Drag & Spruce Lakes Property Owners Association

DSLPOA AGM UPDATE - CHANGE OF LOCATION (to Haliburton Legion)

Drag and Spruce Lakes Property Owners Association

Notice of Annual General Meeting

Take notice that the Annual General Meeting of the members the Drag and Spruce Lakes Property Owners Association (DSLPOA) will be held on Sunday July 9 at the Legion located at 719 Mountain St, Haliburton.

The Area Representatives meeting starts at 9:00 AM.  Registration for the AGM starts at 9:30 AM, with the AGM itself starting at 10:00 AM.

All property owners are invited to attend the AGM, however, only members in good standing are permitted to vote.  2023 fees can be paid at the meeting.

The agenda for the AGM, the draft minutes from the 2022 AGM as well as the motions that are expected to take place during the meeting will be sent prior to the meeting.

Highlights for the meeting include:

• Financial Status as of December 31, 2022,
• Eurasian Watermilfoil project status, including updates on the field work and fundraising activities,
• Lake Stewardship activities, including updates from the WWEW/U-Links water quality monitoring pilot program,
• Election to the Executive for the open positions of 1^st Vice President, Treasurer, Director Lake Stewardship, Director Membership, Director Newsletter and Directory, Officer at Large and the Director Event Coordination.

With all the challenges facing our lakefront community, now more than ever it is important to have a strong Executive.  Please consider becoming involved.  Nominations for each of the open executive positions will be received from the floor during the meeting.

Yours Truly,

The DSLPOA Executive

FOCA Elert - May 2023

For the latest from FOCA - click here

 

ENJOY THE WEEKEND!!

Hazard Buoy Update – Spring 2023

Just in time for Mother’s Day!  In keeping with our obligations with Canada’s Private Buoy Regulations under the Canada Shipping Act, this is to notify that all 17 hazard buoys on our lakes have been deployed.

A special thanks to Ryan Vincent and John Travaglini and Glenn Tordoff for their help.

We hope that everyone will have a safe and enjoyable boating season.

EXTREME WATER LEVELS - WHAT YOU CAN DO

Our Lake Association is a member of the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow (CEWF), a local volunteer organization that works closely with the Trent Severn Waterway (TSW) in representing property owners on the reservoir system.

CEWF has completed two videos and a worksheet geared to help you better understand how the reservoir system works, and better prepare for extreme water levels. 

The first video explains the operation of the TSW and the second discusses what you can do to help protect your waterfront. This second video is accompanied by a Worksheet with additional information and helpful links.

To access the videos go to EXTREME WATER LEVELS on the CEWF website here.

If you don't already subscribe to the CEWF e-lerts about important water level news, you can do that on the website, too!

Note current high lake level:

 

Info Updates - April 27/23

FOCA April Elert

• for the latest from FOCA - click here

Environment Haliburton 

Haliburton Highlands Land Trust

• for upcoming events - click here

Loons

Loons - Don’t Take Their Gift for Granted

A title in the most recent issue of Cottage Life magazine is “Death of an icon?” This article discusses the urgency to protect the amazing Common Loons that grace our lakes.  Can you even imagine the absence of the loons, loon families and loon calls on our waterways.  Please find the time to read the updated information in the report. As members of the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey we are contributing to the research.

There was also a recent documentary on the Cottage Life television channel “Loons: A Cry From The Mist” which reflects the wonder of their existence and the amazing lives of our loons but points out that their numbers are declining due to a variety of reasons from Mercury poisoning, human interactions, climate change to acid rain. To view the video - click here.

We must do all we can to safeguard the loons on our lakes. Some steps mentioned in the article are:

• Naturalize your shoreline
• Don’t attract raccoons to your yard, keep it litter free
• When out on the water stay away from the shore and possible nesting area. Give them space when you see them, perhaps about 100 m.
• Use a spotter in your boat to watch for loon families, chicks and dangers in the water.
• Use non toxic or non lead tackle if you fish.

To end on a more optimistic note we did have 3 chicks on Drag/Spruce  Lakes last summer that survived to maturity due to the 24 hour care of their parents and our respect for them.  We still had 6 to 7 resident adults but one pair seems to be beyond chick bearing age. Its so good to see them return each year and we’ll be looking and listening for them soon.

