Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada
O U R N A T U R A L H E R I T A G E
SANDBANKS IS A RARE GEM IN THE COUNTY
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Every summer, the population of Prince Edward County jumps from 25,000 to over half a million. The attraction? Kilometre after kilometre of giant sand dunes and golden beaches at famous Sandbanks Provincial Park. From the attraction of a crowded 2-km beach at the Outlet to the contrastingly almost deserted eight kilometre sand spit separating West Lake from the windblown waters of Lake Ontario, this famous park has it all, over 1,500 hectares to be exact.
It was wind that sculpted the landscape after the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier, more than 12,000 years ago. Finely ground sand particles left behind by the glacier in what is now Lake Ontario, were carried shoreward and over hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, formed underwater bars, gradually building and rising above the surface, effectively creating both East and West Lakes and separating them from the turbulent waters of Lake Ontario. The East Lake bar is believed to be the oldest of the two bars, but it is the West Lake bar that captures the imagination of visitors with its large expanses of almost Sahara-like domes and blow-outs. While day users are drawn to the sandy beaches, others are mesmerized by the huge dunes and the life they support. The West Lake sand bar is the largest baymouth sandbar separating fresh water in the world. Similar baymouth bars of sand occur elsewhere along the shores of Prince Edward County, including Pleasant Bay, North Beach and Wellers Bay. In fact, every stretch of the county facing west to south west from Barcovan to Samon Point have these baymouth bars, but none can compare with the legendary beaches and dunes at Sandbanks.
It has taken the plants and animals probably hundreds of years to evolve to a point where they can survive the harsh, dry conditions that predominate here. Plants like wormwood, have fine hairs on their leaves to guard against moisture loss, and wild grape have leaves with waxy cuticles. Even some of the animals are special. While tracks confirm the presence of coyotes, raccoons, groundhogs and wild turkeys, more delicate signatures reveal the presence of antlions and wolf spiders who cleverly use the loose sand to their advantage to lie in wait for unsuspecting prey.
The dunes themselves have a dynamic past. Artifacts found here suggest that the St. Lawrence Iroquois used Sandbanks as a temporary fishing ground around 1500 AD, retreating inland again during the winter months. However, it wasn’t until pioneer settlement that the shape of the area began to change. Plants crucial to stabilizing the dunes were destroyed in the late 1800s when farmers allowed cattle to pasture the vegetated dunes to free up land to grow barley during the famous Barley Days. A mature mixed forest of deciduous and coniferous trees was removed to provide building materials. Nothing was left to prevent the sand from surrendering to the strong prevailing westerlies. By the late 1800s, the sand was moving, covering up fields in crop, buildings and the West Lake Road itself which was moved three times in 50 years to accommodate the moving sand. This is why County Road 12 snakes around a forested area just inside the park boundary. If you peer through the trees, you can see the huge mounds of sand on which they are growing, planted there decades ago to halt the leading edge of the moving dunes. In fact, it took over 40 years or reforestation efforts to finally bring the dune migration under control.
Historically, the sandy hummocks at Outlet and the much higher dunes at West Lake have been an attraction for probably hundreds of years to people with varying interests. The mining of the sand by Lake Ontario Cement, the establishment of the West Lake Brick Factory, the numerous hotels, interest shown by sun worshipers, campers, hikers, naturalists, scientists and biologists. The sandy hills have even seen foot prints from movie actors like Jeff Daniels and Jane Seymour through the filming of Fly Away Home and Touching Wild Horses.
Most will agree that Sandbanks is definitely the crown jewel among the many special natural heritage treasures in Prince Edward County. We’ll examine more of these treasures in future columns.
This is the second in a series of columns by Terry Sprague on the natural heritage of Prince Edward County, sponsored by the Prince Edward Stewardship Council. For more information, check out their website at http://www.ontariostewardship.org .