As someone who has lived in…

As someone who has lived in Collingwood and spent many summers at Wasaga beach - all the beaches from beach 1 down to the dog beach, I am devastated to learn of the news of selling off public protected park land to private developers. Wasaga beach may as well be one of the natural wonders of the world, being the longest fresh-water beach on the planet.
Just this past Saturday a friend and I paddled on the Nottawasaga River - all the way from Edenvale Conservation Area in Highway 26 down to the mouth of the river at Beach 1. We were in the canoe for 8+ hours and were grateful to see the park and protected areas in an up-close & intimate day-trip. We paddled down the river, through marshland, through Jack's lake, past Klondike park, around the bend of the Oxbow, down to the populated area of Wasaga Beach - all beautiful and pristine sights until we reached the areas where the river bank has been built up for human convenience. We saw so many wild animals (painted turtles, snapping turtle, water snakes, chipmunks, etc), tons of important insects, many of which are pollinators (dragonflies, damselflies, ebony jewelwings, monarch butterflies, many many others) and so many birds (herons, ducks, Canada geese, seagulls, belted king fisher). All of which drastically dropped off once we were in sight of private properties along the river.

There is already a major loss of biodiversity roughly between the Oxbow and the mouth of the river because of human-made changes to the river banks. I cant imagine the destruction building private homes or businesses on beach 1 would due to the delicate ecosystem. Besides, the beach naturally will change overtime. Selling off public park beaches for development is not smart! Anything built there will constantly be dealing with repairs as beaches are not meant to be built on.

Additionally there are endangered species in these areas, such as the piping plover which should be protected by our government, not driven to extinction.

Also the big beautiful sand dunes are under threat of development. These dunes help protect the surrounding areas from floods. Building upon them and/or changing the landscape will drastically change the river's natural ability to withstand floods.

Please, we Ontarians and people local to Wasaga area urge the government to NOT sell our public land.