Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area Management Plan: document information

Acknowledgements

This management plan was prepared by Laurie Maynard (Canadian Wildlife Service [Ontario]). Thanks are extended to Madeline Austen, Shannon Badzinski, John Brett, Lesley Dunn, Christian Friis, Krista Holmes, Andrea Kettle, Dave Moore, Jeff Robinson, and Daniel Rokitnicki-Wojcik (Canadian Wildlife Service [Ontario]), Olaf Jensen (Canadian Wildlife Service [National Capital Region]), Darcy Henderson (Canadian Wildlife Service [Prairie and Northern]), Kathy St. Laurent, Al Hanson (Canadian Wildlife Service [Atlantic]), David Courchaine, Dwayne James (Department of National Defence) and Todd Norris (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry) for their contributions to the development or review of the document, and to Marie-Claude Archambault, Krista Holmes (Canadian Wildlife Service [Ontario]), Corey Nugent and Alan Marsh (formerly Canadian Wildlife Service [Ontario]) for preparation of maps and figures.

Hélène Lévesque (Canadian Wildlife Service [Ontario]) prepared the 1986 Management Plan: Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area, which provided the groundwork for this update.

Copies of this plan are available at the following addresses

Environment and ClimateChange Canada
Public Inquiries Centre
7th Floor, Fontaine Building
200 Sacré-Coeur Boulevard
Gatineau QC K1A 0H3
Telephone: 819-997-2800
Toll Free: 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada only)
Email: ec.enviroinfo.ec@canada.ca Environment and Climate Change Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service
Ontario Region
4905 Dufferin Street
Toronto ON M3H 5T4

Environment and Climate Change Canada Protected Areas website

How to cite this document

Environment and Climate Change Canada. 2016. Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area Management Plan, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ontario Region, 50 pp.

Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials in this publication, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from Environment and Climate Change Canada's copyright administrator. To obtain permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials for commercial purposes, apply for Crown Copyright Clearance by contacting:

Cover photos: © David White (left - Wellers Bay), Thinkstockphotos.ca (middle - Lesser Scaup) and Environment and Climate Change Canada - Canadian Wildlife Service (right - aerial photo of Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area, Lake Ontario, taken by Ian Parsons)

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About Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Protected Areas and Management Plans

What are Environment and Climate Change Canada’s Protected Areas?

Environment and Climate Change Canada establishes marine and terrestrial National Wildlife Areas for the purposes of conservation, research and interpretation. National Wildlife Areas are established to protect migratory birds, species at risk, and other wildlife and their habitats. National Wildlife Areas are established under the authority of the Canada Wildlife Act and are, first and foremost, places for wildlife. Migratory Bird Sanctuaries are established under the authority of the Migratory Birds Convention Act, 1994 and provide a refuge for migratory birds in the marine and terrestrial environment.

What is the size of the Environment and Climate Change Canada Protected Areas Network?

The current Protected Areas Network consists of 54 National Wildlife Areas and 92 Migratory Bird Sanctuaries comprising more than 12 million hectares across Canada.

What is a management plan?

A management plan provides the framework in which management decisions are made. They are intended to be used by Environment and Climate Change Canada staff to guide decision making, notably with respect to permitting. Management is undertaken in order to maintain the ecological integrity of the protected area and to maintain the attributes for which the protected area was established. Environment and Climate Change Canada prepares a management plan for each protected area in consultation with First Nations and other stakeholders.

A management plan specifies activities that are allowed and identifies other activities that may be undertaken under the authority of a permit. It may also describe the necessary improvements needed in the habitat, and specify where and when these improvements should be made. A management plan identifies Indigenous rights and allowable practices specified under land claims agreements. Further, measures carried out for the conservation of wildlife must not be inconsistent with any law respecting wildlife in the province in which the protected area is situated.

What is protected area management?

Management includes monitoring wildlife, maintaining and improving wildlife habitat, periodic inspections, enforcement of regulations, as well as the maintenance of facilities and infrastructure. Research is also an important activity in protected areas; hence, Environment and Climate Change Canada staff carries out or coordinates research in some sites.

The series

All of the National Wildlife Areas are to have a management plan. All of these management plans will be initially reviewed 5 years after the approval of the first plan, and every 10 years thereafter.

To learn more

To learn more about Environment and Climate Change Canada’s protected areas, please visit our website or contact the Canadian Wildlife Service.

Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area

The Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area (NWA) is located along the shores of Prince Edward County near Trenton, in northeastern Lake Ontario. It was established in 1978 to protect the peninsula and islands of Wellers Bay in Lake Ontario for the benefits of waterfowl. Covering a total area of 41 hectares (ha), the NWA is comprised of a long, narrow sand spit known as the Baldhead Peninsula with three adjoining small islands: Bald Island, Fox Island, and Baldhead Island.

The Great Lakes shoreline is one of the most modified habitats in Canada, and also one of the most important habitats for migratory waterfowl, shorebirds, and songbirds in North America. Over the last 100 years, the majority of natural habitat has been drastically altered by shoreline development and urbanization. Wellers Bay NWA is a protected area within this altered landscape. The NWA contains ecologically sensitive coastal ecosystems that are rare habitats in Ontario. Its features are part of a long, narrow baymouth barrier beach that extends 7 km across the mouth of Wellers Bay, known as the Wellers Bay Coastal Sand Spit, a provincially designated Area of Science and Natural Interest, and one of the last undeveloped sand spits in Lake Ontario.

The baymouth barrier beach protects the wetlands and shoreline habitats of Wellers Bay, making the area an important stopover site and provides important staging and feeding habitats for waterfowl and a variety of birds during spring and fall migration as they pass through eastern Lake Ontario. In 2009, Canadian Wildlife Service surveys of the lower Great Lakes during fall migration found that approximately 22% of the total waterfowl in eastern Lake Ontario were in Wellers Bay and area. The most abundant species were Greater and Lesser Scaup and Canada Geese. Species inventory and monitoring within the NWA is limited however, Wellers Bay NWA is known to support over 50 species of birds, with at least 10 species having confirmed nesting on the NWA.

Ten species listed under the federal Species at Risk Act have been reported at the Wellers Bay NWA, including 3 birds, 3 reptiles, 1 amphibian, 1 insect and 2 fish. Species at risk like the Least Bittern, Pugnose Shiner and Western Chorus Frog are observed and critical habitat has been identified for some of them. Monarch butterflies can be observed in the area in significant numbers as they migrate to their wintering grounds in the south.

Prior to the establishment of the Wellers Bay NWA, the sand spit and the adjacent waters of Wellers Bay and Lake Ontario were owned by the Department of National Defence (DND) and served as an Air Weapons Range. The boundary of this Legacy Site (Figure 2) is identified on some nautical charts as an ‘exclusion zone’. Unexploded explosive ordnances (UXO), including 500-pound bombs and other explosives remain on or near the site (DND, 2016). As such, a safety zone remains for an area that includes the NWA and extending into the waters of Wellers Bay and Lake Ontario, where an explosive hazard warning is posted (see Appendix 4). DND retains jurisdiction over the lakebed within the safety zone. Public access to the Wellers Bay NWA is prohibited. The NWA has been closed to the public since the land was transferred to the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) from DND in 1969, with a covenant that the land be protected as a conservation area for waterfowl. Public safety concerns limit the activities permitted on the NWA, and its management potential. Monitoring wildlife and improving habitat are restricted, authorized to select individuals trained in the health and safety procedures related to UXOs. Nevertheless, minimizing human disturbance is also a priority management strategy to protect the fragile beach and dune ecosystems and sensitive wildlife habitats, and promote their natural restoration. Other priority management actions include reducing the impact of invasive and over abundant species on the habitats of Wellers Bay NWA, as well as managing the risk of exposure to UXO and personal injury on the site. DND continues to perform annual surface sweeps as the property is continuously changing (due to the dynamic environment of water, wind and sand). At least 30 UXOs and 3,933 kg of debris have been removed between 2006 and 2014 (DND, 2014).

The Wellers Bay NWA is 1 of 10 NWAs in Ontario. It is an International Union for Conservation of Nature Category IV Protected Area. The lands of the NWA are administered by the Canadian Wildlife Service (CWS) of ECCC under the Wildlife Area Regulations of the Canada Wildlife Act. This 2016 Wellers Bay NWA Management Plan is an update of the Management Plan: Wellers Bay National Wildlife Area (Lévesque, 1986), and replaces all previous versions.

For greater certainty, nothing in this management plan shall be construed so as to abrogate or derogate from the protection provided for existing Indigenous or treaty rights of the Indigenous peoples of Canada by the recognition and affirmation of those rights in section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982.

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Date modified:: 2017-08-07

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