New: Facebook has blocked all Canadian news. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop.

New: Facebook has blocked all Canadian news. Join our mailing list to stay in the loop.

Crow_Lake_Dock_Catch22

Feature Article April 10

Feature Article April 10, 2003

LAND O' LAKES NewsWeb Home

Contact Us

Crow Lake Dock caught in a Catch-22by Jeff GreenA windstorm in early April of last year sent ice crashing into the dock at Crow Lake, and residents have been waiting ever since for the dock to be repaired.

Last month, Mark Sandemann and Lisa Sloane of the Federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans met with a group of concerned residents at the old School House in Crow Lake.

Ludwig Ratzinger was one of those residents, and he had prepared an outline of the kind of dock envisioned by the residents.

I was explaining to the two officials why a fixed dock is preferable to a floating dock, when I could see in their eyes that they hadnt come to talk about what kind of dock they were going to build, but to explain why they arent going to build a dock at all.

Crow_Lake_Dock_Catch22According to a report by the Crow Lake Dock Group, Mark Sandemann informed them that his organization was trying to get out of the dock business.

Sandemann claimed that his organization [previously] had responsibility for 400 docks, and that was now down to 175.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans currently owns two docks in Central Frontenac, the now- destroyed dock at Crow Lake and the dock at Sharbot Lake. They have expressed an interest in selling, or giving the docks to the township, but there is a question of native land claims over the properties.

The township has expressed a willingness to take over, but wants the DFO to rebuild the dock first. However, at the meeting on March 12, the DFO official said they are willing to spend up to $9,000 to demolish the remains of the dock, but not the $40,000 to $60,000 they estimate a new dock will cost.

The Crow Lake Dock group fails to see why the dock will cost that much. We know of a local contractor who build a bridge over a creek, complete with steel girders and white oak beams, for around $7,500. The concrete is still intact in this dock, it couldnt be that expensive to repair it. The last one lasted 30 years, said Ludwig Ratzinger.

The dock group was given to understand that a letter would be forthcoming from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to Central Frontenac within two weeks of the March 12 meeting. Councillor Frances Smith represents the Oso district, which includes Crow Lake, on Central Frontenac Council. She told the News she was hoping to see a letter from the DFO at next weeks council meeting [to be held on April 14]. She also said that while she couldnt speak for the other councillors, she would be interested in having Central Frontenac take ownership over the dock, and the one in Sharbot Lake, provided they were turned over in good repair, and provided we are left with the ability to run them as we see fit.

In reference to the cost of repairs envisioned by Federal Engineers, Smith said those figures have to do with the way the federal government does things, and thats why we would need a free hand to manage the dock in a way that we could afford.

There was a plan to work on the dock a couple of years ago, before it was crushed by ice, and at that time the plan the DFO came up with was so complicated that no one bothered to bid on the job when we sent it to tender, Smith recalls.

Mel Fleming, a cottage owner on the lake, who takes a special interest in lake levels and fish spawning grounds, says the dock is important because it is the only free boat launch not only to Crow Lake, but to Bobs Lake as well. If people start launching boats at different spots on the lakes, they are could easily start disturbing spawning beds, which are already under stress because of the variability of water levels on both lakes.

Crow and Bobs Lakes are the reservoir for the Tay River and the Rideau Lakes systems. Water is released at the Bolingbroke dam, off the north east end of Bobs Lake. The target set by the government for lake levels is a range of 132 centimetres from high to low water levels, said Mel Fleming, but a ministry official told me his primary job was to ensure a depth of 5 feet of water on the Rideau Canal, so if they need the water they could indeed drop the water even lower on Bobs and Crow Lakes.

The Crow Lake Dock Group thinks a floating dock would be impractical on a lake that has such huge fluctuations, and question how the dock would be removed from the lake, and how it can be safely stored.

Ironically, it was high water levels that caused the dock to be destroyed in the first place. High water levels on the lake last winter, combined with rain and high winds, sent layers of ice crashing into the dock, leading to its destruction. The group proposes a new dock that would have design features to deal with a similar circumstance in the future.

A letter has been sent by the Crow Lake group to council, and it is hoped that something will be there from the DFO as well, so the three parties can work towards a solution that will bring a repaired dock to Crow Lake before another summer passes.

With the participation of the Government of Canada