Where Land Meets Water

O U R   N A T U R A L   H E R I T A G E

 WHERE LAND MEETS WATER

Thursday, August 20, 2009 

If it were possible to walk the shoreline completely around Prince Edward County, you would need to figure on setting aside a fair bit of time as the County shoreline is a good 800 kilometres in length.   At least two or three months of back to back full day walking would have to be reserved  to accomplish the task, given time lost in stepping over fallen willows, tightroping along shoreline protective works, slugging through marshy shallows, and stepping delicately over sunbathers at Sandbanks. That’s a lot of length considering the County is only 1048.3 square kilometres in size.

From the mainland, the County reaches out into Lake Ontario like a giant amoeba preparing to divide. It is the abundance of these tiny peninsulas, numerous lakes, bays and smaller islands that make this county so attractive to both residents and visitors.

From these very shores, rumrunners sped their illegal booze across Lake Ontario, schooners in the late 1890s laden with barley departed for Oswego, paddlewheelers delivered passengers to resorts like Lakeshore Lodge at Sandbanks and the Massassauga Point Hotel. Even earlier, Samuel de Champlain plied some of the lakes in his explorations, and early natives paddled these same shorelines. Some 8,000 years ago, ancient Mongolian tribes likely stood on these very shores.

Despite the passage of time, these same shorelines have not lost their appeal. Cement carriers and high powered boats have replaced schooners and birch bark canoes, and kayak paddlers, sail boaters and other pleasure craft owners use these same waters to recreate during the summer months. The shores are a drawing card as evidenced by the half million sun worshipers who visit Sandbanks Provincial Park annually.

Residents have banded together to protect these valuable shorelines and water quality. Local agencies have legislation in place to regulate what can or cannot be done along shorelines, or when it can be done with less disruption to fish habitat. We learn as we go. We have learned that cement seawalls destroy fish habitat, while using a more natural approach toward shoreline erosion protects the critical shoreline habitat we call the ribbon of life. Through the years habitat enhancement programs have been put in place to protect these waterways, and offer incentives to property owners to upgrade sewage systems and help farmers provide alternate water sources such as nose pumps for cattle that formerly wandered into creeks. The Waring Creek Improvement Association is an example of local residents working together to improve water quality in one of the many creeks in the County. The restoration Council of the Bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan is striving to return the Bay of Quinte from an Area of Concern to an Area in Recovery.

As our County becomes even more of a drawing card to visitors and residents, our quest for those locations where land meets water will become even greater, placing increased pressure on our shorelines. We need to continue our efforts in protecting water quality and our sensitive shorelines and ensure that in our pursuit for these special places we do not, at the same time, destroy the very thing that attracts us.

It would be difficult to find another county in Ontario that boasts so much shoreline diversity. Whether it’s the baymouth sandbars along the County’s west and south shores that attract us, the abundance of wildlife within our wetlands, or the stark beauty of towering cliff edges such as we find at Little Bluff or Cape Vesey, these shores offer a diversity of splendour found nowhere else in a single concentrated location.

Since the first humans being set foot on Prince Edward County soil, and gazed in wonderment at the waters that lay before them, these shorelines have continued to attract scores of people who seek out this very important element of Prince Edward County’s natural heritage.

This is the thirteenth  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 .