carbon sinks are depleted and our biodiversity is under tremendous threat heading towards extinction in upcoming years.