WINTER 2011 CRANE LAKE ASSOCIATION MEMBER NEWSLETTER

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1 Newsletter Highlights Councillor s Report Councillor Ian Mead walk the membership through updates on the Crane Lake Dam, Ontario Camp of the Deaf, Roads and their upkeep and maintenance, taxes and more. Page 2 Changes come to Crane Lake Dam Important and interesting changes come to the Dam Page 5 Northern Crane Lake can now dial for fire protection service. Read on about the Page 8 Fire Committee Report Annual update from a very busy Fire Committee Page 10 Membership Update Updates on the general status of the association and of the membership fees. Please remember to submit your fees for this year Page 10 Geese on Crane Lake Noticed the population increase of Geese on the lake? So have we! Here are some suggestions on how to handle the newcomers Page 12 President s Letter Fred Nagy Pellentesque nibh nisl, euismod eget, imperdiet ut, ultrices eu, ipsum. Pellentesque elementum dignissnon mauris. Maecenas ac enim. Sed purus eros, tempor eget, commodo vel, molestie sed, justo. Praesent fringilla sollicitudin neque. Fusce eleifend dolor ut odio. Sed faucibus, lectus a ultricies tempor, nulla metus porttitor nibh, at sodales nulla neque eu dolor. Vivamus venenatis velit sed nulla. Nullam hendrerit consectetuer Aliquam sit amet tortor ac purus porttitor porta. Aenean sodales felis sed mauris. Aliquam purus. Morbi interdum. Elis at. Vullan utet luptat vulput lan henis nulputpat. Tationsed duipit nim. Im quis alit vel dolendreros eumsan henissim nostrud eu facilit ut nulput loborem quatin hendignim ssrit vullam euis at autat inciliquamet. Aliquat lor ip er sent lortis ex elit dolore ver sit prating ea feuguer cillupt atueraesed dolesto dolore feui bla l ea corper aci tatue commy nulput nullam vulpute mod magnit ipasim vercil ute magna augue consecte doloreet ametuer cilisi. Vivamus ultrices. Maecenas id massa a libero gravida suscipit. Mauris convallis. Aliquam risus sem, venenatis nec. Mauris vestibulum ipsum egestas tur Pas. Cras erat. Aliquam sit amet tortor ac purus porttitor porta. Aenean sodales felis sed mauris. Aliquam purus. Morbi interdum. Mauris sed justo. In iaculis felis non justo. Nullam pellentesque vehicula libero. Curabitur facilisis. Mauris lectus velit, vestibulum sed, laoreet at, porta vitae, nisl. Vestibulum dictum, sapien vitae gravida sollicitudin, lorem felis dapibus wisi, vel tincidunt erat wisi a lacus. Vestibulum ante ipsum Pellentesque nibh nisl, euismod eget, imperdiet ut, ultrices eu, ipsum. Pellentesque elementum dignissim felis. Proin neque elit, tempor vitae, malesuada vel, dictum et, purus. Maecenas ac enim. Sed purus eros, tempor eget, commodo vel, molestie. Sed ipsum erat, porttitor non, venenatis id, vestibulum non, sem. Suspendisse vestibulum placerat odio. Phasellus eget massa vitae libero imperdiet elementum. Integer dapibus quam non mauris. Maecenas ac enim. Crane Lake Association 1

2 Sed purus eros, tempor eget, commodo vel, molestie sed, justo. Turpis Egestas Aliquam sit amet tortor ac purus porttitor porta. Aenean sodales felis sed mauris. Aliquam purus. Morbi interdum. Elis at. Vullan utet luptat vulput lan henis nulputpat. Tationsed duipit nim. Im quis alit vel dolendreros eumsan henissim nostrud eu facilit ut nulput loborem quatin hendignim ssrit vullam euis at autat inciliquamet. Aliquat lor ip er sent lortis ex elit dolore ver sit prating ea feuguer cillupt atueraesed dolesto dolore feui bla l ea corper aci tatue commy nulput nullam vulpute mod magnit ipasim vercil ute magna augue consecte doloreet ametuer cilisi. Vivamus ultrices. Maecenas id massa a libero gravida suscipit. Mauris convallis. Aliquam risus sem, venenatis nec. Mauris vestibulum ipsum egestas tur Pas. Cras erat. Aliquam sit amet tortor ac purus porttitor porta. Aenean sodales felis sed mauris. Aliquam purus. Morbi interdum. Mauris sed justo. In iaculis felis non justo. Nullam pellentesque vehicula libero. Curabitur facilisis. Mauris lectus velit, vestibulum sed, laoreet at, porta vitae, nisl. Vestibulum dictum, sapien vitae gravida sollicitudin, lorem felis dapibus wisi, vel tincidunt erat wisi a lacus. Vestibulum ante ipsum Pellentesque nibh nisl, euismod eget, imperdiet ut, ultrices eu, ipsum. Pellentesque elementum dignissim felis. Proin neque elit, tempor vitae, malesuada vel, dictum et, purus. Maecenas ac enim. Sed purus eros, tempor eget, commodo vel, molestie. Sed ipsum erat, porttitor non, venenatis id, vestibulum non, sem. Suspendisse vestibulum placerat odio. Phasellus eget massa vitae libero imperdiet elementum. Integer dapibus quam non mauris. Maecenas ac enim. Sed purus eros, tempor eget, commodo vel, molestie sed, justo. Turpis Egestas Councillor s Report Ian Mead As I am writing this, it is -22C outside. Thank heaven for global warming! Can you imagine what the temperature would be without all those hydro carbons in the air. As you all know, I am entering my second 4 year term of office. I have learned a lot over the past 4 years and now I really know what I don t know. At the December meeting of Council, after our swearing in ceremony, I was proud to be given the position of Vice Chair of the Environment Committee with the challenge of taking over as Chair during this term. Lot s more learning and challenges ahead and that s good. Now, let me give you an update on some things that are going on in the Township that affect Crane Lake. Crane Lake Dam: In the June 2010 newsletter I made a comment The Province is strapped for cash and I personally can t see them spending money on anything unless it s absolutely necessary. Wrong