LOOKING BACK ON FIFTY YEARS OF CONSERVATION

By Valerie Hunnius

When Judge McMahon and his wife, Ruth, and Bill Davis and John Shemilt and a few others got together in 1971 to complain about erratic water levels on Paudash Lake, a headwater reservoir lake - mostly in Haliburton County but also somewhat in North Hastings -  they decided to form an organization to do something about it.  They had no idea what they were creating.  Someone had to do something to prevent the Ministry of Natural Resources from removing logs at the dam at the head of the Crowe River, willy-nilly, for no good reason (except perhaps to prevent flooding in the watershed below).  So they got together and created the Paudash Lake Conservation Association and incorporated it like the good citizens they were in 1973.  They had no idea then of their prescience in specifying “conservation” as a goal, rather than simply calling it a “cottagers’ association”, as almost all such organizations are called.  Born out of concern about water levels, it almost immediately became an organization focussed on water quality, shoreland preservation, species protection and ecological integrity.

Looking back on my experience of twenty odd years of active participation, I believe there were three main events, and their corollaries, which defined the environmental journey we explored.  The first one was the decade-long struggle in the nineteen eighties and nineties to have the abandoned uranium mines in the vicinity of the lake successfully decommissioned.  The second one was to remove the threat of a “lagoon city” type of residential development in the narrows of Paudash Lake in the nineteen nineties.  And the third one was the visionary development of a lake planning process resulting in the Paudash Lake Management Plan, an ongoing living enterprise for perpetual implementation.  These three major projects defined the PLCA as a vital actor in environmental protection, and a key player along with government agencies in ensuring present and future environmental mandates are fulfilled.

DECOMMISSIONING THE MINES 1980 - 1994

The struggle for public health and safety which was at the centre of the attempt to decommission the mines was where we “made our bones”.  The PLCA  innocently expected that all we needed to do was to point out the problem to the relevant level of government, and they would do the right thing.  We quickly discovered that when it comes to uranium, no one wanted to take responsibility.  These mines were opened and closed prior to the then current decommissioning regulations and were in no man’s land.  The federal government claimed the provinces had  jurisdiction for all mining operations.  The provincial government said not so fast: uranium is a federally regulated substance.  To make matters worse the whole issue was becoming public.  Port Hope was an ecological disaster, littered in nuclear waste from their nuclear facility which had never been disposed of adequately.  Why not dump all this waste into the abandoned uranium mine shafts near Bancroft?  An absurd suggestion! To make matters worse, Bill Davis stumbled on a leaking tailings pond near Farrell Lake and a member of the Bancroft public deposited nuclear debris on legislature desks at Queens Park.  It had become a nuclear football: a nightmare.

Locally, the issue was equally as toxic.  With the end of mining in the Bancroft district, only forestry remained.   The other resource which was quickly becoming marketable was real estate, particularly waterfront real estate.  No municipal government or Chamber of Commerce wanted to discuss the issue, much less mount a public campaign to resolve it.  Enter stage left, the Paudash Lake Conservation Association picked up the cudgel and immediately became the “fall guy”.  The PLCA rightly assumed that they had a mandate to conserve the health and well being of our lake and our communities and they steadfastly marched into the fray.  Clearly, it was important to calm the waters.  Public anxiety and even panic would hinder its resolution.  So we politely wrote letters and met with Members of Parliament and Members of the Provincial Legislature and argued our case, avoiding open exposure in the daily press.  After two years and no progress in breaking the dead-locked jurisdiction question, the PLCA hired a scientific non-profit organization, the Canadian Association for Radiation Safety to study the impact of the mines on our settlements around the lake and help us devise a strategy to break the deadlock.

CAIRS had a device for detecting radon gas and most of the homes in Cardiff had had their foundations constructed from rubble near the mine shafts.  Also cottage driveways and retaining walls and some stone fireplaces were contaminated with this material.  Homes were tested and where necessary remedial action was taken.  Where radon gas accumulated, ventilation was installed.

Assuming the matter would end up with the nuclear regulator at the federal level, the PLCA then turned to the Atomic Energy Control Board, which was responsible for decommissioning of uranium mines covered by the current legislation.  It was decided to challenge their authority.  CAIRS prepared a hard-hitting presentation which was made by Gerry Hunnius, Bill Davis and the Reeve of Faraday Township where the Madawaska Mine was located.  The AECB was furious at having their special relationship with the nuclear industry “outed” and they did not, at that time, offer their assistance. Again, the PLCA was at a standstill.

