The Grey Sauble Conservation Authority will no longer allow hunting on two properties that are popular with tourists and hikers.
At its meeting on July 24, the conservation authority’s board of directors unanimously approved a change to the permitted uses at the West Rocks and Pottawatomi conservation areas.
Hunting will no longer be permitted on the two properties.
CAO Tim Lanthier explained that West Rocks is located within the City of Owen Sound, which has a bylaw that prohibits hunting throughout the city. West Rocks is also located close to two schools in Owen Sound and is a popular destination for students and classes.
“Even if we permit hunting at West Rocks, which we don’t recommend based on this report, this bylaw doesn’t allow it anyway,” said Lanthier. “With regards to West Rocks, we feel there is a safety issue to allowing both uses of hiking and hunting. The Bruce Trail goes through it as well.”
Lanthier said Pottawatomi conservation area, which is just outside Owen Sound near Springmount, is home to Jones Falls, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Grey County. He said Pottawatomi has multiple entrance access points and data from one entrance shows that more than 10,000 people visit per year. Currently, the conservation authority allows archery or bow hunting on the property.
“It seems like an obvious conflict of use,” said Lanthier.
Lanthier said the authority is planning a full review of the permitted activities on all of its properties, including hunting. The review will include public consultation on various uses.
“Hunting is one that we want to take a broader look at for all of our properties,” said Lanthier. “Many of these are going to require us to have a lot of consultation with the public and other stakeholders that will be impacted to learn their perspectives and determine which property moving forward it makes sense to have hunting on vs. not.”
Lanthier said in the case of West Rocks and Pottawatomi, public consultation would be moot.
“With these two properties, consultation would be hollow. The risks are too high,” he said. “The probability of an incident is too high to continue to allow hunting on either of these.”