again. It must have been this type of foresight that made me do so well with Nortel shares. The dam was modified last fall looks good! As a result of the modification, the owners of Discovery Camp can no longer gain access to their property on the north by walking over the dam. This spurred a sooner than anticipated request for rezoning to allow the camp to build a bridge over the river just below the dam. At the January 14 th Council meeting, Council passed a zoning bylaw amendment that will allow the Camp to build a bridge no wider than 5.5 feet wide between the railings and it must be constructed on Township owned road shore allowance. The camp has agreed to allow visitors to walk over their bridge so that they may picnic etc. on the publicly owned shore road allowance. The Camp is now required to enter into a lease agreement with the TOA for the use of the road shore allowance and that is currently in the works. From Council s perspective this is a win, win for all concerned. Proposed Rogers Communication Tower: Just before Christmas, the word came out about a proposed Rogers communication tower to be erected on the Camp of the Deaf property across from the Hall sand pit before you get to Black Road. Obviously the residents in that area are deadly against it for obvious reasons. Most of you will have received an from me giving you an opportunity to comment to Rogers. The deadline for comment was up on January 15 so the jury s out on whether the tower will go ahead. I know some of you are against it and I know that a lot of you are for it so that you can get better cell and internet connection at your cottage. Times are changing! Ontario Camp of the Deaf (OCD): As you will remember, the whole issue of Motocross racing at the OCD came to a head last summer. There are really 2 issues with the Motocross racing. One is the excessive noise that it produces that can be heard way over on Blackstone Lake. The other issue and a real concern of mine is the fact that in order to accommodate the racing 15 to 20 acres of the property have been virtually stripped of all vegetation. When it rains, the mud and sand get washed into the Blackstone River which feeds Third Lake and then Blackstone. Massive siltation has occurred over the years. To address the noise issue, some residents of Third Lake have hired an Environmental Lawyer who has laid charges under the Environmental Protection Act against the OCD. The charge is as a result of noise levels well above MOE standards when the races are on. This has been in front of the Court 2 times so far and the next Court date is on March 8 th in Parry Sound and I plan on attending attending stay tuned! To address the environmental issues (siltation) the OCD was required to hire an Environmental Consultant (Azimuth Consulting) and the MNR and DFO were called in. As a result, numerous visits to the OCD were made by MNR, DFO and Azimuth and 2 Crane Lake Association

3 this resulted in a report that instructed the OCD to construct large storm water management ponds on the site. Apparently this has been done and now we need to wait till spring to see if it works. Just so you know, our federal MP, Tony Clement is very interested to see how this turns out. Stay tuned! Roads: As you all know Blackstone/Crane Lake road and Healy Lake road underwent a massive overhaul last summer. Some of you wonder why we spent the money on roads that appeared pretty good. Let me tell you why: As I m sure you are all aware, to stave off a recession, the feds and the province came up with a plan whereby they would each fund 1/3 of an infrastructure project as long as the Municipality also chipped in a 1/3. Fortunately the TOA was well ahead of the curve insofar as we had created reserve funds many years ago. In 2009 all Municipalities were mandated to create reserves for the eventual rebuilding of all their assets. There were many Municipalities who couldn t participate fully in Stimulus plan simply because they couldn t come up with their 1/3. The TOA grabbed this opportunity and maximized its availability. So how much did this cost you and me? For starters, taxes have not and will not be increased as a result of the road construction. As I mentioned earlier, we had the money sitting in reserve for road reconstruction. Now, obviously, this money that was in reserve came out of taxes in years past. So how much of our (Ward 5) taxes was spent? The total cost to do Blackstone/Crane was $3 million. The Feds paid $1 million, the Province paid $1 million and the TOA paid $1 million. Road expense in the Township is area rated which means roads in the south are paid by taxes from the south and roads in the north are paid by taxes in the north. In the south Archipelago, we have 3 Wards, 4, 5 and 6. Ward 4 encompasses all the Georgian Bay shoreline and islands from the Moon River north to Parry Island and they contribute in excess of 75% of the taxes in the south. This leaves Wards 5 and 6 contributing in the neighbourhood of 25%. So of the $1 million that the TOA paid to rebuild Blackstone/Crane, it cost you and me $250,000 in taxes over the years. I hope this gives you an appreciation that for every dollar that got spent on roads in the south last year, Ward 5 and 6 contributed a little over 8 cents what a deal! Obviously in the past we had been building reserves for the eventual reconstruction of the roads in the south, Healy Lake Road being the biggest. With the type of hard surface we had before, the resurfacing timeline was 5 to 7 years. With the new surface, the timeline is 15 to 20 years. This means that the reserve can be built over 15 to 