The Friends of Sauble Beach are looking to put up more posts and ropes along the dunes.
They made a delegation to South Bruce Peninsula council last week outlining their work installing posts over the past year, and planning work which included meeting with members of Saugeen First Nation and also applying for grants.
Group member John Strachan told council, by installing posts and ropes on the east side of the dunes, 94 blow out paths were blocked from the Crowd Inn, north to 7th Street. Blow out paths are small paths people use to get from the road onto the beach. The Friends of Sauble Beach want to reduce the amount of foot traffic trails over the dunes to stop the sand from blowing off the beach.
Strachan says access and control signage was also installed.
They’re now asking council to approve the installation of posts and ropes from 7th Street North, to Sauble Falls Road.
The group would also like support from the Town in the form of funding and support in their efforts to make grant requests as well as in-kind labour from the Town, and equipment to install posts.
Following the delegation, Mayor Jay Kirkland expressed concern about legal restrictions put on the Town with regard to the endangered Piping Plover shore bird’s habitat, saying, “I think it’s something staff need to report back to us on. We do have to follow a set of rules.”
In recent years, the Town was fined by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for doing work on the beach. It disputed the fines in court and lost.
Kirkland, added, “We need to hear something back before we do anything because we did have a judge say that anything north of 6th Street is a different situation as far as plovers are concerned. South of 6th Street was too much human interaction and a little lenient. North is plover habitat, so I’m not committing to anything until we get something back from staff. “
