Clear Lake, cloudy future Second summer of zebra mussel-fuelled motorized boat ban, uncertainty going forward raise longer-term concerns for tourism-driven economy, property values inside Riding Mountain National Park By: Gabrielle Piché Posted: 3:12 PM CDT Friday, Aug. 29, 2025 Last Modified: 9:33 AM CDT Saturday, Aug. 30, 2025 Updates

WASAGAMING — As the sun shimmers over Clear Lake’s still waters, everything appears smooth. But there is an undercurrent of uncertainty running through Manitoba’s most popular national park.

Riding Mountain, and other national parks across Canada, are increasingly facing difficult environmental challenges.

For Riding Mountain, it’s the invasive zebra mussel species. In Alberta’s Jasper National Park, it was 2024’s devastating wildfire that caused more than $1 billion in damages. In Nova Scotia, tinder-dry conditions this summer led to the controversial decision to close back-country access in two national parks — Cape Breton Highlands and Kejimkujik.

This is the new reality for places such as Wasagaming, Riding Mountain’s picturesque townsite that borders on Clear Lake — where bureaucratic decisions to address environmental threats run counter to the desires of residents and tourists who want to enjoy popular summer destinations to the fullest.

On a late-August afternoon, only paddleboards, kayaks and pedal boats dot the lake. Motorized watercraft are banned for a second consecutive summer in an effort to combat the spread of zebra mussels, first detected near the lake’s main beach two years ago.

If the 2024 prohibition was met with resignation, this year’s decision to ban boats stirred anger. It was announced just prior to the May long weekend and was an unexpected reversal of a Parks Canada promise that it would allow motorized boats back on the lake this season, despite the presence of the invasive species.

In its wake, local residents have taken legal action, prospective cottage-buyers have paused their searches and businesses operate in a fog of uncertainty.

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Clear Lake Marina used to rent motorized vessels and offer lake tours on its cruise boat, the Martese. Today, only canoes and kayaks are available for rent and, as a result, revenue is down.

A good portion of people the business used to serve — seniors and people in wheelchairs — can’t use what Clear Lake Marina offers now, the company’s president said.

“We provided inclusive services that welcomed everyone,” Kelsey Connor said in a statement.

He contacted the feds for financial compensation in 2024. That year was the first in which recreational watercraft was banned following the zebra mussels discovery. A clump of 48 live mussels were found in November 2023 at Clear Lake’s boat cove, just west of the main beach and pier. The number ballooned to hundreds, a September 2024 count revealed.

Unlike Clear Lake Marina, business is booming for many others in Wasagaming.

Gift shops, an art boutique and — perhaps unsurprisingly — a kayak-rental hub along Wasagaming’s main strip have reported banner sales.

Employees point to a common factor: the federal government’s decision to allow free entry to national parks this summer.

“I think the ‘shop local’ and ‘stay in Canada’ concepts did benefit us,” said Ken Romaniuk, board president of Wasagaming Community Arts, which owns an art boutique.

Given the year’s events — especially Parks Canada’s last-minute reversal on motorized boats — uncertainty has bled into the town’s private sector, Wasagaming’s Chamber of Commerce’s president said.

“Right now, we just don’t know what’s going on.”–Jason Potter

“Right now, we just don’t know what’s going on,” Jason Potter said, referring to uncertainty surrounding the ban’s future.

Leslie Barnett, who has been selling properties in and around the park since 2008, has noted a pronounced chill in the region’s cottage and housing market.

“People are standing at a fork in the road,” Barnett said. “They’re in a position right now where they’re not sure if they want to stay or if they want to go, because everything at this point is being listed as ‘temporary.’”

Although she hasn’t seen an increase in listings because of the ban, she noted people who have recreational boating in mind are hesitating to purchase what’s available, she said.

“When we have a general direction of ‘this is where we’re headed’ — that’s going to indicate where my market is going to be,” Barnett predicted.

There’s a “high possibility” Trevor Boquist will put his place up for sale if the ban remains.

“They’re in a position right now where they’re not sure if they want to stay or if they want to go, because everything at this point is being listed as ‘temporary.’”–Leslie Barnett

“It changes the total dynamic,” said Boquist, a member of Fairness for Clear Lake, a coalition fighting to reverse the ban.

Boquist is also vice-president of the Clear Lake Cottage Owners’ Association. Riding Mountain counts at least 525 cabins within its park boundaries.