20 years instead of 5 to 7 which will reduce the $ required each year and that will save you me $ going forward. Horseshoe Lake Weir: For many years now, Horseshoe Lake water level has been controlled by a pile of rocks in front of the culvert that drains Horseshoe on its way to First, Second, Third and Blackstone Lakes. This has been a big issue in the past because people on Horseshoe would take it upon themselves to add and remove rocks willy nilly and alter the level of the lake. Two or three years ago, it all came to a head and the MNR got involved. The MNR set a level that the rock weir had to be maintained at and after a 2 year period, if the level was satisfactory, a more permanent weir would be required. The Horseshoe Lake Association would be 100% responsible for the $ to build the weir and would be responsible to maintain it. Some of us were advised last fall that the permanent weir was required and as a result, I met with 2 representatives of Horseshoe Lake and a representative of the MNR. My main concern was how they were going to ensure that the right amount of water would always flow through the weir to keep the downstream ecosystem alive. As a result of the meeting, the Horseshoe Lake Association has agreed to hire consultants to determine what the minimum flow of water should be and create plans for the weir to accomplish this. They are also required to come up with an operating plan for the weir. The plan will cover keeping debris away from the weir so that flow-through is not inhibited and will cover how a six inch log will be raised in the fall to prepare for spring runoff just as the MNR does with our dam. They also agreed to create a committee and have a representative from downstream on the committee. If I can t find a volunteer for that, I will sit on the committee myself. I have a good candidate in mind. All in all, we were all pleased with the meeting and I am sure when it s all said and done we will notice no change downstream and that s good stay tuned. Taxes: We are currently in budget mode and it has been established that because of the large capital expenditures we have made in past couple of years, we will take a breather. Our goal is to try and hold the line on taxes but this will only be possible if the Province holds its position on Education and Social Services. Stay tuned. That s all for now. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me at: Phone (summer), (winter) ianm@vianet.ca Thanks Ian Mead Crane Lake Association 3

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5 Changes Come to Crane Lake Dam Jim Heart Imagine what Crane Lake would be like without the dam. Bump Rock would be an island, there would be a new bump rock in the little narrows and another in the middle of the south end between Treasure Island and White Pine Lodge. And we wouldn t be able to get our boats into Speck Lake, Stonehouse Lake, Clear Lake, or even Blackstone Lake. Crane Lake has been controlled by a dam since the first wood dam was built in about 1880 by the Mitchell McDonald Lumber Company to enable them to float their logs down the Blackstone River to Little Blackstone Lake and on to the Georgian Bay. Since then the dam has been replaced twice, once in 1925 and once in This past October the dam underwent it s first major modification since the new dam in It was turned into a weir dam. So, what is a weir dam? Technically, the entire dam is a weir because it holds up the water level. But the term weir dam is sometimes used for a dam designed to have water flow over its crest when the water reaches that level. That is what we now have. The dam has been cut down so that water will now flow over the north side of the dam. That would be the right side of the dam as you approach it from Crane Lake. The south or left side, which has always been higher than the right side, was not changed. The sluice the area with the stoplogs was not removed. Water will still leak between the logs and the sluice will still be used to lower the lake in the late fall in preparation of the spring thaw. But why did the MNR want a weir dam? Their primary motivation was to avoid the cost of sending manpower out to this rather remote location to remove logs from the sluice each time the water lever got too high, and then, of course, another trip to put the logs back in. But there will be other benefits. Water will start flowing over the dam as soon as the lake level rises above the dam s crest. Thus, if we should have a large storm, the water level would not keep rising until MNR personnel could get out to the dam a day or two later. The environment down stream from the dam will be helped as well. Water will flow down the Blackstone River at a more consistent rate rather than in a few huge rushes that would occur when stoplogs are removed from the dam, perhaps washing out beaver dams or animal and bird nests. Crane Lake Association 5

