Mayflies, killdeer, ring-billed gulls, wormwood, sea rocket, and marram grass share Wasaga’s beach area with millions of visitors each summer. The 14-km beachfront not only provides recreation space for sunbathers and swimmers; it also provides valuable habitat for wildlife.

Likely one of the Park’s harshest environments, the shoreline is mostly devoid of life. Part of this reason is because Wasaga’s beach sand, consisting of tiny grains of granite and other types of rock, contains no nutrients - a requirement for plant life to grow.

 Additionally, the land at the shoreline is constantly changing in response to the crashing waves. The result is that plants are unable to take hold or even exist. Finally, the heat of the sun makes living all that more challenging. Shoreline ground temperatures can sometimes reach over 50 degrees Celsius. Gulls and killdeer are frequent avian visitors to the shoreline, however. There they are able to find food to eat, such as mayfly larvae, which comes to shore to develop into winged adults, mayfly adults, and decaying fish.

Marram grass is one plant species associated with the beach. As a colonizing species, this plant is able to stretch itself towards the lake from the dunes, supplying new shoots of the plant with nutrients from the originating plant. Marram grass is able to not only hold sand in place, but create dunes. The process of building dunes occurs gradually due to two features of the plant: long blades of grass which slow the movement of blowing sand, and a vast network of roots that holds sand in place. As marram grass grows and thrives, past roots and blades provide nutrients for other plant species to exist.

 This is part of the reason why you find increasingly more plants and different types of plant species as you move further into the dunes away from the shoreline.

Where sand dunes are not present at Wasaga Beach, at the eastern and western fringes of the beach, wetland meadows exist. This unique environment is the result of lower water levels on Georgian Bay. Now evident near the shore are areas where the water table is so close to the surface that waters seeps up and through the sand. Plants, such as three squared rush and soft rush, which are specialized to grow in moist areas, are present.

Lake levels, season, prevailing winds and extreme weather conditions are all important elements that bring about change on any shoreline environment. Wasaga’s beach is no exception. From season to season and from year to year, the beach and the wildlife present are always changing. In the summer be sure to bring your binoculars to view the gulls and killdeer, and in the spring and fall be on the lookout for migrating waterfowl.

Muck

Beach muck, or detritus, is sometimes present along the shoreline at Wasaga Beach. It consists of decaying vegetation, such as wood and leaves in various stages of breaking down. Muck is not harmful nor a pollutant. Park management continues to be involved with muck removal.