2019 Eco Workshop

Our July 20 Eco Workshop was held at Hidden Valley Ski Chalet. Three guest speakers and a guest wolf (stuffed not live courtesy of Algonquin Park) attended.

 Mike Peppard - District Councillor Lake of Bays - Wolves and Coyotes

Mike is a biologist and the Lake of Bays Councillor who sits on the District Council. Mike spoke about coyotes and wolves, and about his up close and personal experience with the wolves. He cauJoned us about the danger they pose to our small pets.

 Kevin Boyle - Muskoka Watershed Council – Your Carbon Footprint

Climate Change Incentives Coordinator for the District of Muskoka, Kevin spoke to us about our carbon footprint. He is exploring ways in which the district can reduce its carbon footprint for instance it may be better for the environment to send one garbage truck around Lake of Bays than to have residents make a weekly trip to the dump. You could also wash your clothes in cold water and hang to dry and consider using LED lights. He also told us about a program from Hydro One that will supply us with free LED light bulbs, power bars that will totally shut off all electronic devices when not in use and an amazing clothes drying rack that requires no electricity.

 Dr. Shakira Azan - Biologist Queens University - Save Your Ash Program

Dr. Azan is involved in a project called HATSEO “Hauling Ash to Solve Ecological Osteoporosis” program with Dr. Norman Yan. Water and soil in Muskoka have lost 35% of their calcium due to decades of acid rain on the relatively sparse topsoil. Our maple trees in particular, crayfish and other aquatic life in our lakes are suffering but can be helped by the distribution of wood ash which is high in calcium. Spreading the ash from your wood stove onto your own property can help. A word of caution - be sure to spread only ash from natural wood. Ash from pressure treated and processed wood products may contain toxic chemicals such as cadmium, mercury and arsenic.

To support and learn more about this project visit www.FriendsOfTheMuskokaWatershed.org

 Jim Marshall - PLA - Resident Biologist and Water Quality Manager - Jim collects their samples for the Lake Partners Program. He also does bacterial counts for the PLA. Bacteria test early June – the reading was ideal. But it varies over the summer and from place to place. Jim goes all over the lake to record bacterial readings and see what wildlife is in the area, i.e. cormorants, geese. Penlake has 3.9 milligrams per litre of calcium. The threshold is 1.5 milligrams. Water clarity to 4 metres on average. Low in the spring higher in August. Water temperatures average 25 degrees C for the occupied season. Phosphate readings taken when ice is first off indicate that we are neutral. Regarding the benthic monitoring which takes place each year, this August in Wolf Bay, Jim has noticed a slide in the gold standard of benthic over the years, i.e. mayfly etc. We have a lot of data compared to many lakes. It would be worthwhile for us to examine this data and discuss possible actions.  

2016 Eco Workshop Content:

Water Level Management: Presentation given by the MNRF - Click here.