Health of Georgian Bay

An article appeared in our local newspaper (the Alliston Herald) this week about the health of Georgian Bay. What does mean for us on Leech Lake you ask? You will note that Cottage Associations are very involved in the study. The study is reporting on many of the items that are the focus our own Lake Stewardship Committee.

As well it is important that this large body of water is healthy because we receive a measureable amount of lake effect precipitation every year.

Click on the url below and you can review the article about the Georgian Bay study

http://www.simcoe.com/news-story/4020584-report-card-measures-health-of-georgian-bay/

 

Northern Water Snake on Leech Lake

On a weekend in mid August we experienced a variety of cottage wild life. On Saturday morning early I watched three Otters cavort and fish off our dock. Occasionally one or two would pop up on our dock and use it as their latrine.

On Saturday evening we were going to have a fire so I went to prepare the fire pit. I was rustling the papers around in the pit when all of a sudden something flashed out of the pit past my feet. I was startled! It was a blackish grey snake that was more than 2' but less than 3' long. The creature did not scurry away but lay on the rocks adjacent to the pit. When we became accustomed to each other I proceeded to start the fire. When it  became uncomfortable because of the heat, I presume, it took to the water and headed for our neighbour's cove.

The next day the snake was back and again around our fire pit. After reading up on the Northern Water Snake on the internet I assumed it was so docile because it may have been shedding its skin or because it was digesting its latest meal. Below is a url that will give information about the Northern Water Snake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_water_snake

Here are pictures of our/your snake

Mayor Smith Visits Leech Lake

At this year’s Annual Meeting as usual a good deal of time was spent discussing the lake road system. One of the issues was Lorne Road. The Township, for the past couple of years had listed Lorne RD for repair in 2014, however the latest Township list show that Lorne Rd. was now off the Town’s priority list. A discussion followed this news and the best advice was that the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 

Greg Wolfe of 1064 Lakeshore Rd S took this to heart and the week following the Annual Meeting he phoned the Bracebridge Mayor, Graydon Smith and complained bitterly that the Township had taken the rate payers of our little lake community for granted over the past 40 years. He invited the mayor to come out and meet with him to get an appreciation of the deplorable condition of the road and discuss how we could get action on the improvement of Lorne Rd. sooner rather than later. The Mayor agreed to meet.

 

The meeting was arranged to take place on Friday July 26^th at Greg’s cottage. A bulletin via the executive e-mail and the Blog was sent out urging for all concerned cottagers to attend to show support for repairs to Lorne Rd.

 

At 4:00 pm on July 26^th there were about 20-25 cottagers (including Larry Jacobs, Pres. LL Association, & Bob Hoolans, Road Chair) in attendance when Mayor Graydon Smith and Counsellor

Barb McMurray arrived.

 

After introductions Larry lead the discussion. Larry was well prepared with background information and was quite aggressive in holding the Mayor and the Township to account for lack of action over 30-40 years when it came to Leech Lake and especially Lorne Rd. As Greg stated we want action on Lorne Rd NOW

 

Mayor Smith was sympathetic, however explained that there is a process for improvement spending and how the process worked. He would not guarantee our improvements this year or next but he would go back and with the Townships professionals and review again Leech Lake’s plight and rework the metric for spending improvements on Lorne Rd.  After their review the Mayor and Township professionals will meet with a committee for LL to work toward a solution.

 

Personally I impressed with Greg’s position and I was also pleased that the Mayor did make a hollow promise to extract himself from an uncomfortable situation. The solution he did map out is a positive step forward and I went away feeling comfortable that we will get action and it will be better that a patch job.

 

 Good Job Greg!!