6 Stoplogs in the sluice on the down-river side of dam. All leakage through dam has been stopped using tarps. So how was the dam cut down? Certainly not with a hack saw! First, holes were drilled into the top of the dam. Next, large L shaped brackets were secured in these holes, with the brackets hanging over the Crane Lake side of the dam. To these brackets was attached a rail-like structure on which the saw would move. The saw slowly moved along the rail with the huge horizontal circular saw blade cutting one-third of the way into the dam. Three slow trips the length of the dam, with dust flying in the air, and the dam was now a weir dam. The water level of the lake was lowered in anticipation of this project, so water may not actually flow over the dam until spring. This raises the question, just how much was cut off the dam, and how much will it affect the level of Crane Lake next summer? To gain some perspective in real life terms with an actual size one to one ratio, draw an arrow to the upper left hand corner of this page and label it This will represent metres above sea level which was the level of the main part of the dam the north side before it was cut down this past October. View of dam with Crane Lake on the left. Concrete blocks on right were cut off the top of the dam October 29, This boat was lowered with rocks to catch any debris resulting from the use of the gunwale-mounted saw We are all welcome to visit the rocks below the dam which are on public property. Because water may be flowing over the dam, potentially making the top of the dam slippery and dangerous, the MNR has installed gates which will make it impossible for us to walk across the dam. But we will still be able to get to the flat rocks on the north side which make a great picnic area because there are plans to construct a new foot bridge across the river below the dam which will give us access to this area. When you arrive at the dam, pull up to the large tree near the shore on the south side of the river that s the left side as you approach the dam. Don t go near the dock; that s on private property. Also, do not land your boat on the north or right side of the river. The entire north shore is private property. It does seem strange that there is shore road allowance on one side and not the other, but all of the road allowance on the north side was flooded when the first concrete dam was built in Now place a mark 5⅞ inches down on the left side of this page and label it This is the new level for the dam, now a weir dam. It is also the historic summer level of the stoplogs in the opening or sluice box. While the crest of the dam was lowered about six inches, it does not mean that the lake level will be lowered. The lake s level has generally been nowhere near the top of the old dam. I know of only one time that the lake reached this level. That was August 12, 2008, when the water level reached metres above sea level, water started to trickle over the dam, most of our docks were under water, and the Crane Lake Road washed out. Next draw a mark on the left side of the page 9⅛ inches down from the top of the page and label it This is the historic summer mean lake level. There is no reason that this average level will change at all. If you are wondering how low the lake has been, at least during the summer or fall when I have been at the lake, you will have to draw a mark 7⅜ inches below the bottom of the page. Use a pencil; it will be easier to wash the mark off of the tablecloth. This is the lowest level that I have recorded metres above sea level on 6 Because you will be walking on public property, you are free to walk down the south side of the river below the dam as far as you want. In the past, when portaging to Little Blackstone Lake, many of us used the road for a short distance and then turned right to access the river below the rapids. Although this road is on the camp s private property, they have agreed to allow us to use this traditional portage route While we are free to traverse this road and the areas that are on public property, we should remain courteous to the folks at the Crane Lake Wilderness Camp who own property on both sides of the river. If they are having a formal function on their property, it is only good etiquette to give them some space. Think about how you would feel if you were visiting with friends on your dock and a fisherman parked just a few feet off your dock. While the fisherman s actions may be legal, they certain would be discourteous and unethical. The Wilderness Camp will be paying the full cost of the new bridge below the dam, even though it will be on public property. If it were not for them, we would have no way to cross the river to the picnic area. They deserve our thanks and our respect for their privacy. Crane Lake Association

7 FOCA Report Joan Debrie On November 6, 2010 I attended the FOCA Fall Seminar in Toronto. The agenda included a presentation by Hydro One and a panel discussion on sustainable waterfronts. Hydro One s presentation was about Smart Meters and Time of Use Electricity prices. The goal of the smart meters is to reduce strain on the electrical system, promote energy conservation and ultimately help the environment. The meters are constructed in the same manner as before but include the ability of the meter to capture energy use by the hour and it can be sent to a distant location to be read. The meters are re-calibrated every five years in order to ensure accuracy. The meters also have a device that notifies Hydro One of any power outages. Hydro One has a website where you can view your usage by the day and by the hour and determine peak hours when energy costs are highest ( You can also determine if your appliances are energy efficient. Hydro One will also send you text messages to let you know if there has been a power outage and when power has been restored. Seasonal customers will be the last to have their meters connected. We do not inherit this earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. (Native proverb) Treasurer s Report Steven Neugebauer The association s financial position was stable in As of December 31, 2010, our combined bank/savings balance was $8, Our 2010 income was $8,394, expense $8,772, for a net loss of $378. The only significant extraordinary expenses for 2010 was $791 for Northern 911 