In November of 2023 Parks Canada confirmed the presence of zebra mussels in Clear Lake, in Riding Mountain National Park. Since then, Parks Canada has taken multiple efforts to contain the infestation including thorough boat inspections and the installation of a containment curtain.
Leading up to the May-long weekend, residents and business owners of Wasagaming were told the lake would be subject to the 'one boat-one' lake policy. However, just before the May-long weekend, Parks Canada changed their mind, banning all motorized boats on Clear Lake, creating an upheaval for the tourism, local economy and summer recreation in that area, which is one of the province's tourism hotspots.
This past Tuesday evening the advocacy group, ‘Fairness for Clear Lake’ called a town hall meeting where over 600 people attended. Andrew Campbell, Senior Vice-president of Operations for Parks Canada, was also in attendance.
The big question was, 'Why did Parks Canada make this drastic decision in short-notice and why has communication been lacking ever since?'
Parks Canada spokesman, Andrew Campbell explained to his attentive audience that they had been informed shortly before the May long weekend that it was going to face a judicial review for the “one boat-one lake” policy on Clear Lake. He did not disclose who instigated this threat of a judicial review. He added the review would have forced the 'one boat-one' lake plan to be put on hold. So, hitting the pause button on this at the start of summer seemed 'prudent' in their eyes.
"I think the biggest problem we have with Parks Canada in Clear Lake is the miscommunication and mismanagement from Parks Canada itself, the agency itself," says Member of Parliament for Riding Mountain, Dan Mazier. "They stopped all types of boat activity last year. And then come January of this year the Superintendent of the Park was basically saying they were going to go back to our 'one boat-one lake' type of approach, which they had after years before. That was their approach to this problem way before this," he adds.
"They were doing that for many years," he explains. "You couldn't get into the lake without being inspected and getting a sticker. With out that you were just locked out. You could just go there but you had to be inspected to get into the lake."
Mazier says the residents and businesses saw open communication between Parks Canada and the Park Superintendent and their community members on how to proceed this summer.
"'We're going forward', they said, and 'here's where you're going to put your boats in'. The launches were all getting cleared and then all of a sudden, they were shutting down the lake," explains Mazier. "Businesses were already ramping up getting ready to be open for the May long weekend. They had their supplies ordered. They had their students hired. There were things going on ... there's a lot of businesses there ... and then all of a sudden just blindsided. And not only those, but everybody that had bookings and everybody that bought boats."
"From that point on, Parks Canada never, never indicated the reason why, and that's what frustrated everybody," he adds.
Mazier says this sudden change of plan and the silence that followed was the biggest catalyst to local advocacy group, 'Fairness for Clear Lake' to call a town hall meeting.
An official letter to Steven Guilbeault, Federal Minister of Identity and Culture (which assumes responsibility for Parks Canada) and Dan Mazier asked the questions, 'Why? Why was everybody being blindsided?'
And then he asked for two things on behalf of the people of Riding Mountain:
1) A full reversal of the motorboat ban on Clear Lake and reinstate the one boat-one lake policy
2) A new Superintendent at Riding Mountain National Park
"There are still obviously some major problems with communications with the park," he adds. "We've been fighting this for years and it has not gotten any better over this debacle of handling Clear Lake. Their own data was telling them all that this was OK, this type of approach. And now no one was saying anything."
The coalition with the community, cottage owners, business owners and other community stakeholders, 'Fairness for Clear Lake', are launching a class action lawsuit to find out the truth as to why Parks Canada decided to do what they did. Through crowdfunding they've raised over $115,000 and have invested approximately $35,000 of that on legal filings as well as contracting AIS specialist, Mark Lowden, to get involved.
Lowden is a fisheries biologist and owner of AEE Tech Services Inc. He has also been hired by Manitoba Hydro to study zebra-mussel spread as they too, are dealing with this aquatic invasive species. Lowden says Parks Canada's excuse to ban all motorized boats from Clear Lake to mitigate the spread of zebra mussels and their larvae, veligers, isn't accurate information.
A female zebra mussel will lay about 1 million eggs per year.
These eggs develop into microscopic, free-swimming larvae, viligers, that move through the water column by simply floating along. The veligers have no self-propelled momentum. They move about the water system by underwater currents and through wind and wave action. However, they quickly begin to form shells. At about 3 weeks, the sand-grain-sized larvae start to settle and by using their byssal threads, like microscopic legs, they attached to any firm surface. They clump together and cover rock, metal, rubber and plastics, wood, docks, boat hulls, rope, buoys, a lake’s natural clams and crayfish and even aquatic plants, and fellow zebra mussels.
It's important to note that while motorized watercraft are most often blamed for the spread of zebra mussels, any watercraft can transport them, and their microscopic veligers, to any waterbody, simply by not cleaning mud, sand and debris off the watercraft or the trailer that it's hauled in on. Forgetting to dump water that has collected in bait buckets, boat hulls and other containers can share AIS into another lake or river. And not drying a watercraft thoroughly, both inside and out, can also transfer veligers.
It's important to CLEAN, DRAIN and DRY every watercraft whenever leaving any waterbody - and this includes all equipment, toys, plastic floaties ... everything that has come into contact with that water!
Mazier makes the argument the lake already has the zebra mussels and their spread throughout the lake is imminent. So, why this economic upheaval for something that is already taking place? He says he doesn't buy the excuse that Parks Canada was threatened with a judicial review. One could say it sounds rather ... 'fishy'.
"Like I stated last night, Parks Canada has created a fortress, and we're all just on the outside of this," shares Mazier. "Instead of forming a park for the people it's basically from the people. And that is totally unacceptable."
A formal petition is being circulated to reverse the decisions made, "and so when I go back to parliament everytime I get a signature I can stand up in the House of Commons and present their petitions and tell them to get this boat ban out of the way and then get new management in," adds Mazier.
"This is everything that's wrong with government, right?" he adds. "Like this is everything why people don't like governments. It builds mistrust. And we are suggesting ways of rebuilding these bridges and make sure that Parks Canada can be enjoyed for generations. The community's screaming for it. I'm screaming for it. Let's get together, let's start talking, right?"
How can the public help?
"Honestly, what I would recommend you do is to reach out to 'Fairness for Clear Lake' and find out how you can support them. Also, I would strongly urge everybody listening to this, get involved and just keep your finger on the pulse of what's going on. And then, the best people to support at this time is the businesses of the community because they really have stuck their necks out and put a lot of work into this."
For more ongoing updates please visit Dan Mazier's Facebook page HERE!
(all photos, credit Dan Mazier Facebook page)
