Mississippi Lake National Wildlife Area Management Plan: chapter 7

7. Health and safety

All reasonable efforts will be made to protect the health and safety of the public, including adequately informing visitors of any known or anticipated hazards or risks. Further, Environment Canada staff or departmental representatives will take all reasonable and necessary precautions to assure their own health and safety as well as that of their co-workers. However, visitors (including researchers and contractors) must make all reasonable efforts to inform themselves of risks and hazards and must be prepared and self-sufficient. Natural areas are inherently dangerous, and proper precautions must be taken by visitors, recognizing that Environment Canada staff neither regularly patrol nor offer services for visitor safety in NWAs.

The designated point of public access is the parking lot and main entrance on Drummond Concession 9A from December 16 to September 14.

Management activities directed at improving health and safety and reducing the risk of a hazardous occurrence may include:

• Installation of signs identifying safety precautions for authorized visitors;
• Posting of public notices within the community and tourist operations;
• Contaminated site assessment and remediation;
• Removal of debris; and
• Preparation of an National Wildlife Area (NWA) emergency response plan for fire and spill response.

Site visits will be conducted to monitor facilities and infrastructure (For example, signs, fences), general site and habitat conditions, human use, and prohibited activities. Periodic formal assessments of all facilities and infrastructure will be performed by federal agencies.

Environment Canada Canadian Wildlife Service (EC-CWS) works with Environment Canada’s Contaminated Sites Program to conduct site audits to identify contaminants, assess risks and remediate environmental contaminants on federal lands. The Phase I and Preliminary Phase II (combined) environmental site assessment at Mississippi Lake NWA was completed in 2008. No further site investigation or remediation actions were identified at that time (Franz Environmental Inc., 2009).

This protected area has no on-site staff: In the case of an emergency at the NWA, call 911 immediately.

In the event of an environmental emergency or occurrence, please call the 24-hour telephone number below:

Ontario Spills Action Centre
Ontario Ministry of the Environment
Telephone: 416-325-3000 or 1-800-268-6060

Any emergency should be reported immediately to the appropriate responding authorities. Reports should include the date, time and nature of the incident, contact names and information of the reporting party (for follow-up information), and other relevant details. Multiple authorities should be advised, if the situation warrants, as soon as possible. Refer to Appendix 3 for a list of contacts.

Non-emergency issues related to security or health and safety issues for Mississippi Lake NWA and Migratory Bird Sanctuary (MBS) should be reported to:

Environment Canada
Canadian Wildlife Service
Ontario Region
4905 Dufferin Street
Toronto ON  M3H 5T4
Tel.: 416-514-2633