A lot of folks around our Lakeland in eastern Ontario fear the worst when all the Gypsy moth eggs that we saw on the tree bark last fall hatch in the coming spring.

Many of us scraped off all the egg masses we could find and reach but many are placed high in the tree canopies, inside car wheel rims and in lumber piles. We needed help.

Like many other invaders, gypsy moths were brought in by human mistakes. In 1869, amateur naturalists in Massachusetts brought gypsy moths in to try to use them to produce silk. A container blew off a window sill and the invasion was started. Now, with our help, gypsy moths are spread widely across North America.

In the 1890's in Massachusetts, they hired many men to climb up into the tree canopies and scrape off egg masses. Times and wages have changed. And so has nature.

Over fall and winter, Red-Breasted Nuthatches, White-Breasted Nuthatches and Chickadees scour the tree canopies right out to the finest branches checking for eggs and insects to eat. They find many of the Gypsy Moth egg masses and have learned to get past all the hairy covering put on the egg masses by the female moths.

As spring warms, little Brown Creepers will join the winter birds and a little later, floods of warblers will be passing through, also looking for foods to support their long migrations. Having full forest canopies with well-developed understories of shrubs and saplings and natural forest floors should be attractive homes and stop-overs for the birds.

The current alternative technological control is a spray of Bacillus thuringiensis variety kurstaki HD-1 simply called 'Bt'. This is a bacterium that must be eaten by the Gypsy moth caterpillars so the leaves they eat must be thoroughly coated with Bt. And because it works best on young caterpillars, the leaves must be coated just when the eggs hatch. Bt is washed off by rain so the coating must be applied just when the caterpillars hatch and when there is not rain for few days. Because the tops of the trees must be coated, aerial applications are normally used and if the Bt is washed off and has to be reapplied, the costs rise. The natural workforce of birds is better. But their populations need to be safeguarded.

Many folks in eastern Ontario have seen very huge white birds either flying or on the water. Those really huge white birds are Trumpeter Swans.

The last Trumpeter in Ontario was shot at Long Point in 1932. In 1988 Harry Lumsden, took on recovery of Trumpeters as a retirement project. You might have known Harry when he worked for Lands and Forests in Tweed.

Trumpeters were not wiped out in B.C. so 23 eggs were obtained and hatched in Ontario. Harry Lumsden found 23 volunteers who agreed to shelter and feed those hatchlings in eastern Ontario until they matured. From this effort 540 Trumpeters were released. The Ontario Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group was formed (www.trumpeterswansociety.org) and by 2010, there were about 1000 Trumpeters in the wilds of eastern Ontario. Some swans have nested and raised young. We commonly see the grayish young in late summer.

Trumpeter Swans are the largest swans in the world with wingspans reaching 8 feet. Trumpeters may be the heaviest bird capable of flight. They build huge nests, up to 3 metres across. Often they nest on top of old beaver lodges.

Trumpeter Swans do not migrate south. They flock in open water on the lower Great Lakes and on open rivers. On Lake Ontario they are in mixed flocks that include Tundra Swans and Mute Swans. Tundra Swans are native but nest only in the north. We see them as migrants. They are distinguished from the Trumpeters by a variable yellow patch between the bill and the eye and slightly smaller size. Mute Swans are invasive, non-natives that have escaped from swan flocks in urban areas that were imported from Europe. They have a red and black or yellow bill. They have bred widely and their population is increasing rapidly. They compete with Trumpeter Swans for nesting habitat.

Trumpeter Swans are grand birds to see, especially when they take off and spread those huge wings over you. They can be seen on the Salmon River and on McGowan's Lake. At summer's end, large numbers occur on the Crowe River near Marmora, on Consecon Lake in Prince Edward County, in Lake Ontario off Kingston and in lesser numbers in breeding habitat in the inland rivers and lakeland across eastern Ontario. Thanks to many volunteers and Harry Lumsden our swans are back as one of our most valuable natural riches.

A delegation that included the general managers of three of the four Conservation Authorities that are responsible for watershed management in Frontenac County, made a presentation to the monthly Frontenac County Council meeting last Wednesday (January 16) in Glenburnie.

Katrina Furlanetto, from Cataraqui Conservation, led the delegation, supported by Sommer-Casgrain Robertson (Rideau Valley), Sally McIntyre (Mississippi Valley), and Brad McNevin, chief administrative officer from Quinte Conservation. 

The politicians around the table are familiar with the work of the Conservation Authorities (CA) because they, or members of their council, sit on the governing boards of each Conservation Authority whose watersheds include territory that falls within their boundaries. The CA’s also provide services to the municipalities under contract.

The presentation was designed not only to provide some basic information about the mandates of the CA’s but also to bring Council up to speed about the changing political reality that may be facing both the CA’s and the municipalities as the provincial government contemplates changes.

Last year, the Conservation Act was changed, but the new regulations that spring from those changes have not been developed. In August, the Minister of the Environment sent out a letter telling CA’s that they should prepare to wind down services that do not fall within their core mandate.

“From the Province’s perspective, that core mandate relates to our work on natural hazards, flood control being central to that, not the natural heritage, hydrogeology and storm water management work that we do” said Sommer Casgrain-Robertson, in a phone interview after the meeting.

Since the summer, the provincial position seems to have changed. The range of services provided by CA’s to municipalities such as: water quality studies, working with landowners on stewardship efforts, protecting and preserving shorelines, wetlands and floodplains , will likely be maintained. But these services will have to be governed by a series of memoranda of understanding between the CA’s and each of the municipalities that they work with and for.

During her presentation, Katrina Furlanetto pointed out that for this year at least, changes are on hold and the CA’s are operating as normal as consultation regarding he changes is still under way.

Meetings between the Ministry of the Environment and municipal officials are taking place in the coming weeks, including one in Peterborough in early February. CA’s are asking that if there are going to be substantive changes, that there be sufficient lead time so they are less disruptive, and are hoping their municipal partners will impress that need to the province as well.

Furlanetto pointed out as well that the province provides only a small amount of CA funding, between 3 and 5 per cent, for specific services. Grants and fundraising provide funding for projects, but the bulk of funding for CA work comes from the municipalities where they are located. CA’s are also governed by municipally appointed boards.

“We are always working to improve our operations, and provide transparency to our boards and municipal funders,” said Casgrain-Roberston.

CA’s are also a commenting agency for planning departments, as part of the planning approval process. The province is seeking a speedier planning approval process and there may be measures aimed at changing how that work is done by the Conservation Authorities.

Katrina Furlanetto said CA’s across the Province are working to standardise how they provide planning comments, while maintaining the local perspective that comes from their accumulated knowledge about their own watersheds.

“We are always open to improvement,” she said.

The long and contentious approval process to create 15 new building lots at Johnston’s Point on Loughborough Lake (off North Shore Road) took another bizarre twist this month with the release of a new document.

Because of the presence of two endangered species on the site - Blandings Turtles and Gray (aka Black) rat snakes – the project developer was required to obtain a “Overall Benefit Permit” from the Ministry of Natural Resources as a condition of approval for the project.

The permit sets out the steps that must be taken to ensure that the net effect of the development will not cause any more stress on the populations of the two endangered species than existed when the property was in its natural state.

Frontenac County, as the approval authority that will ultimately give the go-ahead for the project, wanted to see the permit. The Ministry would not release the document and the county submitted a freedom of information request last winter to get access.

While the request was being considered, ministerial changes took place and responsibility to enforce the permit is now held by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks. The document was finally released to Frontenac County on October 29, but as members of Frontenac County Council saw this week when the document was released to the public, it is a redacted version that was released.

The redactions were done by the ministry and a third party with an interest in the project. The ministries’ redactions, county planning staff have determined, were done so that the specific locations where the species are located within the site are not identified.

The redactions make parts of the permit very hard to understand.

The permit does say that paving should be avoided within the building project, and that a 30-metre vegetative buffer around the lake must be adhered to. It also places restrictions on the time of years when certain construction activities can take place.

For example, no vegetative clearing, driveway clearing or construction, building or septic field construction can take place between April 1 and October 31 unless a qualified professional is on site to monitoring all clearing and construction to make sure the species are not negatively impacted by the activity.

While construction will be restricted during the main building season of April 1 to October 30, any blasting that will take place will be restricted to April 1 – October 31 so it does not impact the snakes during hibernation.

Even once construction is complete, there are provisions for educating property owners on the site, and for annual reports concerning the wellbeing of the two species.

The stringent requirements about the project, the materials to be used in road construction, and the timing and limitations during the construction phase will all be enforced by the Ministry, the township of South Frontenac and the County of Frontenac have no jurisdiction concerning the stipulations contained in the benefit permit.

Back in the ’60s and ’70s, the concept of living ‘off the grid’ was generally the purview of counter-culture types, back-to-the-earthers and such.

However, in this day and age, technology and ingenuity have made the concept attainable for most people and motivations have evolved as well.

And last Thursday, several area residents got to see three examples of what modern off-grid living looks like as Stan and Marily Seitz opened up their home and cottage along with Rick and Debbie Morey. The two couples live at opposite ends of Canonto Lake near Ompah and while their setups differ, their approaches — and motivations for going it alone are remarkably similar.

“The Hydro guy told me, ‘you’re about $120,000 away from our line,” Doug Morey said during his part of the tour.

Stan Seitz told a similar tale.

The Seitz’s have been off-grid for about 40 years. They built their place just up the hill from the cabin her parents have had since 1970.

Marily defers defers to Stan when it comes to explaining how it all works.

“I’m the big picture,” she said. “I said ‘solar would be good.’”

Stan, it would appear, is the the architect of their off-grid existence. He sounds for all world like Star Trek’s Scotty talking about how warp drive works when describing his setup, all the while insisting how simple it really is.

And when it comes down to it, the solar system is relatively simple. Solar panels convert sunlight into DC current electricity. Then you need an inverter system to change that to AC current to run a household and you need some sort of monitoring and control for the whole thing.

The devil, it would seem, is in those details but both Seitz and Morey seem to have it down and while they proudly explain their systems like any enthusiast in almost any pursuit, they continue to extoll the simplicity virtues of their systems.

One of the major variables in the systems is the batteries used to store power. (“The solar panels charge the batteries, which run the lights and appliances,” they both said.)

In the main house, Seitz has batteries of a size you might expect to see on an aircraft carrier. The batteries in the system down at the cabin are more pickup truck size. Morey has similar size batteries, just a lot more of them.

One thing they both agree on is that the roof is no place for solar panels.

“You have to get up there and shovel them off in the winter,” Seitz said.

He did however, move the roof panels he started out with on the main house down to the cabin which isn’t used in winter.

Seitz also has a windmill but it was struck by lighting and is out of action.

“And the company is out of business,” he said.

They seem to be getting along fine without it.

For Morey, wind power isn’t an option.

“We’ve very sheltered here and don’t get enough wind.”

But neither of these operations seem to lack for anything. They have video systems, satellite TV, radios, stereos, plenty of lights.

They do use propane for appliances (fridge, stove, deep freeze, hot water heater) and have wood stoves but microwaves and coffee makers are plugged into the wall.

Other than the fact they’re not hooked up to the electrical grid, they don’t seem to be living life much differently than anybody else.

Except that they’re all ready for a zombie apocalypse.

“When the grid goes down occasionally, our kids would get phone calls from their friends to find our what happened in their favourite TV shows,” Seitz said.

Kathy and Noel Bateman were surprised when they received notification from Central Frontenac Township that the property next to their house, the former location of a grocery store at the spot where Road 38 meets the Wagarville Road, was included in the township’s current tax sale.

That the land was being sold to recover back taxes wasn’t the real surprise, but a missing piece of information was. The grocery store had taken over a building that originally housed a car dealership and garage, and it is a contaminated site.

“Anybody who buys that property needs to know what is there, and what potential liability they are taking on,” said Kathy Bateman, in a phone interview with the Frontenac News last week. She went on to detail the amount of remediation that has been required on her house in order to eliminate the seepage of fumes into the living area due to migrating contamination from next door.

She said that early last week her husband Noel had phoned Michael McGovern, Treasurer for Central Frontenac, to find out why there was no warning issued about the property.