It was time to “go public” in a measured way.  So we contacted the press.  Global Television News and the CBC saw it as an opportunity to sensationalize the news and there were rumours of Paudash Lake “glowing in the dark”.  Cardiff expelled Gerry Hunnius from its Environment Committee, and removed Bill Davis as their representative on the Crowe Valley Conservation Authority, of which he was the elected President at the time.   The real estate industry was incensed.

When the explosion and its aftermath died down, cooler heads prevailed.  Gerry formed an alliance with all the Reeves in Bicroft, Cardiff and Faraday, the Mayor of Bancroft, and with the Bancroft and Area Chamber of Commerce which held public hearings involving the AECB, who were suitably mollified by dealing with the “powers that be”.  The AECB then agreed to supervise the decommissioning of the mines, subject to their owners covering the cost.  By 1994, the decommissioning process was completed.

It is clear that, had the PLCA not stuck to their guns in this never-ending process, the process would never have been completed.  It was our trial by fire and we passed it with flying colours.  We really did “make our bones”.  We were now an organization to be reckoned with.

NO TIME FOR PRIME TIME 1990 - 1994

The second major environmental adventure the PLCA undertook was a formidable fight against a development proposal that, had it succeeded, would have had a devastating impact on the health of Paudash Lake and all of its ecological values.  Our adversary, Prime Time Development, had a plan to create a little “lagoon” settlement called Birchpoint in the narrows between Upper Paudash Lake and Lower Paudash Lake.  This was in 1990 when we still had our hands full trying to achieve decommissioning of the abandoned uranium mines.  The settlement would house forty-three lots, twenty six of them shoreline and seventeen backlots spaced along two dredged canals through an existing wetland, defying all measures of lake capacity.  Since this is uranium country, we had visions of the developers dredging up radionuclides into the water and the soil of the little islands in the channel created from the dredged material.  We did not anticipate that this proposal would die a natural death at Council chambers because lakefront lots are the manna upon which annual municipal budgets are built.  So we geared up for battle.

I don’t really like to position us as adversaries because so much of what this organization has done is promote sound environmental practices and lake health, but sometimes you have to fight against what is damaging in order to protect what is healthy.  We geared up for a potential battle at the Ontario Municipal Board because we saw this development proposal as likely to end up there.  We hired a high quality environmental consultant, Gartner Lee, to prepare a site analysis and we invited the Ministry of Labour to do another analysis of the soil and sediment on the lake bed for the existence of radionuclides.  After all, we were still wrapping our heads around the impact of the abandoned mine sites.  Then, our President, Gerry Hunnius, had a stroke of genius.  He contacted Ted Mosquin, the scientist who had established the MNR guidelines for Ontario’s provincially significant wetlands, and asked him to do a baseline ecological study of the whole of Paudash Lake.  Ted agreed based on one condition.  The lake was his client, not the PLCA.  Bonanza!

In my view, this study, when it was produced in 1993 became the basis upon which a great number of our ecological achievements were built, up to and including our third great environmental adventure, the Lake Plan.  But, in the moment, it was crucial to our success.  In Mosquin’s view, Paudash Lake had thirty-three Class One wetlands, which all formed part of one complex which was provincially significant with appropriate restrictions against building any structures.  Well, when something is too good to be true, it usually is.  The MNR was required to put its stamp of approval on Mosquin’s findings in order for it to be in force and effect.  Then we hit another snag.  Just at that historic moment, provincial guidelines for the significance of wetlands were under review.  In order to make the ones that applied to Ontario south of the Canadian Shield stronger (without strengthening them), the ones that applied north of the Canadian Shield had to be made weaker.  Not logical, I know.  So when the MNR applied the “dumbed down” guidelines one year later, our thirty three wetlands were divided into four complexes, only two of which were provincially significant.  But there was good news.  The Central Paudash complex included the development site of Prime Time Development.  By this time, the developer had abandoned the canals and all but ten building sites.  Eventually he abandoned all but three, and then walked away from the development altogether, having lost a business partner and significant investment.

