Dear Mr. St. Lawrence Parks Commission, Wed. July 5, 2023
I’ll try to keep it short, but I have several things to say, so please hear me out.
Yes, that was quite an ice storm we had in early April. Lots of trees were damaged or toppled on your property and mine. Yes, it took quite a while to find the workers and specialized equipment to trim the surviving trees, or deal with those that were brought down.
No, neither you nor I have an unlimited budget to pay for workers’ wages, fuel costs and renting or purchasing the equipment needed for the clean-up.
Yes, I realize that your first priority had to be preparing the campsites for the hundreds of motor homes and trailers that come to the Long Sault campgrounds every spring, summer and autumn.
However, the causeways than link the islands of the Long Sault Parkway no longer offer the views of the St. Lawrence it once did. Sections of the road are causeways connecting the islands, starting at Mille Roches and ending at McLaren, but this year rarely can one see water! Tall stands of willows, staghorn sumacs, reeds, grasses, vines and Manitoba maples have been allowed to obscure the view. In some parts of the causeway, even the guardrails are obscured.
Screened from view are the wading egrets, turtles basking in the sun, strings of ducklings and goslings being escorted by their doting parents and great blue herons stalking along the shoreline.
If all that invasive vegetation were elms or oaks, in fifty or so years we’d have a shaded tunnel to drive through. If I wanted a tunnel, I’d take a stroll through Brockville’s railway tunnel, or drive through East End Montreal’s Lafontaine Tunnel. If I want an unobscured waterview of the St. Lawrence, I go to the Thousand Islands Parkway between Brockville and Gananoque.
There are tractors equipped with extended side arms fitted with brush cutters that can reach over the guardrails to efficiently do the job of clearing uncontrolled brush growth.
While I’m at it, here’s another little bit of wisdom I’ve acquired in cleaning up my yard. Before attempting to mow the grass, I take the time to remove branches and limbs that have fallen. Your workers seem to mow around the fallen debris, rather than doing the obvious job of picking up first.
Let’s get the Parkway’s waterviews back.