“He said that although the township had documentation about the removal of gas tanks from the property, there was nothing in their records about further environmental hazards.”

The Batemans have been in constant touch with the Ministry of the Environment, over many years, about the situation property and they contacted the ministry to let them know the property was up for sale for back taxes.

When contacted on Friday (July 12) McGovern said he had received an email from the Ministry of the Environment’s Kingston office a day earlier, informing him about the contamination.

“As I told Mr. Bateman, we had nothing in writing about the property except that the tanks had been removed,” McGovern said, “but now that I have the information from the ministry, I am sending the information to everyone who picked up the tax sale package about this property. It is still part of the tax sale, but potential buyers will be informed about the contamination.

If the property does not sell as part of the tax sale, Central Frontenac Council can choose to make it available for sale through a secondary process, with no minimum bid. It is now listed with a minimum price of $18,625.53, the amount owing in back taxes. If it still doesn’t sell, as is likely, Council will have the option of taking ownership of the property or leaving it in the hands of the current owner, which is GMD Frontenac Corporation, foregoing the missing tax revenue but saving the township from the liability that comes with owning a contaminated piece of property.

“In the email that I received, the ministry said that the land is on their list for clean-up, which they expect to complete in two to three years,” McGovern said.

Rezoning in Loughborough District

Township Planner Trudy Gravel opened a public meeting concerning a property at the intersection of Eel Bay Road and Charlie Green Road, on Eel Bay of Sydenham Lake. The proposal is to rezone a narrow waterfront property from resort commercial to special waterfront residential and replace three small cottages, a dock and a private but commonly used boat launch site with a single detached dwelling, a shed, a garage, and two docks.

Currently the site is described as “heavily culturally impacted” with an eroding shoreline, beside a Provincially significant wetland.

Gravel’s report states that the redevelopment of this site as proposed with greater setback distances will not have an environmental impact on the water quality of Eel Bay nor on the wetland (marsh) located near the southern portion of the property.

“The proposal provides an opportunity to reestablish (renaturalize) the shoreline vegetation that will both improve the habitat for wildlife species as well as provide stability and prevent erosion in the foreslope areas.” The boat launch will no longer be open to the public.

The only comment from the public was from neighbour David Plumpton, who was fully in support, saying that the heavy public use of this private boat launch in the past has led to overuse, noise, rowdiness, and littering.

Councillor Sutherland questioned allowing two docks, but the owner, Simon Clarke, said the second, smaller dock was in a location where he could back his boat down to the water for launching. (The main dock is down a steep slope which is currently being stabilized.)

Council approved the rezoning by-law.

Dogs Barking: A Noise Bylaw Issue?

In response to complaints from Harold and Lynn Snider about the noise of barking dogs believed to be originating from neighbouring Ben Acres Kennels, Councillor Revill brought a motion that the noise levels at the Snider property should be professionally measured. CAO Orr estimated that fees for such a measurement would be between $1,500 and $2,000 and still would not prove whether or not a township bylaw has been breached, as the bylaws do not reference decibel levels, using only the broad, subjective term “nuisance.”

Council defeated the motion, instead choosing to direct staff to work with development services to draft a bylaw update, perhaps one which would exempt dog kennels. (This is the only complaint about barking that Council has received in the past three years, and no other neighbours have complained: In most cases this type of matter is resolved between neighbours.)

Recreation Committee Restructuring

Council considered a three-part motion that: 1) Council strike a “Recreation and Leisure Facilities Committee” and a “Community Programming & Events Committee” 2) that this structure be put in place for a trial period of 12 months from the date of committee appointments, and 3) that staff be directed to actively advertise for committee appointments to these committees with a deadline of July 19th .

Councillor Norm Roberts made an amendment that a specific date (September 30, 2020) be chosen for the review of the trial period, and Deputy Mayor Sleeth seconded it. Council passed the amended motion unanimously. Sleeth complimented Recreation Supervisor Tim Laprade on his excellent and detailed report which made this possible.

Sleeth also noted a recent example of local volunteer work: in order to bring the Storrington Centre kitchen up to commercial standards, volunteer Rebecca Smith raised the funds to buy a commercial stove by canvassing hall users and potential users.