One of the most exciting public education projects to come out of this win was the placement of ten billboards celebrating the importance of wetlands for water retention and filtration, species’ habit, flood protection and erosion control.  They were placed in eye-catching locations such as the public swimming beach at North Bay, boat launch areas on the lake, local marinas and lakeside grocery stores.  The PLCA created these beautiful billboards and Cardiff covered the cost of their placement: one of our first partnership projects with the municipality.

By comparison with the struggle to decommission the mines, the fight to preserve the wetland at the narrows attracted a lot of positive attention.  People around the lake were generous with donations, and membership in the Paudash Lake Conservation Association got a huge boost.  People were becoming aware of so many important values the lake contained after the Mosquin report was released to the membership.  Cardiff township was increasingly on board with positive energy.  They were proud they had taken the initiative with the wetlands study undertaken by Towle et al.  They were proud they had cooperated with the Ministry of the Environment (the MOE) in the cottage pollution protection program, the septic system study on Inlet Bay.  They were proud to have an Environment Committee reporting to Council.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE OF THE LAKE COMMUNITY
2002 - 2006 and onward

The third major project conceived and birthed by the PLCA was the creation of a Lake Management Plan, by and for the lake community.  It would be a living document: a plan for the present time and for the future with which to enhance municipal and provincial planning, a plan based on environmental values. For this project, we applied for and received an $18,000 Trillium grant.   We were not the first lake association to undertake such a project since French Environmental Services had already created a couple of lake plans in Muskoka, but we were the first in Eastern Ontario.  In twenty-five years of operation, we had already learned so much about our lake, much of it from the Mosquin report.  Through FOCA, we had worked in collaboration with the MOE sponsored Lake Partner Program to collect information on water quality, we had worked with the local MNR on the protection of the fishery in general, relied on the MOE for lake capacity studies on our various basins to protect lake trout and supported the new North Hastings lake trout hatchery in Bancroft.  We had spent many years contributing the knowledge of our lake to municipal and county hearings on new Official Plans and the creation of Zoning bylaws, as well as representing property owners in various capacities at Council.  We were weathered and weather-beaten travellers on the road to developing good environmental roadmaps.

We had learned to be awed by the lake.  The fact that it is a headwater lake but also by the fact that it has tributaries feeding it.  The fact that its perimeter extended to fifty-six  kilometers, including islands.  The fact that it has such amazing wetlands.  The fact that its lake trout population is so healthy.  The fact that so many people have participated in our shoreland protection programs.  The Lake Plan was a way of making use of all our knowledge for future generations: a celebration and a milestone and a belief in the future.

The process involved two meetings each of stakeholders in the community, one for residential property owners and the other for businesses or commercial establishments on the lake to define values and strategies and to engage in a “visioning” process with everyone.  It also involved surveys of all property owners and of boating activity on the lake.  Clearly many other variables were involved including protection of fisheries, the ribbon of life, natural shorelands, noise and light pollution and so on.

The implementation of the Lake Plan in 2006 focussed our attention on enhanced water quality testing through dissolved oxygen testing, increased pressure on municipalities to undertake regular septic system inspection, introduced us to benthic testing of aquatic “bugs in the mud” in the streams feeding the headwater lake, and allowed us a place at the table in the creation of the new Official Plan for the Municipality of Highlands East. And this was only the beginning.

I like to think of these three major projects as being the life blood of the organization: the major arteries in the system, burgeoning out into a distribution of veins of activity involving all of our environmental activities, many of which are documented below.

SHORELAND PROTECTION AND REHABILITATION

Our first Shoreland Protection Program took place in 1997 and 1998, when we partnered with an organization called the Mutual Association for the Protection of Lake Environments (MAPLE) headquartered in the Ottawa Valley whose mission in life was the cultivation of plants indigenous to lake communities on the Canadian Shield.  We hired a scientist and environmental student for one summer to visit and photograph the shorelands of approximately one hundred voluntary participants in the project to determine loss of natural vegetation and recommend replanting options.  MAPLE’s plants were provided at no cost to participants the following year and they were duly replanted.   Not all of them succeeded but it was a noble effort.

Our second similar program took place in 2006.  Going under the moniker of Dock Talk, it was sponsored by the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations (FOCA) and funded by a Trillium Grant.  This program, as well as documenting shoreland degradation and revitalization, mainly focussed on education.  We hired two environmental educators to assist lake residents who volunteered to participate in the program with respect to issues such as: septic system care, pollution prevention,  wildlife habitat enhancement, erosion control, and other relevant environmental issues.  Such information was also generally available at booths and tables set up for the purpose at membership events, such as the Regatta, the Rock Bass Derby and the Annual Meeting.

