By Arthur Langford:

It was early in 1994 when landowners and appointed stewards of property adjacent to Big Creek petitioned the Township of Norfolk to take the necessary steps to regulate boat speed on this well used waterway, citing the reasons (personal safety, erosion caused by the wake of speeding boats, noise) for the request, adding that they knew of no other National Wildlife Area bisected by an unregulated water thoroughfare. Some are of the opinion that such a regulation should have been made long ago without any specific request by individuals.

The assistance of the Long Point World Biosphere Reserve Foundation (LPWBRF) to bring about the needed changes was sought shortly after delivery of this petition.

On June 24, 1994 the LPWBRF Board wrote to the Township of Norfolk Council in support of the petitioners, pointing out that the 1991 Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) booklet on the subject listed 221 areas of the Province in which maximum boat speeds have been set by law, usually with a limit of 9 km/hr. We also pointed out that every significant waterway at all near Big Creek to the east and the west has its designated speed limit.

Action was slow, although the Township of Norfolk did contact OMNR in August of that year. In January 1995, no progress having been made, the LPWBRF determined the sequence of steps that must be taken to obtain the desired results and gave the information to a councillor. By September the Ontario Provincial Police had accepted its potential responsibility to enforce any regulation as well as possible. The October 1994 deadline was missed. On March 6, 1995 Norfolk Council decided to proceed. On April 18 it held the required public meeting to air the issue. On the day following Council sent its approved recommendations to the Simcoe District Office of the OMNR. The LPWBRF has been trying to keep track of the action but since that April date it has been difficult to determine on whose desk the application for a speed limit, all necessary preliminary steps having been taken, was sitting.

Another October 1 deadline passed, with no concrete results. Early this year I was assured by OMNR that the document regulating boat speed on Big Creek had been approved and was ready to go, as part of a package on boating regulations, to Privy Council for final approval. On October 21 I could not be assured of further action but on Nov. 4 was finally able to contact an OMNR officer who assured me that the Canada Gazette of June 96 proclaimed a maximum boat speed of 5 km/hr on Big Creek, which will be announced in the 1997 booklet published by OMNR. Success at last!