Located on the shores of…

Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Rondeau Park is a refuge for dozens of species at risk that depend on protected habitat within the heavily developed landscape of southern Ontario, including the prothonotary warbler, Acadian flycatcher, Fowler’s toad, spiny softshell turtle, nodding pogonia and red mulberry. Its provincially and nationally significant habitats include coastal marshes, buttonbush sloughs, oak savannah, eastern cottonwood savannah and Great Lakes shoreline sand dunes.

All cottagers entered into their leases with the full knowledge that the leases would not be renewed after 2017.

The current approved park management plan states that the cottage leases will be terminated in 2017. The current park management plan for Rondeau Park is the result of considerable public consultation regarding the best management direction for the park. The extension of the cottage leases was a highly contentious issue during the preparation of the plan (late 1980s/ early 1990s), and the extension of the cottage leases to 2017 was a huge concession to cottagers at the time and strongly opposed by conservation organizations. Another such concession is unacceptable, especially given the provincial government’s commitments to protecting biodiversity, recovering endangered species and maintaining the ecological integrity of protected areas.

The cottages have a negative ecological impact. The cottages in Rondeau, which extend along most of the park’s western shoreline and a portion of the eastern shoreline, are located on some of the most environmentally significant portions of the park. Simply by occupying a good portion of the land base, the cottages impede its use by wildlife. Direct harm to wildlife has also been documented. The recovery strategy for the threatened eastern foxsnake notes, for example, that some cottage owners have admitted to killing foxsnakes. Another negative impact has been the introduction of invasive non-native species, identified as a key threat to various species at risk and rare habitats found within the park. A 2008 survey of the eastern dunes of the park found numerous invasive plant species, many intentionally introduced by cottage leaseholders.

[Original Comment ID: 128912]