Whatever the weather, we’re cottage crazy

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/05/2002 (8559 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Who goes to the lake more than we do? Who has more lakes, easier access to lakes and rivers, and more cottages, campgrounds, RV parks and resorts per capita than Manitobans?

Who goes fishing, dives into freshwater pools, watches lake sunsets, paddles canoes, listens to loons cry, spots minks and bears, more than us?

The answer is: nobody.

There are about 25,000 cottage owners in Manitoba, a survey by the Free Press has found. It’s a staggering figure, and the first count taken in recent memory.

Those cottage owners will be among up to 200,000 Manitobans (depending on the weather) who will stay at either a cottage, campsite, trailer park, or lake resort this long weekend.

The Free Press conducted its cottage count by simply gathering provincial and federal park information and phoning any rural municipalities that have bodies of water in their boundaries. Not every one of Manitoba’s 200 municipalities was contacted, so some cottages were overlooked, especially those along rivers and creeks. Then again, not all cottages in Manitoba are owned by Manitobans, so the two possibly balance out.

The 25,000 figure also includes an estimate of the number of Lake of the Woods cottages owned by Manitobans — about 3,500 of the 5,000 cottages there are owned by Manitobans, said area real estate broker Duncan Carmichael.

That there are so many cottage owners in the province simply shows how deeply rooted lake culture is in Manitoba. Across Canada, we’re known as a Prairie province. But we’re as much about water as wheat. About two-thirds of Manitoba is Canadian Shield. We have more than 100,000 lakes.

“You talk to someone from out of province, and they think Winnipeg has been evacuated on a summer weekend. Half the city goes to the lake,” said Jack McRobie, president of the Whiteshell Cottagers Association.

Statistics Canada does not track cottage ownership, so precise comparisons with other regions can’t be made. But it’s doubtful there is another province or state with as many recreational properties per capita in North America — or in South America, for that matter. No jurisdiction has as much accessible lakefront property for such a small population.

Prices have risen

It means that in Manitoba, in contrast with the rest of Canada, you don’t have to be wealthy to own a cottage. Nevertheless, cottage prices have risen rapidly in recent years as the baby-boom generation reaches the age when people tend to buy recreational properties.

“Cottage prices have been going up 10 to 15 per cent per year, much faster than the cost of living,” said Debbie McLean, a realtor for Evergreen Realty covering the north Whiteshell. A lakefront cottage in north Whiteshell starts at $115,000, she said.

At Lake of the Woods, lakefront cottage prices start at $225,000, up from $175,000 last year, according to Royal LePage. Waterfront properties on Lake Winnipeg start at $110,000, up 10 per cent from last year.

While cottage prices fluctuate greatly, Manitobans easily have $1.5 billion tied up in cottage property, if an average cottage price of $60,000 is used (prices vary widely between lakefront and non-lakefront properties).

One way to keep cottage prices affordable is to increase the supply. Premier Gary Doer vowed last election to open new cottage development as a way to promote Manitoba as a place to live.

“It’s a very high priority for the premier,” a government spokesman said.

Doer has assigned Manitoba Conservation to identify which lakes on Crown land could sustain new cottage development, the official said. However, it is a complex and lengthy process, and no action is foreseen in the near future.

You don’t have to own a cottage in Manitoba to enjoy the lake. There are campsites, trailer parks, resorts and rental cabins. There are about 15,000 campsites in the province, divided among private and government campgrounds. Riding Mountain National Park has 475 back-country campsites alone — sites that are not accessible by motor vehicle.

Private campgrounds can be found at the Web site for the Manitoba Association of Campgrounds and Parks, macap.mb.ca. The RM of Alexander on Lake Winnipeg has almost 400 RV sites at three trailer parks.

Knows someone

There are 164 lodges, not counting hunting outfitters, in Manitoba.

And everyone knows someone who owns a cottage, either a family member or a friend whose cottage they have access to. Many cottages are used by four to six families, particularly in cases where older parents own the cottage and their grown children bring their own families.

An inventory of cottages in Manitoba finds them in every nook and cranny, on every puddle and creek, within a two-and-a-half-hour drive of a population centre. There are close to 1,500 cottages on private land around Lake Manitoba. There are more than 8,000 cottages on private land around Lake Winnipeg — almost 10,000 when provincial park cottages are included.

There are 6,018 cottages in provincial parks, more than half of those in Whiteshell Provincial Park. There are more than 500 cottages on Crown lands outside provincial parks. There are more than 800 cottages at Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park.

The RM of Gimli has almost 2,000 summer residences on private land, and the Town of Gimli has about 100.

1,500 cottages

But those are cottage areas most people know about.

Less well known is that the Rural Municipality of Lac du Bonnet has about 1,500 cottages along the Pinawa Channel, Lee River and Winnipeg River, including a cottage listed for sale for $650,000.

In the RM of Winchester in southwestern Manitoba, there are about 280 cottages on lakes Metigoshe, Dromore, and Hasselfield. The RM of Park, bordering Riding Mountain park, has about 450 cottages. Dauphin Lake, a 10-minute drive from the City of Dauphin, has about 300 cottages.

The RM of Alexander, with beaches like Bel-Air and Lester, has 2,646 cottages, more than any other municipality.

Northerners like their cottages, too.

Near The Pas, Clearwater Lake Provincial Park has 353 cottages. Just outside of Flin Flon, there are 158 cottages on Bakers Narrows and about 300 on Schist Lake. There are many other cottages on Crown land in the area.

Near Thompson, there are 263 cottages in Paint Lake Provincial Park.

There are over 500 cottages on Pelican Lake and 120 cottages on Rock Lake, two Prairie lakes south of Brandon. There are about 250 cottages on Sandy Lake north of Brandon.

Then there are the newer development areas tucked away like Steep Rock Beach Park and Dayton Beach Cottagers Co-op, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of Winnipeg. There are 60 cottages on Lake Manitoba there, with back lots and undeveloped beach front for sale.

There are cottages on reserve land, like the nearly 300 in Buffalo Point First Nation in southeastern Manitoba.

Cottages continue to be built in the RM of Gimli, the RM of Lac du Bonnet, and on Lake of the Prairies, the man-made lake created by the Shellmouth Dam on the Assiniboine River. There are only about 70 cottages on Lake of the Prairies, but about 165 empty lots. However, not all the lots can accommodate cottage development.

Perhaps most surprising is that no one has bothered before to count how many cottages and cottage owners there are in Manitoba. We take it for granted.

“Manitoba is definitely the cottage country, even when compared to Ontario,” said Keith Tordiffe, program chairman of the Manitoba branch of the Lifesaving Society. “Ontario has a lot of lakes but people don’t go to the lake like Manitobans.”

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca