Summertime in Cottage Country –lots of action on the water

Many planes are over head. If you peek in the header, between the C and the O of Co

unty, you can see one! Here, in Rideau Ferry, it is a busy place. Tourists come from Ottawa and Kingston, to get some sun, water and wind, a break from daily routines.

Horsefly (and deerflies) are about
Protect yourself.

It's been a hot weekend, where the bugs buzz and the deerflies chomp. There is much boat traffic on the lakes. The jetskis whiz by, doing circle around the bigger boats. Thankfully, we have officers on patrol. There have been worrisome incidents on the lakes. People seem to forget the laws that have come from simple good sense. The lake isn't a Nascar track! The rush of wind in your face, the sun beaming down, peeking between the clouds, it is freedom. Kids screaming with joy, splashing happily free of routines, or responsibility. This is summertime.

That means extra vigilance for families, as kids thrown away the shackles of fear and jump in. 

The bugs are back and the critters are biting. There is a warning about rattlesnakes in the Parry Sound-Georgian Bay area, where most of our poisonous snakes reside. All the other Ontario snakes are harmless. The water snake can give a good bite, but the others tend to be harmless. I often pick up the garter snakes to rescue them from the cats.

Norah Fountain, on Muskoka News Watch, reports a tubing incident July 14th:

Tubing accident in Gravenhurst sends teen to hospital with serious injuries

July 7th: 

London, Ontario man drowns at Wasdell Falls in Severn Bridge

June 24th:

Boy saved from near drowning in Gravenhurst

How to be good stewards of a lake

How can we be good stewards of OUR LAKES? 

Chemicals

Pike Lake signage & warnings

• redirecting drains and downspouts away from the lake. Any steps that increase the time taken for water runoff to reach the lake will promote absorption of the nutrients by the soil.
• by using phosphate-free detergents and vegetable based soaps and shampoos in septic systems
• by not using chemically produced fertilizers on lawns or gardens
• by maintaining properly functioning and set back septic systems.

• Don't clean anything, including yourself, in the lake.
• Do clean your boats away from the lake, before launching in a new lake system.
• Contaminants and nutrients from soaps, lawn fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides, car and boat wash soap products, faulty septic runoff, and pet waste must be kept out of the lake.

As well, we must work with the local municipalities to encourage land and water use policies that support lake health.

Protect shorelines and habitat

• by saving or recreating shoreline vegetation buffer zones.
• Limit shoreline structures (docks, rafts) that produce hardened zones where waves are deflected rather than absorbed. 
• Respect shallow lakeshore vegetation where sunfish spawn, minnows feed, and lake life seeks protection from prey and humans.
• cease brush cutting and lawns on shorelines to limit silt and erosion
• leave beaver dams alone. It's the law.

Boat wash hits a hard surface - human-made abiotic materials, and builds up energy destroying plant and other biotic life in the shallow shore. The vegetation below can be washed away. This is where minnows live, larger fish and heron swim and hunt.