Morgan Subdivision Update

Following a site visit and staff review of the Sydenham Valleyview (Morgan) Subdivision agreement, Director of Development Services, Claire Dodds reported that “it is staff’s opinion that the paving of driveways and any outstanding seeding/sodding is a matter that is best addressed between the developer and property owners to come to an agreement to complete the outstanding site work without direct involvement from the Township.”

Lot drainage and grading is at various stages throughout the subdivision, and RKR Landholders is responsible for completing work on the road and sidewalk between Rutledge Road and the communal mailboxes before the final approval can be issued. Dodds attributed some of the problems in communications as having occurred as a result of staff changes during the subdivision’s development.

Rideau Waterway Monitoring

Deputy Mayor Sleeth reported on a meeting between the Cataraqui Conservation Authority, Queen’s, the Ministry of the Environment (and other related groups) that addressed this summer’s plans to monitor the water quality of the Rideau and connected tributaries. The water off Gilmour’s point in Dog Lake is currently being tested.

Quote:

“If you want it to happen, do it!” Volunteer Award recipient Alvin Wood.

A new batch of butternut seedlings have been sent into the world to pull the endangered tree back from the brink – but this spring’s lot may have been the last.

Landowners flocked to the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority’s specialized cold storage facility on Dilworth Road this spring to pick up their baby butternut trees, carefully grown at the Ferguson Forestry Centre from resilient seeds harvested across Eastern Ontario.

Butternut trees in Canada and the US have been decimated by the butternut canker, an incurable fungal disease that scientists believe originated in Asia.

Since 2005, the RVCA has planted a total of 29,000 new butternuts across Eastern Ontario, partnering with landowners and other groups willing to care for the fragile trees on their properties.

But that could end now that proposed changes to the provincial Endangered Species Act have been signed into law.

The new rules, included in the Province of Ontario’s More Homes, More Choice Act, will allow developers to pay into a province-wide conservation fund instead of supporting localized, targeted efforts to save or replace the threatened species they disrupt. It’s unclear how the provincial pool of money would be doled out: money paid for local butternut destruction may no longer fund local butternut recovery.

That could leave the RVCA’s program without the critical funding it needs to collect resilient seeds to nurture new seedlings for reforestation. And it’s been a hugely successful model, if only because landowners have been so eager to plant the disappearing trees.

“I haven’t had a butternut on my property for more than 60 years,” said Mountain resident Fred Baker, who participated in the program for the first time this spring. He picked up 20 seedlings on May 10. “It’s a good, natural food for animals and wildlife, beautiful wood to work with, great saw logs if you can get them to that size. They’re beautiful to sit under.”

Progress is achingly slow: of the 2,000 free seedlings handed out this spring, only about 30 per cent will live to age five, according to program manager Rosemary Fleguel.

“It’s a slow, steady drip to get butternuts back onto the landscape,” she said. “But it’s still 30 per cent more than what was there, and they’re from genetically superior parent trees. What we don’t know is how many of these seedlings will be able to fend off the canker disease into maturity to produce seeds of their own.”

Fleguel estimates that 50 to 60 per cent of the population in eastern Ontario has died or is no longer reproducing since she started monitoring the trees in 1992.

“I’d say about 50 per cent still exist as viable trees, but every year a certain percentage fall off the edge,” she said. “The urgency to find these tolerant trees cannot be overstated.”

For the complete story, click here: www.rvca.ca/blog/butternut-recovery-at-risk-under-proposed-endangered-species-act-changes

It’s a busy week for technicians working for Conservation Authorities (CA) in Eastern Ontario.

Of the 37 such entities in Ontario, 4 are located in this corner of Eastern Ontario; Mississippi and Rideau Valley Conservation, in the Ottawa River watershed, and Quinte and Cataraqui, in the Lake Ontario watershed.

They have put out notices this week about spring flooding and its impact on some of the lakes within their systems.

They also all received notification that the portion of their funding that the Province of Ontario provides for natural hazard management is being cut this year.

In the case of the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) for example, the allocation is dropping from $242,000 last year, to $125,000 this year.

