Ojibway Shores is one of the last pieces of natural habitat that reaches the water on the Detroit River, and it is unofficially (?) part of the Black Oak Heritage Park. This forest is extremely rare, and has many endangered/vulnerable plants and animals within it.
For the past few years in the land surrounding this area (once known as Brighton Beach) was taken over by the Federal Government. They appropriated the land for bridge development. Shortly after, security was put in place to keep people off the land.
I asked a security guard what they were protecting and she said “…The plants, and animals…” At any given time there are about 5-10 security guards surrounding the area. It could be considered excessive security for the protection of only natural habitat. How can anyone believe that when the government wants to rip the forest down now?? How can that be called protection?
If you decided to sneak back into the Ojibway Shores area you would be arrested by the Windsor Police who drive around on ATV’s. They protrol the area, and give people tickets for entering this natural habitat. Does this make sense? Does it make sense that they would be using motorized vehicles on such a vulnerable patch of land? No. None of this makes sense.
The other interesting thing is that all along this blue line (see inserted picture) there is no access along the water for the public. Many industries reside in these spaces, and they don’t allow access to anyone…especially camera people. I have tried numerous times to get down there to get shots of Zug Island but it’s tough when no one wants you down there.
In the past I was given permission to film Zug Island from the Canadian side, but I had to go through the harbour master to really get permission. It’s a two tiered system of permission.
Only time will tell if people will be able to save this last vestige of green space - The ancient and vulnerable forest.