service, $ for high-visibility signs for the fire pump boxes, and approximately $450 extra expense on the miscommunication that led to the Winter 2010 newsletter being printed in colour. Other expenses were regular recurring expenses of the association. As discussed and approved at the 2010 AGM, we have established a Capital Reserve fund for the future replacement of our fire-fighting equipment, and the dues have been raised to $100 with $50 going towards this fund. Our reviewed financial statements for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2010 will be available at the 2011 Annual General Meeting in July, as well as an update to our financial position as of June 30, The panel discussion on sustainable waterfronts reminded everyone of the need to maintain a proper buffer zone along your shoreline. Please visit the FOCA website if you require further information on creating a natural shoreline. Crane Lake Association 7

8 Crane Lake Gets Fire Dispatching! And the ability to use for Fire Calls Ever since our lake has had an organized fire committee, the only way to contact the committee has been to call the members one at a time, hoping to find a committee member who was at their cottage. This has been a poor system in the summer, and an ever worse system in the off season. But it was all we had, and we did our best to make it work. This past year we set a goal of finding a better way. After much study of various alternatives, we determined that the best solution was to employ a professional dispatcher that anyone on the lake could call, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. After careful review, we selected a company named Northern911 to serve as our dispatcher. This firm, located in Sudbury, is extremely well-qualified to handle our needs. They have been handling fire and other emergency dispatching for decades. Their dispatchers are professionally trained, are bilingual, and are well equipped to handle our calls. Our next step was to find an easy-to-memorize telephone number that we could all use to call our new dispatcher. That number is 751-FIRE. Because we now have to use the area code for all local calls, that number is actually FIRE. 8 This new number will work well for those who read our newsletters and mailings. But many visitors to our cottages and renters at the Crane Lake Resort will have no way to know this number. So to have our new system fool-proof, we had to find a way for us to be able to use 911 to reach our fire dispatcher. To accomplish this we approached the Township of the Archipelago explaining to council that it would be extremely beneficial to us, and possibly to other lake associations, if all fire calls originating from the township would be directed to our new dispatcher. We are very pleased that the township council understood our needs and agreed to make this major change. Thus, as of now, any time you call from the Township of the Archipelago and state that your emergency relates to fire, you will be immediately transferred to our dispatcher, Northern911. Once they learn that you are from Crane Lake, they will send out the call. In summary, if you call FIRE you will reach our fire dispatcher. And if you call 91-1 and state that your emergency is fire, you will reach our fire dispatcher. Either will work. Crane Lake Association

9 ! BRUNATTI G. BRUNATTI & SONS LTD. 85 River Street, Parry Sound, Ontario, P2A 2T8 Tel: (705) Fax: (705) ! Designer and manufacturer of vinyl, canvas and mesh products including: boat covers tarpaulins a complete line of boat seating We are now the manufacturer of Cygnet Marine Upholstery!! Crane Lake Association 9

10 We should also mention that an additional benefit of our arrangement with the township is that the township will be covering the full cost of the new dispatcher. If you want our fire committee to assist with a medical emergency, the situation is little different. As in the past, is the correct number to call to request an ambulance. But you will need to make a separate call to get our fireboat. To contact our fire committee for a medical issue, we recommend that you call our dispatcher directly at FIRE. If you forget the FIRE number, you can use But you will have to be sure to state that you want the Crane Lake Fireboat. Otherwise the call taker may misunderstand and direct your call back to the ambulance station a second time. The best approach is to have your red emergency number sheet by your telephone and refer to it. In this article we have not discussed who on our lake gets an alarm or how they get it. This important subject is covered in the following article. It is important that we remember that, while this is a major improvement to our system, it only changes the way we communicate. The fact that we can now use does not in any way change the equipment that will respond to your call. For fires, we still have only our fireboat, portable pumps, and the cottagers who volunteer to help. And for medical emergencies, we must depend on the ambulance to provide medically trained professionals. We can assist, but the fire committee is not trained to be a rescue squad. Crane Lake Calling List; A New Way to Get Help Once we found our own professional fire dispatcher, we had to determine how that dispatcher would notify our fire committee of a fire or other emergency. The three best choices were by radio, by pager, or by mass telephone calling. We chose telephone. Here s why. 1. Good pagers cost about $200 each, so it would have cost the association nearly $4000 to purchase pagers for all members of the fire committee. And radios would have cost even more. We could not possibly justify asking the membership for that much money if there was another choice. 