Thank you to the neighbours who contacted me with information on “our” loons especially when you first saw the chicks appear.  Please continue to do so!

Barb Bohlin   [email protected]

Missing the Milfoil

EWM Working Group Gets Ready for EWM Control this Summer

As you can see by the thermometer atop the website, our 2023 fundraising is doing well. The Working Group has met and agreed on a number of things as we gear up for monitoring and controlling EWM this summer. Monitoring will begin in June with visits to all 19 sites on our map as of fall 2022. We anticipate at least 3 days of diver assistance will be needed, and that number could grow to 5 depending on our June monitoring. We've booked our dive contractor for the week of July 17, knowing that providing service to their larger clients could cause the date to slip further into the summer. We appreciate all reports of possible EWM growth, every volunteer and every EWM Fund donor. Finally, one of our Working Group members wrote the following, which we offer to all Drag Lake boaters as cautionary advice.

Avoiding EWM near Pine Tree Point

To mangle and mash a couple of lines from Bob Dylan: “Come gather ‘round people whatever your boats…and accept that the waters around us have growths… and our routes they need ‘a changin’…”

The “growth” is a new outbreak of Eurasian Watermilfoil (EWM), just north of the two hazard buoys located between what the Community of Drag Lake map designates as Sandy Point Beach and Pine Tree Point. Putting surface markers around the weed bed is a problem for various reasons, both legal and aesthetic. The easiest way to avoid it is to keep the outer hazard buoy on your RIGHT when heading NORTH, and on the LEFT when going SOUTH. The buoys mark the ends of a shoal. Going between them runs the risk of both prop damage and cutting through the weed bed.

As the water warms, the weed grows to within inches of surface level. A frond can be broken off by something as seemingly innocuous as a canoe, kayak or SUP paddle. Every frond is the lake equivalent of a cancer cell. They travel unnoticed until they find a place to take root -- and then unrelentingly metastasise. Milfoil can clog a prop or jet ski as happily as it chokes the life out of a lake. Going between the buoys may be a quicker route, but who comes to Drag Lake to be in a hurry? And for those who are, bear in mind that if milfoil isn’t kept in check, as Dylan summed it up: “…the first one now will later be last.”

Summer Activities!

Water Quality Monitoring on Drag and Spruce Lakes

Read the report - click here

Last summer the DSLPOA was invited to participate in a water quality monitoring pilot project with 9 other Haliburton County lake associations under the direction of the Minden-based Woodland and Waterways EcoWatch Program. Given the importance of lake water quality to all property owners and every plant and animal in and around the lakes, the decision to participate was an easy one. Monitoring performed twice last summer at two Drag Lake locations and one Spruce Lake location will establish the starting point for long term monitoring to be performed every year in early summer, late summer and mid-winter. The annual program will be managed by the DSLPOA Director of Lake Stewardship and the Lake Stewardship Committee, but will depend on dedicated volunteers to perform the sampling procedures.

If the citizen scientist in you is interested, read the attached report (click here) and identify yourself as a potential volunteer by email to [email protected]. 

 

 

April Updates

Drag/Spruce lake levels

• be aware - with the recent heavy rains and now warm temperatures, the current lake level is above 'full' (see below)
• for direct access to the TSW Drag/Spruce lake level website - click here
• keep abreast of the latest as it becomes available at the CEWF website - cewf.ca

We have a winner!

• per recent email to all members on DSLPOA membership signs, the draw for respondents has been held for the Haliburton Highland theater tickets
• Congratulations Karen MacLean!

FOCA updates

• for all the latest FOCA news - click here
• Note the reference to our DSLPOA work on milfoil!

 

Enjoy the weather!

Community Based Research for DSLPOA

U-Links is a Minden based not-for-profit that links Haliburton County organizations with Trent University and Fleming College students. Under the supervision of a professor and for course credits, these students perform community-based research to assist a host organization. Since 2021 DSLPOA has participated in 5 such projects, two of which are still ongoing. Since all of our projects to date have been related to Eurasian Watermilfoil, the students’ reports are available at the top left of our website under EWM Information, or at this link - click here.

Questions about any of the reports can be sent to [email protected].