For our third program regarding shorelands, we hitched a ride on the survey conducted by the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Associations, an environmental organization of cottage owners in the County, who undertook a detailed survey of the degree of naturalization or its loss of all County lakes in 2015.  Called, Love Your Lake, it provided a snapshot in time.  It delivered a synopsis of all lakes, the report for which was broadly distributed.  In-depth analysis of its findings related to specific properties was provided to owners, on request.

Subsequently, the PLCA in 2022 participated in a recent campaign to encourage Haliburton County to protect the thirty metre setback from all lakes from disturbance of the natural tree and vegetation cover by passing an appropriate Shoreline Protection Bylaw.  Unfortunately, the naysayers in the County, including some Councillors, were reluctant to move to this level of protection, agreeing to a mere twenty-metre setback.  The struggle continues.

WATER QUALITY

As previously stated, the PLCA has been testing for phosphorus levels and water clarity since it joined the Lake Partner Program run through the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations (FOCA) in the early nineteen-seventies.  After 2005, we purchased the appropriate apparatus and began testing for dissolved oxygen concentration as well.  This is very important since Paudash Lake has a healthy lake trout population.

Septic system management and inspection systems have long been a priority with the PLCA.  After Cardiff Council initiated an inspection on Inlet Bay in cooperation with the Ministry of the Environment’s (MOE) Cottage Pollution Inspection Program (which was later discontinued due to budget cuts), the PLCA followed up with its own Inspection Program of septic systems on Upper Paudash in 1994.  The MOE followed up with owners whose systems were substandard to ensure compliance. Regular municipal inspections of septic systems on lake properties was Identified in the Lake Management Plan as a priority and since then, Highlands East has inaugurated such a system.

Runoff associated with erosion, herbicides and pesticides, household chemicals and other products have been the subject of continuous education campaigns, along with proper septic system maintenance procedures and encouragement not to use soap and shampoo while bathing in the lake.

SPECIES PROTECTION

Over the years we have promoted various education programs  around species habitat protection, much of it in the area of the shorelands.  Fisheries are a key factor with respect to nearshore spawning and nurseries. We have given advice on dismantling or building docks, referring owners to the appropriate authority, i.e. the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and/or the Crowe Valley Conservation Authority.  

Retaining walls, disturbing natural vegetation, planting grass or other monoculture plants in shoreland areas is discouraged.  Retaining milkweed for monarch butterflies is encouraged.  Instructions have been provided regarding gypsy moth and tent caterpillar infestations.

We have run campaigns to discourage purple loosestrife, including the distribution of beetles to help eradicate it.  We have, through programs sponsored by the Ontario Federation of Anglers’ and Hunters, tested the waters for zebra mussels and other aquatic invasive species.  With the help of the MOE’s Lake Partner Program in 1997-98, we had an intensive study done of the chemistry of Paudash Lake, part of a sample of ten equivalent lakes, which showed that Paudash Lake is basically inhospitable to zebra mussels.

To protect the healthy smallmouth bass population in the lake, we have run an annual Rock Bass Derby on the second weekend in July which we now call the Don Thomas Memorial Rock Bass Derby to honour one of our Directors who passed.  On this weekend every year we remove up to four hundred pounds of Rock Bass from competition with the smallmouth bass our sportsmen and women love to catch.

Following 2001, the PLCA has invested heavily, on an annual basis, in the new North Hastings lake trout hatchery in Bancroft run as a community enterprise which incubates Haliburton Gold lake trout to help restore local lake trout lakes to their full potential, and we have reaped the reward of adding new compatible lake trout stock to Paudash Lake for several seasons.

LAKE LEVELS

It is ironic that the PLCA was formed originally to limit the MNR’s prerogative to raise and lower lake levels to suit downstream needs.  At the time, they agreed to maintain a differential between summer and winter levels at no more than eleven inches.  The Mosquin report in 1994 recommended that the lake be allowed to revert to natural seasonal fluctuations around the level at the midpoint between average winter and average summer levels.  Ultimately the MNR ruled that the “eleven inch” agreement would remain in place but the drawdown would commence September 1 instead of October 1, to protect lake trout spawn from becoming high and dry.  The PLCA promoted this solution for the protection of lake trout but it was not popular with everyone.