2. A water environment is not a good place to be carrying an expensive pager or radio. One dunk in the lake and they are ruined. 3. A mass telephoning system gives us the opportunity to expand the system to nearly everyone on the lake. We ll explain this further. Once our dispatcher receives your call and learns that you are from Crane Lake, they will collect a few more details. They will then immediately record a message with this information. Next, this message will be automatically sent to every member of our fire committee. We have added our cell phones to the list, so we can even get the call if our cottage phone is busy or we are out in a boat. Additionally, as mentioned above, the use of mass telephoning opens up additional opportunities. We can add as many numbers as we want to the calling list. So we are encouraging every cottager on the lake to add their phone number to the list if they are willing to assist at a fire or medical emergency. In this way, if we have a fire call, all of us fire committee and others will immediately learn of a fire and its location. This solves a problem we have had in the past. We ask every able-bodied cottager to follow the fireboat and help out at a fire. But you cannot follow the fireboat if it doesn t go by your cottage. And you cannot follow the fireboat if you take time to change into pants and long sleeves. With our new system, you will know the location of the fire as soon as you get the call. If you have any medical training at all, you may be able to help a neighbor who suffers a medical emergency. Once you have added your phone numbers to our calling list, you will learn of a emergency at the same time as the fire committee. Since 10 Crane Lake Association

11 most of the fire committee is not medically trained, your help would be invaluable. And if you should happen to be close by, you could get to the patient long before our fireboat. No one will ever know whether you received the call, so there certainly will be no commitment to respond if for some reason you choose not to. The emergency may be neither fire or medical. If a boat has capsized or a child is lost in the woods, we now have a good way to notify everyone on the lake that a fellow cottager needs their help. To add your phone numbers to the calling list: darv_easton@wrdsb.on.ca and give your name, cottage civic address, and phone number or numbers. Or, send a note, with the same information, to Darv Easton, Bryan Court, Kitchener, Ontario, N2A 4N4 I hope that by now many of you have already read the literature that was sent by mail, and have added your cottage phone and your cell phone to the calling list. If you haven t, why not do it now. Everyone s help is needed. If you are medically trained, or if you are often on the lake during the off season, your help is even that much more important. With our new communications system, Crane Lake can become a unique example of neighbors banding together to help each other in time of need. Membership Report Steven Neugebauer It s that time of year again! It s time to send in association dues for For the 148 Crane Lake Association members that supported us in 2010, I hope you will continue to support us in 2011! For the 68 cottages that did not join or discontinued their support, I hope you will (re-)join the membership in It is through our combined dues income, that we are able to organize the equipment and volunteers that provide our lake with a superior volunteer fire-fighting service that is the envy of many other cottage/lake associations across Ontario. Remember, our township does not have a fire department our volunteers and the equipment we have available may be the only thing between you and a fire. The association dues for 2010 have been set at $ The benefits of membership in the Crane Lake Association include: Winter and Spring Newsletters highlighting upcoming events and current issues Entitlement to vote at the Annual General Meeting Participation in the Crane Lake Regatta Representation in matters of mutual interest pertaining to the Crane Lake community. Please forward your cheque for $ payable to the Crane Lake Association, to the Membership Secretary: Steven Neugebauer, 32 Arden Crescent, Scarborough, ON, M1L 3R5, Canada. Fire Committee Report Jim Heart I am pleased to report that the fireboat did not respond to any calls this past summer. Let s hope our good fortune continues. Now that winter has arrived, I don t have to tell you that our fireboat is out of the water. But we still do have some firefighting capabilities. The portable pump from Camp Point has been moved to the fire sled which is kept in the snowmobile shed at the Crane Lake Marina. Look for the red fire sled sign. The other four portable pumps are still in place and can be used in the winter. Recently I have been asked how cottagers could get to an ambulance if they have trekked to their cottage during the winter. When there is snow on the ground, the ambulance can only come as far as the Crane Lake Marina or the snowplow turnaround on the Joe Koran Road. The best way to get a patient to the ambulance depends a number of variables, and it would take too much space to discuss all of them here. But the ambulance dispatchers understand the difficulties that winter conditions bring. When you have a medical emergency, you should discuss the various alternatives with the ambulance dispatcher and insure that you have reached an understanding as to where you will meet the ambulance. Sometimes a patient is able to