Re: ERO Notice 019-0907…

Re: ERO Notice 019-0907 Rondeau Provincial Park

I am very disappointed to learn that the Government of Ontario is again considering an extension to the leases of private cottages in Rondeau Provincial Park. The Government of Ontario has previously acknowledged the need to phase out private cottages in provincial protected areas.

Ontario’s Provincial Parks should be accessible to ordinary citizens for their recreational enjoyment and not be reserved for privileged cottagers. Demand for natural spaces has grown significantly in the last 15 years and extending leases is counter productive.

Most of Rondeau’s 282 private cottage lots occupying about 67% of the park’s Lake Erie shoreline are within its nationally rare freshwater dune ecosystems. Government assessments indicate the private cottages are causing harm to species at risk and vegetation communities. Assessments also indicate elevated concentrations of phosphorous and nitrates in groundwater, the release of contaminants in soils and sediments, and erosion, all caused because of the cottages, and their owners, along the sensitive shoreline.

Rondeau is renowned for its exceptional biodiversity because of its significant habitats that provide sanctuary for over 80 species at risk, the highest of any Ontario Provincial Park.

The proposed three-year extension of the leases while the government contemplates “an alternative option for the long-term occupation of cottage lots in Rondeau Provincial Park.” is extremely worrisome. This sounds like “long-term occupation” by cottagers is being contemplated. Long term extensions should not be made to any leases. Cottage owners have known for many years that their time in the park was limited. Now is the time to make it very clear that leases will not be extended further and that the land upon which they sit will remain park property and be naturalized as soon as current leases expire. This is property that belongs to the citizens of the province and should remain property for the people of the province!

A proposal for long term cottage occupation of the park is contrary to Ontario’s Provincial Parks management principle of maintaining ecological integrity and leaving habitats unimpaired for future generations. Private cottages in the park do not support this goal but instead are diametrically opposed to it. This unique landscape with its extraordinary biodiversity including over 80 species at risk and over 300 nationally, provincially or locally significant plant species must be protected.

I urge this government to act upon its own management principle and move forward in a manner which supports the goal of maintaining ecological integrity. Support nature and the citizens of Ontario, not just cottagers.