Two of his four kids didn’t visit the family cottage this year because boating wasn’t an option, he said.

There were 806 motorized boats registered to be on the water at Clear Lake in 2023; registration was introduced that year as another method to contain the mussels invasion.

Kevin Beresford is another cottage owner who has had to park his boat, but he has found himself enjoying the quieter waters for canoeing and kayaking. He paddles several times a week.

“I guess I’m kind of a fence-sitter in this one,” Beresford said, pondering whether or not he’d like the ban removed.

Fairness for Clear Lake — which comprises cottage owners and business people — is asking for a judicial review of Parks Canada’s boat ban. It’s waiting for a judge to hear its application, Boquist said. The group has raised more than $110,000 in its effort.

The spread of zebra mussels to other lakes is likely inevitable, said Parkland Tourism Association chair Bill Gade.

The association encompasses several rural communities, Riding Mountain National Park and nearby provincial parks such as Asessippi and Duck Mountain.

“I’m thankful we can still count how many of our lakes have zebra mussels, but someday we won’t be able to,” Gade said. “We can’t just stop (it).

“We need to put some boats back in Clear Lake, but we should make sure that they’re not gonna spread zebra mussels. There’s ways we can do that at other lakes — let’s get on with it.”

Since 2013, zebra mussels have been found in many notable Manitoba waterways — from the Red and Nelson rivers to Lake Winnipeg and Lake Manitoba. Despite the species’ presence, boats are still allowed.

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Tourism might be slightly down in Riding Mountain this year, but it’s hard to tell whether it’s due to the boat ban or poor air quality caused by widespread wildfire smoke, said George Hartlen, chief administrative officer of the non-profit Friends of Riding Mountain National Park.

The park drew 338,490 people in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Parks Canada expects visitation this summer to match 2024’s — some 347,000 people, a spokesperson said, noting it could be record-breaking.

Several tourists told the Free Press Thursday the boat ban didn’t drastically affect their vacation plans.

David Johnson, who was drawn by the free entry, said he was “saddened” but didn’t come specifically for a boat ride.

“It didn’t make or break the trip,” said Aspen Beveridge, another visitor. “I suppose if it’s for the overall health of the lake, that’s pretty important.”

Beveridge was a repeat visitor: he’d travelled from Saskatchewan in June and came back in August. Still, he would’ve liked to take his elderly mother-in-law on a lake tour.

Weather plays a “huge factor” in overall tourism, Hartlen noted. Heavy smoke days reduce numbers, he said. It was one of Manitoba’s worst years for smoke and wildfires on record.

Even though the park wasn’t touched by flames this summer, wildfires are “one of our biggest fears,” Gade said, adding it’s “only a matter of time” before another one happens in the Parkland umbrella.

Researchers have said wildfire seasons will get progressively worse. More than 100 tourism assets were affected this summer, Travel Manitoba said. This week, it launched a new campaign — titled Your Heart, Right Place — to attract tourists now that the fire period has come to a close.

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Friends of Riding Mountain National Park joins a growing list of groups wanting better communication with Parks Canada. Meetings with the federal branch could begin in the fall, Hartlen said.

“The whole business community is more than willing to work with Parks Canada and have open dialogue,” said Potter from the Wasagaming Chamber of Commerce, who is also a Fairness for Clear Lake member.

“Unfortunately, the last six months or last year, it’s just fallen apart.”

Many in the community described being blindsided by the May long weekend announcement, which followed a long period of poor communication, some said.

“Unfortunately, the last six months or last year, it’s (dialogue) just fallen apart.”–Jason Potter

Parks Canada named a new Riding Mountain National Park superintendent earlier this week; residents and Riding Mountain’s MP had called for a leadership change.

Last month, Parks Canada told a town hall in Wasagaming it halted Clear Lake boat activity after learning, two weeks before the May long weekend, it would face a judicial review for its planned “one-boat, one-lake” policy.

The review would’ve caused the plan to be paused in any case, a Parks Canada spokesperson told the Brandon Sun at the time.

Parks Canada hasn’t offered any details on how or when a long-term decision on Clear Lake will be made.

“We will continue to work with local partners to enhance the visitor experience, while taking appropriate care to reduce the risk of spread to downstream waterbodies and infrastructure,” spokeswoman Megan Hope wrote in a statement to the Free Press.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com