36 years at the Pond

We moved to Kitchener from Oshawa in 1988. We knew we would miss the Oshawa Creek which ran just past our home as well as the proximity of Lake Ontario in summer.However, after settling into Forest Heights, we found that our little Westheights Pond quite pleasantly satisfied our natural attraction to water. Our son and daughter both learned to fish at Westheights Pond. Some winters the ice was so good that local kids would appear with shovels, skates and nets and play hockey till dark. In spring we were serenaded (through the night) by mating frogs and toads; in the Fall we were delighted by the constant honking of geese. There was a wealth of fish, painted turtles, ducks and every manner of wildlife.

But then, a decade or so ago, the Pond began to visibly shrink, mostly due, in particular, to silt build-up and an invasion of noxious reeds and weeds and water lilies. Now the frogs, toads and geese have all but vanished, replaced, most likely, by snapping turtles. Without City intervention the rapid decline in the condition of our Pond will continue and, I fear, our little neighbourhood gem will imminently degenerate into reedy bog.

Only the City of Kitchener can provide the remedy