Beach hoped to be part of Recreation Bay Plan

06/27/2018

The Kahnawà:ke Environment Protection Office (KEPO) would like to update the community on progress that has been made on a project to restore the Recreation Bay (Johnson’s Beach) area.

This work has included undertaking ecological surveys, modeling the flow through the system and developing a detailed design for a restoration plan. The restoration plan includes three main components; increasing flow, naturalizing the shoreline along the island and the mainland and improving the existing wetlands in the bay.

Community consultation on the draft detailed design was held in June and July of 2017 and changes were made to the draft plan to incorporate feedback received. One comment that was frequently received was the need to include a beach in the plan as many community members recalled how they enjoyed swimming at Johnson’s Beach in the past and the importance of the beach as a gathering area for the community.

The design was completed in February 2018 and included this beach element. Since that time, KEPO has been meeting with potential funders in an effort to secure the funding to complete this project. However, no firm commitments have been received to date.

KEPO will be hosting an open house in the near future to present the plan and gather feedback from the community. There remain many opportunities for community feedback and involvement on this project. More details concerning the open house will be available soon.

For any questions concerning this project, please contact Patrick Ragaz, KEPO project coordinator at 450-635-0600.