The $242,000 annual payment, which had remained the same since 1996, was the Province’s contribution towards the RVCA’s efforts to mitigate against flood erosion, maintain infrastructure such as the Bolingbroke dam, and monitor stream flows, maintain a flood watch and generate flood warning messages, and produce mapping of flood plains.

“These are core functions,” said Sommer Casgrain-Robertson, General Manager of RVCA, “which the Province has always supported. “The $242,000 was about 2% of our annual budget, and it is now about 1%. The municipalities within the watershed provide about 50% of our funding, and the rest comes from user fees, application fees and fundraising. The Province, through the Ministry of the Environment, also contributes funding towards source water protection for drinking water.”

Flood water protection and monitoring had been a direct service of the Ministry of Natural Resources before it was downloaded to the Conservation Authorities in the 1990’s and at first the Province provided a significant share of the funding, but with inflation and other cost increases over 23 years, that share had diminished over that time to 2% until it was cut in half last week.

“We are not going to change our flood mitigation and monitoring operations, said Casgrain. “Over the next few months our board will decided how to handle the financial implications.”

We know the Province was up against a significant financial hurdle, and we knew the budget would contain cuts, we were waiting to see if our funding would be cut, but since our funding is so limited it was not a cut we were expecting. And when you consider that with climate change, we are definitely seeing an increase in extreme weather events, this is coming at a time when we probably should be looking at doing more in this area.”

The RVCA board is made up of appointees from member municipalities. One of the options they could consider would be to make up the shortfall by increasing the contribution from member municipalities towards natural hazards, which would lead to decreases in other municipal services or increases in municipal taxes.

The Mississippi Valley Conservations Authority (MVCA) is seeing a provincial funding cut from $248,000 to $128,000.

In a written statement, MVCA staff talked about the scope of the program that is supported by provincial funding.

“Through our watershed planning, programs and services, we put as much effort into preventing flooding as we do into responding when weather conditions overwhelm the system. Examples, particularly at this time of year, include: monitoring water levels and weather forecasts, operating water control structures, providing advanced notice of flooding to area municipalities and residents, and coordinating with emergency responders. We operate five Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry, 11 smaller MVCA dams, and 2 facilities on behalf of Ontario Power Generation. Our on the ground presence throughout the watershed and daily monitoring of water flows, levels and weather conditions, allows us to understand and predict how water is coming off the land.”

They also said that they are not contemplating making any changes to their core operations in the short term in response to the sudden cut in provincial funding.

“We will look internally and at existing programs and reserves to compensate while continuing to work on the ground, maintaining the same level of service that member municipalities and other partners have come to rely on,” said Sally McIntyre, General Manager.

On a province-wide basis, the funding envelope for Conservation Authority natural hazard funding has been decreased from $7.4 million to $3.7 million.

The Ministry of Natural Resources, under Minister John Yakabuski, who represents the riding of Renfrew, is also undertaking a review of the Conservation Authorities Act, with a view towards improving “public transparency and consistency” according to a government news release.

The release quotes Minister Yakabuski: "Our government is putting people first to help communities and families prepare and respond to climate change," said John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. "Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of our regulations is a critical component of our government's strategy for strengthening Ontario's resiliency to extreme weather events."

A flood watch has been issued by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority for properties around Bob’s Lake and Christie Lake, as these lakes are at capacity.

Although the water level increases are now almost stabilized, the water levels may still increase with the forecasted rain.

A flood warning has been issued by the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority for the entire Mississippi River watershed. Water levels on Mazinaw, Marble, and Little Marble Lakes have peaked and are beginning to recede, and are are expected to be close to summer levels by the end of the week.

Levels on Kashwakamak Lake and Buckshot Creek should begin dropping by the end of this week. Flows out of Crotch Lake to High Falls are still increasing and are expected to peak on or around April 26. Levels on Dalhousie Lake have receded since their early peak but could rise above this season’s high of 157.8 metres on Thursday

In the Quinte Watershed, It is expected that rivers in the northern region of the Moira and the Salmon watersheds will approach 2014 flood levels this week.

The Cataraqui Region Conservation Association did not project major flooding in their most recent release, which was a week ago on April 17