To whom it may concern, As a…

To whom it may concern,

As a resident of Wasaga Beach and a regular visitor to the beaches under consideration for transferring over to the town, I am very concerned. I cannot understand how this is even being considered in the first place. Provincial Parks are meant to be protected spaces for plant and animal species to thrive and for all of us to visit for some enjoyment in nature. This land transfer must be stopped.

As an engineer and a senior construction project manager of a large environmental based agency, due diligence and enviromental assessments must be undertaken to protect the species at risk in this area and to stop unnecessary development of this prime waterfront. These lands should be left as is - go build houses and developments somewhere else, there is lots of other vacant land that can be utilized for these purposes. The current development at Beach 1 is bad enough, those townhouses do not belong there. An environmental protection plan would state that these lands being considered for transfer must not be developed as they are prime nesting territory for the piping plovers, who are only starting to have increased success. There are only a few successful nesting sites in Ontario. This specific location has had the most success with fledglings and now with this ridiculous Bill 5, that somehow got passed, we're just going to let all of our species at risk suffer because Doug Ford wants to develop endlessly. Please stop this from happening. This site is also home to many other species of shore birds and animals. We need to protect our Provincial Parks, our species at risk, our sand dunes, our trees and our waterfront. This is our backyard for all of us to play in and enjoy nature at its best. Please tell the town to leave it alone, it is critical that it must remain protected under the Provincial Parks act.

The Ontario Government must ensure that Piping Plovers are conserved and protected by a science-based management plan and resources that:
• Reduces threats to Piping Plover and their habitat year-round by restricting mechanical raking so that the habitat is not destroyed, prohibiting dune alteration, and protecting nests with fenced buffer zones and natural predator mitigations.
• Commits funding to protect, conserve, and steward Piping Plovers, their nests, and their habitats.
• Engages experts like Birds Canada at development and implementation phases.

Please stop considering this land transfer. Leave our lands the way they are, in their best natural state. Eliminating Provincial Park lands is not the solution for tourism development.

Thank you.