walk on their own or ride on a snowmobile. The situation is more complicated if the patient is unconscious or otherwise unable to walk. In such case, some possibilities are to use the fire committee s sled which is kept at the Crane Lake Marina, use a privately owned sled, request that the Foley air boat respond, or even take the ambulance crew to the patient. It all depends on the circumstances. Don t hesitate to call a second time if you decide to change plans because unexpected help has arrived. Your fire committee continued to stay active this past summer making regular checks of all of the equipment and initiating repairs or improvements whenever the need was seen. But the big project for the summer was our totally new and vastly improved system for reporting a fire or other emergency on Crane Lake. The planning and implementation of this major development consumed much of the spring, summer, and fall. You should have received a four-page mailing this past November which explains the new system. We had hoped to pass out literature during the summer, but we Crane Lake Association 11

12 were not able to tie up all of the loose ends until October. Normally newsletters and other mailings are sent out using the association s membership mailing list. But we felt that it was important that we inform every resident on Crane Lake about this new system. Thus, rather than using the association s mailing list, we used the township s list of legal addresses. If your regular association mailing address is different that the legal address for your property, you may not have received this important mailing. If you didn t get it, please send me an at HartsRV@aol.com, along with your address, and I will see that you get the mailing. If you don t have , call me at This mailing contained a new emergency number sheet. It is important that you post this new sheet near your cottage telephone. There are many changes from the previous sheet. So that you don t forget it, be sure that you put this new sheet right with other items you will be taking to the cottage on your next trip. The details of this new communications system are so important that we have devoted two separate articles to the subject. It might be a good idea to have your family members read these articles as well so that they are aware of the changes. Geese On Crane Lake: A Problem YOU Can Do Something About Devon Piirto We have geese on our lake. Why is that a problem? One goose can consume up to four pounds of grass per day, producing about three pounds of fecal matter per day. This can contribute to excessive amounts of nutrient loading because their feces contain 76% carbon, 4.4% nitrogen, and 1.3% phosphorus. These nutrients can cause harmful algal blooms in lakes from runoff. To make matters worse Cryptosporidium parvum, a protozoan linked to the feces of animals has caused over 400,000 sicknesses and a recorded six deaths (Worsnop, 1994). Do I have your attention now? I surely hope so. The good news is that we can do something to discourage geese from settling in Crane Lake but we need to act quickly. Why? Because geese return to the area where they are born so the sooner we nip this in the bud the better. What can you do? 1. First off, ditch the grass. It s what they eat so if there is nothing to eat they won t stick around. 2. Don t put geese decoys in the lake as markers. Hunters use them to attract geese and that is what they are designed to do. That being said if you can find a DEAD geese decoy this will have the opposite effect of deterring geese from landing according to one site no Canada goose would ignore the sight of dead geese. It is suggested that you use at least 2 dead decoys either on land or in the water. 3. Can t or don t want to get rid of the grass? There are a number of products you can make or buy here are a couple of websites that I found. and but there are many more on the web and lots of discussion about what works best. They generally work on one of three concepts: A) Repellents making the nesting &/or grazing environment unpleasant to geese through the use of chemicals or sounds. B) Physical barriers geese require easy access to food and a drink of water every 30 minutes. By installing a continuous, physical barrier such as a fence or a line of low level shrubs (especially effective along the shoreline) you eliminate that access and the geese will move on to other locations which better suit them. Why don't they fly over the fence? During a couple of months each summer they shed feathers and thus lose their ability to fly. During the rest of the summer, they simply prefer not to fly if they don't have to. C) Predators geese have natural predators such as fox, coyotes, wolves, etc. I know of one park that places wolf silhouettes around their pond to scare off the geese. This only works however if you move the silhouettes daily as the geese quickly figure out there is no threat if the figures don t move. There are other products such as the one you can find at that mimic the eyes of a predator at night. 12 Crane Lake Association

13 GARY JENNINGS CRANE LAKE, $399, KAPIKOG LAKE, $319, Regarded as the nicest lot on Crane, 2.2 acres, A well built 3 bedroom cottage, completely furnished. 700 shoreline. Private bay. Sand beach. Solar power, Fiberglass canoe & windsurfer. Water and Septic systems. New propane fridge, stove, Sat. TV & 3G net capable. Open sundeck, great docking system. Western view. Century cottage, incredible character & charm. Safe swimming area for children. Hydro line recently Significantly upgraded. New kitchen. Stone fireplace. upgraded with two new poles. Log beams. New septic Screened porch. ROYAL LePAGE Four Seasons Real Estate Centre Gary R. Jennings, Broker , Toll Free , garyjennings@royallepage.ca 21 High Street, Unit 5, MacTier, Ontario. P0C 1H0 Crane Lake Association 13

