Land (sc)Raping

They try to control nature because 'they love the great outdoors' or they 'love country life'. They love it to death, and they're the ones responsible for killing it.

If you took the Washademoak Lake away from Cambridge-Narrows, just sucked it up with an oversized Hoover (or Dyson, which claim to be better), then I'd be living in a village without water. What would life be like in Cambridge-Narrows without the lake? I wouldn't know, because I wouldn't live here.

I live here because of the lake. End of story....almost.

Every year some knuckleheads from the city decide that they want to have a beach in front of their cottage, so they hire someone to dump a load of sand on their shore, as you'll see in the image above (taken just yesterday). They spread the sand around and they tan happily on their little piece of Daytona Beach. Their kids or grandkids play happily with their Tonka trucks while mom and dad crisp up like fatty bacon.

Nine months later Daytona Beach disappears with the spring freshet and another bucketful of Sahara is ordered. I wonder if they wonder where all the sand goes. I doubt it, because if they did, they'd not put the sand down in the first place unless, of course, they were totally ignorant. It's possible. I've seen grown men do donuts on JetSkis for fifteen unabated minutes , like lardy Braun blenders, so anything is possible.

The sand goes into the lake, silts up the lake bottom and destroys a freshwater ecosystem that got along 'just fine', at least until the dump truck, bulldozer and SeaDon't were invented. If we all did what the people who own the cottage in the image above did, we'd destroy the very reason for being here. I, for one, want a healthy lake.

It's interesting to note that we, as landowners, don't actually own the shore front. Sure, we use it, sometimes abuse it, but we don't own it. It's crown land. This fact is becoming increasingly apparent as the Provincial Department of the Environment and the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans, along with the Royal District Planning Commission step up measures to protect our waterways and shores. Just yesterday two representatives of Fisheries and Oceans were here to inspect a shoreline that was egregiously raped by the homeowners who summer behind it. For the record, it wasn't the property in the image above.

Yes, there are more. Many more.

Our Provincial, Federal and District representatives are not working alone. The Canaan-Washademoak Watershed is doing a fine job of monitoring the health of the lake. They're creating a benchmark, if I understand correctly, so that we can tell if our lake is healing or on life support. They don't get much praise for what they do, but if you love the lake, then you might tip your hat, or your swimsuit, toward them. They've produced a number of publications which, ideally, will educate the public regarding the health of the lake and shoreline (riparian zone).

Beyond the men and women who make it their jobs to protect the Canadian wilderness, and the generous volunteers who spend years of their lives for our benefit and that of our lake, there are also many individuals in the community who keep a watchful eye.

If you screw with my lake, then you screw with me. Don't.

It's an uphill battle, for sure. There are a lot of ignorant people out there. To give an example, I once counted fifty-two empty Tim Horton's cups littering the roadside between Cambridge-Narrows and Springfield. That's in a twenty kilometre stretch of road that is at least thirty minutes away from the nearest Tim's! Some people don't care about this planet.

People need to know that if they want to build something, like a four lane highway into the lake as my neighbour has done, or a beach, they need to talk to the appropriate government departments first. And please, stop your whining about the government (gubberment). They're the same ones who heal you when you're sick, keep rapists and murderers behind bars, and educate your children.

They're trying to save our lake. To them I say 'thank you'. I'd tip my swimsuit toward them but, as many of you know, I only wear bathing thongs and that could send the wrong message.