Controversy explodes over Bald Head beach

By Renée Rodgers

The tempers flaring over Bald Head beach may be more explosive than the bombs supposedly buried beneath it.

For seven years, Wellers Bay residents have been negotiating a compromise with government officials that would allow public access to at least certain parts of the beach.

But at a meeting May 25 that all came to a halt.

The Canadian Wildlife Service, in conjunction with the Department of National Defence, announced that the public was permanently prohibited from using the beach that had been used by many area families for decades.

Both government agencies have reasons for prohibiting public access to the beach. The wildlife service’s main concern is the protection of animals and plants in the area. The DND insists old bombs, left over from when the area was used as a practice bombing range, are buried under the sand and still pose a threat.

The announcement was met with anger from locals and members of Friends of Wellers Bay, a committee formed in 1987 to address concerns about the bay.

Jim Alyea, director of Friends of Wellers Bay, was at the meeting. He said tempers flared and some people stormed out.

“Most of the local people who were there were certainly not happy,” he said. “I know I’m not. There was a subcommittee set up to look at some various options. I guess, as of last night, it’s a waste of time.”

Scott Anderson, a Friends of Wellers Bay member, said the announcement was completely unexpected.

“I’ve never seen so many people so mad in my life,” he said.

Anderson said for years Wellers Bay residents were led to believe parts of the beach would be reopened.

“After stringing us along for seven years, saying ‘We’re going to have to do this and that before we can allow public access’ – they’ve really been stringing us along – they dropped the bombshell, so to speak, and said there wasn’t going to be public access on their portion of the beach,” he said.

Bald Head beach is a sand spit, or strip of land, between Wellers Bay and Lake Ontario. The area, once owned by the Department of National Defence, was used as a training range from 1939 to 1953. According to the department’s website, thousands of bombs, rockets and explosive projectiles were directed at the area during those years.

The area has been named a legacy site by the DND. Legacy sites are areas that were formerly owned by the department and are believed to contain unexploded bombs, or UXO.

DND Communications Officer Kara Carnduff said the area can never be confirmed as completely safe for public access.

“It is important to understand that the limits of existing UXO detection technology means that no UXO legacy site can never be declared hazard free,” she said.

Carnduff said the explosion of an undetonated bomb on Bald Head beach could result in death. Nonetheless, residents of Wellers Bay have been taking this advice with a grain of salt for years.

Linda Battig of Wellers Bay said she has spent many summers at Bald Head beach with her children swimming, building sandcastles and catching minnows.

She said she has never been concerned by the possibility of a bomb exploding on the sand spit.

“It’s silly,” she said. “I’ve been going there since I was 10 and nothing’s ever exploded.”

Guido Basso, another local resident, is skeptical that beachgoers are in any real danger.

“I guess there’s always that possibility,” he said. “But I haven’t heard an explosion yet.”

In 1969, the Canadian Wildlife Service took over jurisdiction of the sand spit. The area was designated a national wildlife area in 1978. Public access to the beach was banned at that time but locals say the rule wasn’t strictly enforced and many people continued to use the beach anyway.

But in 2005 an endangered bird, the Piping Plover, was spotted in the area. Environmentalists hoped the rare bird or birds would settle in the area and hopefully mate.

Soon after, in what some locals refer to as a “crackdown”, environmental officers handed out numerous tickets to beach trespassers.

Lesley Dunn, manager of Ecosystem Conservation at Environment Canada, confirmed enforcement initiatives were stepped up at that time, but the tickets had nothing to do with the Piping Plover’s arrival.

“I don’t know if it was actually because of the bird,” she said. “There’s never been public access allowed to the wildlife area since it became designated in 1978.”

It was also in the mid-2000s that Friends of Wellers Bay began negotiating with the Canadian Wildlife Service and DND to allow the public access to sectioned-off portions of the beach. Residents were optimistic the beach would eventually be re-opened to the public.

The announcement by the Canadian Wildlife Service and the DND effectively ended negotiations.

Most Wellers Bay residents believe a compromise should be made which would allow people to use limited sections of the beach at their own risk.

“They really just need to have signs, warning people of the potential danger,” said Wellers Bay resident Marjorie Seguin. She said she has been to Bald Head beach many times.

Sensitive wildlife areas could be sectioned off, many residents say, allowing beachgoers and wildlife to peacefully co-exist.

Many Wellers Bay residents are trying to get the decision reversed by going to local MP Daryl Kramp.

Kramp said he would do what he can to find a resolution.

“I have already contacted respective ministers to request an appointment for a meeting to start a process of examination on this,” he said.

Kramp said he doesn’t believe the decision was carried out in a fair way. He believes a compromise can be made.

“It is my sincere desire that we should have accommodation that would be acceptable to all people involved, from all sides of the equation,” he said.

In the meantime, many people are making their own compromises by taking their boats to the beach. As long as they don’t set foot on land, environment officers can’t give them a ticket.

But locals say summers at Wellers Bay will never be quite the same again.

“We had it all right here in our backyard,” said Battig. “It’s like something’s been taken away from us.”

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