August 2023 Newsletter
Included in this issue:
Design & Construction Along the Shoreline
Kearney Council Resolution: Site Alteration By-Law
The ASH Muskoka Program
KWEF Information Package Distribution
KWEF Booth at the 2023 Kearney Regatta
Design & Construction Along the Shoreline
Wildlife and humans depend on the continuation of healthy forest and aquatic ecosystems. By practicing good stewardship and being aware of construction design, we are better able to sustain the forests and waterways within our environment.
Tips for Design & Construction
✓ Clearly outline driveways and areas where heavy equipment is permitted, to protect the surrounding environment. Mulch areas for traffic on your property (4-6 inches of organic material) to reduce stress and compaction on underlying roots.
✓ Try to maintain the natural drainage patterns of your property. Sudden reductions to the amount of moisture can affect the health of plants and trees.
✓ Minimize root damage when excavating land by hand digging trenches and tunneling under large roots. Co-ordinate the installation of various utility services through the same underground corridor. Root injury weakens the tree, making it more susceptible to insect, disease, and fungi attacks.
✓ Maintain a variety of natural plant varieties that provide food and shelter for wildlife and preserve the natural landscape.
✓ Incorporate the natural environment and topography into the design and location of the new structures on site.
✓ When planting, choose native trees and plant species that are appropriate to the site conditions. Native species are more resistant to drought, disease and insects.
✓ Prune trees and shrubs that are obstructing views, rather than removing the entire tree or plant.
✓ Design routes for driveways, stairs and pathways that follow the natural contours of the land to avoid disturbing areas of fragile vegetation.
✓ Use porous materials for driveways and walkways. Minimizing the amount of pavement maintains natural infiltration and prevents increased runoff and erosion.
✓ Leave some dead or dying trees lying on the ground along streams and lakeshores to provide habitat and food sources for numerous species of wildlife.
✓ Maintain natural shoreline vegetation and incorporate existing features into the design of access to docks and beach areas
What is done today should not have a negative impact on the land and lakes in the future!
Source: Lake Health Program, The District Municipality of Muskoka
Kearney Council Resolution: Site Alteration By-Law
We are happy to report that based on presentations to the Town of Kearney Council, the Sand Lake Property Owners Association, (SLAPOA), with the written support of KWEF, has successfully lobbied Council to consider a Site Alteration* By-law to address environmental concerns within the municipality.
At the August 3, 2023 Regular Council Meeting, the Council of the Corporation of the Town of Kearney passed a resolution directing staff to “prepare a report outlining the potential DRAFT by-laws, such as a Site Alternation By-law…”.
Thank you to SLAPOA for taking on this very important issue!
Related news: The Ontario government is safeguarding shorelines by ensuring work is not being done on waterfronts without proper permits: Resident Fined $45,000 For Alterations Along His Waterfront Properties Of Georgian Bay.
To report a natural resource problem or provide information about an unsolved case, members of the public can call the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry TIPS line toll free at 1-877-847-7667. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS. For more information about unsolved cases, please visit www.ontario.ca/mnrftips
The ASH Muskoka Program
You may have heard of this program, operated by Friends of the Muskoka Watershed (FOTMW), where they are using wood ash to counteract the loss of calcium in the soil, (mainly from years of acid rain), in local watersheds. The initial program was called HATSEO (Hauling Ash To Solve Ecological Osteoporosis). Through applied research FOTMW explored optimal ways to collect, store & distribute wood ash. As part of this early program, they were then able to confirm that they could actually use wood ash to replenish calcium levels within a watershed. When used in local test woodlots there appeared to be immediate benefits to the trees by spreading the wood ash on the ground (The optimal amount was actually quite small – just one 750 gm yogurt tub for each square meter of ground - and it only needs to be done once, not every year). FOTMW is interested in expanding the program to other watersheds and we were considering investigating this further. If you would like to try this on your own property, please let us know, and we will provide you with additional information. We are hoping that there is enough interest to participate in the larger program.
KWEF Information Package Distribution
We are in the process of getting these information packages to homeowners in Kearney. The package contains brochures for posting in your home – Green Guest Guide, Don’t Give Our Septic Indigestion, The Clean Green Thirteen and The Good Neighbour Guide. Also included are KWEF’s Role in the Community, Caring For Your Septic, Tips For Sustainable Country Living and Town of Kearney Information including Garbage & Recycling.
We look forward to talking to homeowners when we deliver the packages and getting everyone to sign up for KWEF’s newsletter. If you don’t receive one of our packages by September 1st, please email info.kwef@gmail.com with your name, phone number, and Kearney address, so that we can drop one off.
If you would like to help with distribution contact Carol Adamthwaite at chair.kwef@gmail.com
KWEF Booth at the 2023 Kearney Regatta
KWEF always tries to have a booth or display at the Kearney Regatta each year. From our perspective it is always a great success and time well spent. We were part of the "Vendors Market" on Main Street this year which was organized by Amanda White and her volunteers. They did an excellent job and the weather co-operated 100%. The rest of the Regatta weekend also was great including the Northern Lights Steel Orchestra and the excellent fireworks display Sunday evening. We received several donations and signed up a number of new people for our newsletter. We passed out many brochures and answered lots of questions. There were several inquiries about Invasive Species and we promised to include links to some additional information in our next newsletter on invasive species and alternate non-invasive plants that you can use in your garden. You can view this material online or download and save or print it – please see below.
Thanks to everyone for your support and donations.
We hope to see you there next year.
Invasive Aquatic Plants: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i2cUCbRt11gz3lK2olSVDv8ENPfw5i1r/view?usp=sharing
Phragmites – General Information: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DzupTBGY8QQCGSSI3rZCqjow_GENELjX/view?usp=sharing
Phragmites – Best Practices Handling an Infection https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wkBvw1k_K6eLMhyTQBNOJ3dTpFxcPTey/view?usp=sharing
Non-invasive plants to use for Northern Ontario - “Plant me instead” https://drive.google.com/file/d/14wdEHFjX4maTVrmuIb5LLg6PuSL8nuie/view?usp=sharingternate