14 Thanks for Another Great Regatta Join us for this year s Regatta in August! Not inexpensive but low maintenance and covers a good size open area. Of course if you have a herding dog this could also encourage geese to go elsewhere. In summary, the Canada goose is protected by the North American Migratory Bird Treaty so shooting them is not an option. However if we all act early this spring to discourage them from establishing themselves on Crane Lake we can convince them to move on to greener pastures. Of course if you have left your shoreline and property in its natural state you won t have to do anything! Note: information in this article has been gleaned from a number of websites. Crane Lake Regatta Joan Debrie The 36 th annual Crane Lake Regatta took place on July 31, The weather cooperated and over 150 people filled the beach at Crane Lake Resort. There were over 70 participants in the swimming and canoeing races and 20 teams of 3 demonstrated their skills using the fire pump. Congratulations to all participants and the many volunteers who assisted in judging, safety, and registration. Many thanks to Crane Lake Resort for the use of such an excellent venue for the regatta. Thanks also go to Pat Monkman and Pam Monkman for their assistance in making the regatta a success and to the fire committee for organizing the fire pump relay. Medal Winners Boys 7 and under (non-swimmer) - Aaron Rosenstein (1 st ), Nicholas Carano, Michael Colins, (tied 2 nd ), Damian Carruthers (3 rd ) Boys 7 and under (swimmer) - Noah Wagar (1 st ), Evan Huys ( 2 nd ), Jake Fawcett (3 rd ) Boys 8-10 Parry Luetke (1 st ), Alex Carano(2 nd ) Boys Griffin Wright (1 st ), Matthew Pan (2 nd ) Boys Avery Vella (1 st ), Matt Coombs (2 nd ) Men over 25 Peter Vician(1 st ), Bob Neugebauer Girls 7 and under(non swimmer) Megan Huys (1st), Lia Rogers (2 nd ) 14 Girls 7 and under (swimmer) Gracie Huys (1 st ), Hannah Vibien (2 nd ) Girls Jenna Huys (1 st ), Myra Luetke (2 nd ), Caitlin Thompson (3 rd ) Girls Valerie Luetke (1 st ), Olivia Thompson (2 nd ), Katie Vella (3 rd ) Girls Josie Luetke and Megan Redmond (tied 1 st ) Ladies over 25 Karen Rosenstein(1 st ), Carolyn Neugebauer (2 nd ) Fire Pump Relay First place: Monkmans Second place: Forest Gump Third place: Sith Lords Time: 50 seconds Time: seconds Time: seconds Kayak Races First place ribbons were awarded to: Alex Carano, Colin Carruthers, Avery Vella and Bob Neugebauer (My apologies for any incorrect spellings of names.) We look forward to seeing you next year! Water Quality Report Devon Piirto Once again the Township of the Archipelago supported our efforts to monitor the quality of Crane Lake by providing the supplies and training to conduct 6 sets of tests throughout the summer. We moved our first test of the 2010 season to the end of June a couple of weeks later than in previous years. This was done at the Township s recommendation since there is little human activity in the spring thus testing later in the season is more meaningful. I was happy to have Harvey Dorrell in the boat with me and he did one test in the middle of the summer solo as I was not available. I encourage other cottagers to contact me if you would like to participate. It really is quite interesting and you really get to know your lake. As you all remember this was a hot summer which drove water temperatures up very early in the season. Higher temperatures encourage bacteria growth so one could Crane Lake Association

15 expect higher ecoli readings which we saw in the odd test! location but nothing reproducible that would cause major concern. The target values for bacterial counts in the Township of the Archipelago are an average of 100 for Total Coliform and 10 for Ecoli. We were below target for Let us help put the relaxation back into cottaging! TC and on target for Ecoli. Year Avg Total Coliform Reading Avg Ecoli Reading We also measure the water clarity when we sample the bacteria. This is done by lowering a white & black disc (called a Secchi disc) into the water and recording when the disc is no longer visible. The readings are reported in metres with a higher reading meaning the water is cleared (disc could be seen at a greater depth). Despite the algae and other aquatic vegetation that were thriving in this summer s warm water our overall water clarity was as good as last year. Even your testing team was surprised at these results (but we re not complaining!). Year Avg Secchi Depth Offering: Cottage Opening & Closing General Maintenance & Repair Cleaning, Painting, Yard work, etc. References available Call Eric or Devon Piirto at until April 24; after May 1 st or via at edpiirto@gmail.com Never one to take good things for granted I encourage each and every one of you to practice good water quality management. You can do this by properly maintaining your septic systems. Please do not use fertilizers or phosphate containing chemicals or soaps and remember that a waterfront full of naturally occurring plants filters run-off and protects our lake. See you on the lake (or at the end of your dock sampling water!) Devon Board of Directors Executive Fred Nagey President Darlene Cade Vice President Joan Debrie Secretary Steven Neugebauer Treasurer Devon Piirto Past President Board Members at Large Ross Fraser Communications Jim Heart Fire Committee Lynda Mead Alex Waclawski Kris Stevens Gary Mueller Crane Lake Association 15