'Ecological setback' reported at Hillman Marsh

Hillman Marsh area. (Source: Wayne King)

Conservationists are sounding the alarm on ecological concerns at Hillman Marsh.

Wayne King from the Leamington Shoreline Association says trending lower water levels in Lake Erie created the conditions for “yet another unforeseen ecological setback for the Hillman Marsh.”

Over the recent three-day period of Dec. 22-24, most of Southwestern Ontario experienced a severe weather event with bitter cold and west/southwest winds blowing more than 50 miles per hour.

Consequently, King says the water in Lake Erie was pushed by the winds easterly towards Buffalo and the Niagara region, where water levels increased over six feet and 20 to 30 feet waves were experienced.

Meanwhile, in the Western Basin of Lake Erie record low lake levels were seen, with almost a seven-foot drop. Although there are no exact measurements for the Point Pelee Peninsula area, King says it was probably in the range of two to three feet lower.

Due to the current 1500-foot breach in the barrier beach, Hillman Marsh is now fundamentally a bay of Lake Erie. During the storm, two to three feet of water was siphoned from the marsh, leaving shallow areas of the marsh dry, stranding fish and wildlife in those areas.

King says during a recent walk of the Hillman Marsh beach area, exceptionally large quantities of dead fish were observed along the north edge of the recently formed sand spit.

“The entire length of the spit was lined with hundreds upon hundreds of dead carp and catfish, dying when the water drained from the shallows, leaving them high and dry and exposed to the bitter cold. Also, large numbers of invertebrates, mollusks and clams were washed ashore in the same area,” says King.

King is concerned that if the Lake Erie water levels continue to drop as predicted, events like this will

happen more frequently and Hillman Marsh will become nothing more than a “stagnant cesspool of rotting stinking wildlife and vegetation.”

King says when you combine this issue with the previously detailed high water risk of a Road 1 berm breach that would flood thousands of acres of farmland, homes and businesses this is a very serious consequential issue that requires prompt attention.

He is calling on the provincial and federal governments to support the Municipality of Leamington in their efforts to secure funding through the Disaster Mitigation Adaption Fund (DMAF) to implement the measures needed.