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Rare beach vegetation plowed under at Wasaga Beach Provincial Park

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In Council Watch
Dec 7th, 2015
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Beach vegetation -Ontario Parks photo

Beach vegetation -Ontario Parks photo

Example of beach vegetation -Ontario Parks photo

By Roger Klein CTV News Barrie December 7 2015
Some of the sand at Wasaga Beach is being plowed and that has caused some concern for environmentalists.
Scott Martin says he couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw that large swaths of rare vegetation on Wasaga Beach had been tilled into the sand and destroyed.
“Very rare provincially significant, provincially rare habitats,” says Ecologist Scott Martin. “They are destroying the beach and losing sensitive plants species as well.”
The land in question falls inside the boundaries of Wasaga Beach Provincial Park. Several locations along the west end of the beach, where all of the vegetation is, has been removed.
Provincial park officials issued the work permits for the plowing, after shoreline property owners complained about the beach being overgrown with grass and weeds.
“It has grown out of control and if left unchecked. This is pretty much what you are going to see throughout the beach areas if it is left unchecked,” says Larry Simpson of the Wasaga West Beach Association.
On Monday, park officials wouldn’t say how much more of the beach could be plowed under, but opponents say the plants are an essential part of the sand dunes and should be protected.
“This all happened without a class environmental assessment,” says Martin. “This is provincial park property. This work goes against the Provincial Parks and Preserves Act and against the park management plan.”
At this point in the season, no more work is expected to take place on the beach until next spring.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests tells CTV News that it will have more details to share with on Tuesday about those work permits that were issued.

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