PARTNERSHIPS

Since our inception, the PLCA has participated in partnerships with government agencies and other non-profit environmental organizations, and combinations of the two.  Members of our Executive have sat on MNR Committees governing policy development for wildlife management, fisheries and sustainable logging.  When MNR began losing funding in the nineteen-nineties, they formed Community Stewardship Councils on which some of our Executive members were represented.  One of these ran annual Lakeland Conferences for cottage associations on the lakes between Peterborough in the south to Maynooth in the north, covering the ground of lake stewardship.  As mentioned, we have always participated in the Lake Partner Program run by FOCA in association with the MOE.  The Lake Capacity Studies, conducted by the MOE involving lake trout lakes have been very important to our work in promoting sustainable development on the lake.  We have also partnered with the MOE in our early days to conduct septic systems inspections, already mentioned.  And we have assisted the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans in sponsoring education events regarding protection of fish species.

Despite the necessary friction of government operations and the occasional setback, we have maintained an excellent relationship with both the municipalities of Highlands East (and the former Cardiff) and Faraday Township, and with the County of Haliburton.  This has stood us in good stead when it comes to providing input on Official Plans, Bylaws and property disputes.

We have always maintained a flourishing relationship with the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations, the Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Association, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Environment Haliburton!, and other environmental organizations in co-sponsoring and speaking at local workshops.  We have had excellent local press.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Over the years we have sponsored a voluntary registry for emergency vehicles spearheaded by the OPP, which was useful until the 911 system was completed.  We have also sponsored a Vial of Life program introduced by the local Bancroft paramedic service (suggesting to families to list prescription drugs in a separate vial for each family member in a prominent place such as the door of a refrigerator, for easy access in an emergency). We distributed, free of charge, empty vials for this purpose.

Our social activities include but are not limited to  our Annual Regatta and Fun Day on August Civic Holiday Weekend, our Rock Bass Derby in July, and our Annual Meeting in August, with a variety of guest speakers.  More recently, we have mounted a flag strewn boat parade on Canada Day.  We are better at lobbying than we are at partying.

LOBBYING

The PLCA in the nineteen-seventies supported a local petition to oppose the re-opening of the Bancroft uranium mines.  During the NDP government’s administration in the nineteen-nineties, we supported the legislation for a provincial Environmental Bill of Rights and lobbied the government for the extension of public funding for non-profit organizations to make an appeal before the Ontario Municipal Board.  In 1991, we argued successfully at an OMB hearing in opposition to a Cardiff Council proposal to institute a ward system for voters in Cardiff Council.

More recently, using information from our benthic testing process in streams and tributaries entering Paudash Lake, we have campaigned to persuade the MNR to restrict development on the shores of Centre Lake, upstream from Paudash Lake and have successfully lobbied Highlands East to oppose the same development.

We have also been active and will remain active in promoting a Haliburton County Bylaw to Protect the thirty metre setback on all shorelands in Haliburton County.

PRESENTATIONS

Over the years, presentations have been made to various organizations regarding our accomplishments on Paudash Lake.  I have been personally involved in making presentations to FOCA, Environment Haliburton, the Advisory Committee on the Environment to Haliburton County, and, with Gerry to the North American Lake Management Society.

ORGANIZATIONAL GROWTH

In 1990, we created an Environment Protection to support environmental purposes.  In 1993, we created a Mission Statement outlining our Environmental Principles and Defining Environmental Values.  In 1996, we updated our Constitution to allow for fifteen Directors instead of twelve.  In 2005, the PLCA achieved status as a Registered Charity.  We have recently designated a “Youth Director” position on the Board, hoping to increase the enthusiasm of all our youth to participate in our environmental actions.

RECOGNITION

We have received awards and recognition from FOCA, the Haliburton Land Trust, the Bancroft Stewardship Council associated with the MNR and the Trillium Foundation.

IN MEMORIAM

We wish to recognize the contribution provided to the PLCA over the years of some of our leaders and organizers.  Without the incredible commitment of time and energy provided by former Presidents Bill Davis, Gerry Hunnius and Jim Sangster we would not have achieved the accomplishments we have written about in this brief summary.