Barton Feilders…

Barton Feilders

Manager, Policy Division - Natural Heritage, Lands and Protected Spaces Branch

Parks and Protected Areas Policy Section

Ministry of Natural Resources

300 Water Street

Peterborough Ontario

K9J 8M5

Dear Mr. Feilders,

Subject: New Cottage Leases in Rondeau Provincial Park - EBR Registry number 011-1300

Nature Canada is one of Canada’s oldest national non-profit conservation organizations with a mission to protect and conserve wildlife and habitats in Canada by engaging people and advocating on behalf of nature. Our network includes 40,000 supporters and more than 350 naturalist organizations across Canada.

It has been brought to our attention that on October 4, 2010 the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) proposed a policy on the Ontario Environmental Registry (EBR Registry Number 011-1300) to extend the term of existing cottage leases in Rondeau Provincial Park.

We wish to express our deep concern and strong opposition regarding this extension, as it goes against the duty – and promises – of the MNR to protect Ontario’s biodiversity and ecological integrity. In addition to this, the proposed policy ignores the Rondeau Provincial Park Management Plan, which prescribes the termination of all cottage leases in the park by the end of 2017. We need not remind you that Rondeau Provincial Park is Ontario’s second oldest provincial park, boasts high biodiversity, and provides indispensable habitat for a significant number of species, many of which are designated threatened and/or endangered by the Ministry itself.

The MNR’s Our Sustainable Future was designed to guide and assist the ministry in setting its priorities, as well as to strengthen the ministry’s “commitment to conserving biodiversity and greenspace with special emphasis on southern Ontario”. Under Goal 5, Organizational Excellence for Improved Public Service, Strategy 5.3, one of the proposed actions is to “ensure access to, and development of, the best possible science to support future policy”. Clearly, this proposal has not taken into account such an important prerequisite. The proposal is also not consistent with various MNR commitments in the Statement of Environmental Value (SEV), the Ontario Environmental Bill of Rights, neither is it consistent with statements urging Ontarians to reduce their impact on the province’s biodiversity in the State of Ontario’s Biodiversity 2010.

Nature Canada, alongside Bird Studies Canada (BSC), oversees 597 of BirdLife International’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Canada, as part of a global program that aims to identify, monitor, and conserve a network of sites that provide essential habitat for significant bird populations around the world. As BirdLife International’s Canadian co-partner, we are very concerned that MNR’s proposed lease extension policy will pose a threat to a globally significant IBA in Rondeau Provincial Park. The Rondeau wetlands in this IBA are recognized as a major waterfowl staging area and both waterfowl and shorebirds are found in large numbers. Species that are present in significant numbers (greater than 1% of their estimated North American or world population) include: Greater Scaup (1.6%); Tundra Swan (4% of their North American population); Common Goldeneye (about 1%); Ruddy Turnstone (1.2%); and Forsters Tern (about 1%). In spring and fall, thousands of Black-bellied Plovers and American Golden-Plovers can be seen feeding in open fields in this area.

Numerous nationally endangered bird species nest at Rondeau Provincial Park. The park has traditionally supported Canada’s largest breeding population of Prothonotary Warblers (endangered under Schedule 1 of the federal Species at Risk Act and Ontario’s Endangered Species Act). Despite protections afforded by the park this species has recently declined in number, with a current estimated population of 10 pairs. Acadian Flycatchers and King Rails also breed at Rondeau. The park is also home to many Threatened and Endangered plants, amphibians and reptiles.

Cottages occupy approximately 1% of Rondeau Provincial Park, but their impacts can be widespread, having an effect on the entire park. These impacts are primarily related to activities carried out by leaseholders and are therefore very difficult to manage and/or abate. An example of such an activity is lawn mowing. This practice discourages the regeneration/reestablishment of native graminoid and herbaceous species, and can increase the presence of non-native bird species such as the brood parasitic Brown-headed Cowbird. Growing numbers of Cowbird have been reported to have heavily impacted native birds such as the Prothonotary Warbler, according to a 1999 BSC report . Other activities such as cultivation of non-native ornamental trees, use of pesticides and/or fertilizers, fire suppression and removal of dune grasses from the shoreline may also lead to negative impacts by cottage leaseholders on the integrity of Rondeau Provincial Park. Local stakeholders have contacted us expressing their concerns over the lack of centralized and/or municipal sewage disposal for the cottages in Rondeau. A policy to extend cottage leases will continue to pose a threat to groundwater as result of poorly functioning septic systems.

Nature Canada urges the MNR to withdraw its proposed policy and adhere to the Rondeau Provincial Park Management Plan. Failing to do so will ultimately jeopardize the park’s biodiversity and will not be in the public interest. Ontarians have entrusted the MNR to protect Ontario’s natural heritage for the benefit of their children and grandchildren. We believe it is the Ministry’s duty – and challenge – to maintain this trustworthiness.

We hope that upon hearing our concerns, and by extension those of our 40,000 supporters and 350 organizational affiliates, the MNR will reverse its decision to extend cottage leases at Rondeau Provincial Park and continue with phasing out these cottages by December 31, 2017.

Kind regards,

Mara Kerry - Director of Conservation, Nature Canada

[Original Comment ID: 129092]