While giving a presentation on the Mississippi Valley watershed report card (they got an A), at the Sharbot Lake Property Owners Association meeting Saturday, Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority biologist Kelly Stiles said something more or less in passing that could become quite significant. After relating that surface water quality ranges from excellent to fair moving west to east from the Canadian Shield to the more urbanized off shield areas, Stiles said: “Our wetlands range from A to B, but many are close to the lower thresholds. Even small changes in conditions could have big impacts on each subwatershed’s overall rating.” While they do good work, the conservation authorities can’t be everywhere all the time (they do have a monitoring station on Sharbot Lake), and much…

For 11 years now, the artisans of Arden have been welcoming the public to their galleries for one Saturday in July. There are door prizes, a blueberry tea event and of course they make sales but that’s not really why they do it. “It’s nice to meet with people and chat with them,” said Judith Versavel who’s been operating her Gallery By The Bay on Big Clear Lake since 2005. Versavel had a long career in more commercial art, working as a graphic designer for contracts with Bell Canada, Colgate Palmolive and Simpson’s. In 1976 she moved back to the Kingston area and worked at Harrowsmith magazine and later Equinox. But painting was always her first love and although her one-of-a-kind jewelry items have a…

Our beautiful lakes are having enough trouble these days without the threat of an invasive aquatic weed that came to this country as an aquarium plant and is now trying to take over. Eurasian water milfoil has been spreading rapidly through central Canadian waterways and has already been detected in some of the lakes in our region. As it moves in, it crowds out other aquatic plants, endangers fish habitats, and destroys the quality of the lake for both fishing and watersports. Once it gets in, it’s difficult to get rid of, so it’s best to keep it out in the first place. However, even if it’s established in a lake, control measures can help limit the spread. Native aquatic plants are an important part…

Upcoming work on Crow Lake Road is “still in the design phase,” Kevin Hawley of Greer Galloway told an open house in Sharbot Lake’s Oso Hall last Thursday, held to get public feedback. “Construction could be in the late fall (or August) or next spring,” he said. “We can’t do it in winter because cold weather paving can be a problem.” The plans are to address several specific issues that have been noted by residents, including speeding and drainage, he said. “This will only pertain to the hamlet,” he said. “From the Crossroad to the train tracks. “There are several options for the rest of Crow Lake Road to Road 38 but that will have to wait for grants.” “And we are applying for grants…

The big blue and gray bouncy castle that adorned Oso Beach on Canada Day has been recovered, said District 3 Rec Committee chair Lesley Smith-Merrigan. Bouncy castles like this one are in great demand on Canada Day and picking them up often becomes an exercise in logistics. So, when Orbital Talent owner Brian Wilson asked Smith-Merrigan if she thought it would be OK to leave it on the beach overnight, she of course said yes. Wilson would have somebody pick it up Monday. Only, it turned out not to be OK. Sometime after the fireworks, the castle disappeared and was nowhere to be found. That initiated a Facebook campaign to get it back (with 300 shares) and luckily “a gentleman and his son who were…