Provincial officials say cleaning the beach at Erieau would be OK as long as endangered species are taken into account.
There have been reports some volunteers want to clean the beach.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry's Jolanta Kowalski says the Ministry and Chatham-Kent are working on a management plan for the area to take endangered species into account.
"For example we've got Fowler's Toad that gets both species and habitat protection under the endangered species act," she says. "A definition of cleaning the beach can be something that we consider too much, sometime people talk about raking, we've had parks where we want it to be more natural."
She didn't have a deadline on when the management plan will be ready, or details of the work some volunteers are considering.
"The management plan is going to detail things like regular maintenance activities and will include how far we want to go with beach grooming, so this is a good time for everybody to talk to everyone else," says Kowalski.
She says there are more concerns about beaches this year because water levels are up making them smaller than some years.
Kowalski also says that depending on particular beaches the ministry may not allow raking or grooming or the removal of naturally occurring items like driftwood.
