THUNDER BAY — The Lakehead Region Conservation Authority will wait until spring to determine what to do with the Mission Island Marsh boardwalk in the wake of a destructive storm Monday night.
Environment Canada reported wind gusts up to 95 km/h on the Welcome Islands.
The wind, combined with over 40 millimetres of rain and the record-high water level on Lake Superior, caused extensive damage to the boardwalk as well as significant erosion along the shoreline trail.
The boardwalk and the trail are closed to the public until further notice, while the accessible paved trail remains open.
Tammy Cook, CAO of the conservation authority, says the LRCA will determine next spring whether to restore the boardwalk fully or partially, "or whether we need to remove it if it's a safety concern."
Cook said the authority has been tracking worsening erosion at the Mission Island for the past several years.
"Due to rising lake levels, we have been experiencing erosion, but this was excessive compared with what we've seen in the past," she said.
When the boardwalk was installed in 1989, it was completely over land.
"You could drive a vehicle around the boardwalk," Cook noted.
By 2011, erosion was at the boardwalk, she said "and then it's been progressing ever since into shore behind the boardwalk."
Cook said the LRCA constructed the boardwalk expecting that it would remain a land feature, not the water feature it has become over the past 30 years.
The windstorm also uprooted numerous trees in the Mission Island Conservation Area.
