THREE
MILE
P.O.
www.3milelake.org
Our new President Rod Ward is in the process of improving our communication channels and has undertaken to setup a club website at www.3milelake.org and a general delivery email address at 3MileLake@cogeco.ca . Our website will be under construction for awhile. Rod will respond to any inquiries sent to the email address for the present. Any suggestions for content on the website are appreciated as we want to ensure it serves our membership well.
The Directors would like to thank all of the present members for showing their support by joining our Club and hopefully others on Three Mile Lake will consider joining. Membership forms are included for those who are not members. Keep in mind that the money collected from memberships goes towards keeping our lake healthy, safe and a fun place for all cottagers. It would be appreciated if all cottagers joined to help support a cause so close to all our hearts. Even though the bi-annual newsletter costs money to prepare and mail we feel it is a good forum to present important information to the property owners of Three Mile Lake.
In keeping with the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act the Three Mile Lake Community Club Executive and Directors would like to disclose what we do with the personal information that we have on file or that you have provided. Over the years the Club has compiled an electronic mail list of members and non-members which is kept by the Treasurer. Past/present membership is tracked for information and financial reporting purposes. Name, cottage/home/email address and telephone information is kept for Newsletter/Membership mailings. The personal information of members and non-members has not, is not and will never be used by/disclosed to or sold to another party. We are aware of and respect each individuals right to privacy, therefore, if you wish to be removed from our mailing list please contact us at the above address or at our email address.
It seems
fitting that as summer draws to a close in 2004 (that was a summer, right?!)
and a new season begins, we talk about ‘a new start’ for our Cottage
Association. Over the past few years,
the executive and directors of the Three Mile Lake Community Club have spent
countless hours and resources fighting a battle to keep a gravel pit off of the
lake. Their efforts are much
appreciated, and certainly went way above and beyond what we typically would
ask of ‘volunteers’. With this battle
successfully fought, now we can spend our energies on more positive interests.
As your Club’s
President I’m sure that you are curious
to know more about me. I am a lifelong cottager in and around Parry Sound,
Muskoka and Haliburton, and have now settled at Three Mile Lake, having
purchased on Skyline Drive in 1999.
Theresa and I, along with our 4 daughters in our new ‘blended’ family,
enjoy the cottage year round, taking every opportunity to fight traffic,
snowstorms and the demands of life ‘down south’ in Waterdown to come up. I have been a director on the Association for
the past year or so, but confess to being a virtual ‘rookie’ with regards to “
Cottage Associations”. The other
directors took advantage of this fact at a meeting this summer (i.e. ‘you don’t
have to spend much time…the Association basically runs itself’!), and I naively
‘volunteered’ to step in as President! I
am hopeful that my past life running a business, my experience working in large
private sector companies and government agencies, and my time running baseball
and hockey leagues will serve me well as I learn the mechanics of the
Association. I will also work with the
other executives and directors to bring new ideas to the table so that we can
ensure the Association is meeting the needs of our friends on Three Mile Lake,
and being good corporate citizens for the entire community around us.
The demands of
our normal daily lives sometimes lead to a tendency to ‘cocoon’ when we come up
to the cottage, and it means that we don’t necessarily get a chance to meet our
neighbors and forge new friendships. We came
together as a community to fight the gravel pit, but wouldn’t it be nice to
develop relationships based on something more positive? Our annual golf tournament has turned in to a
huge success, and will no doubt continue.
However, it has been difficult getting a picnic together the last two
summers…wouldn’t it be nice to have a chance to get our kids together so they
can start to form the kind of relationships that could easily last a lifetime?
One of my
personal ‘missions’ is to spend time with the local business community to
highlight the fact that we, as a Three Mile Lake “community” have great buying power. If we encourage our members to buy locally,
and we forge a partnership with local business, it will be a win-win. Businesses will offer more products and
services and put improvements into their own facilities. And, we as cottagers will have less reason to
drive out of the way to get what we need.
Not that we want Wal-Mart moving into Burk’s Falls – but wouldn’t it be
nice if the local stores improved their offerings? The positive effect that “buying locally” can
have on a town or community can be quite astounding. The reverse is also the case.
As indicated in
the opening paragraph of the newsletter we will be working to open lines of
communication with our membership. In
this era of technology, that has certainly become easier. In the meantime, I encourage you to send me
an email if you have any ideas, questions or concerns about the Lake or the
Association. Enjoy the Fall season!
Rod Ward
President,
Three Mile Lake Community Club
Bev. Clark at the MoE office in Dorset identified the organism at Gleotrichia and said that several other lakes were similarly afflicted. Why this year? No real answer. Could it be the accumulated effects of minute increases in nutrients by generations of cottage contamination? Was it due to a wet spring and summer moving nutrients into the lake? There are an unlimited number of scenarios suggested but no definitive answer to why it happened this year, or whether it will recur.
I have noticed these organisms in samples I’ve taken in the past but never in these numbers. I expect the organisms will be in samples taken next summer. Whether they take off in the explosive fashion they did this year is anyone’s guess, and I expect depends on the alignment of a variety of factors.
Whenever an algae bloom occurs, the cells die off after a few days and sink to the bottom where they decay. The gases given off during this decay can give water an undesirable flavour or smell. Regrettable for sure. At that point, all you can do to remedy the situation, is put your water through a charcoal filter to remove the smell and taste. The decay process uses up oxygen in the lower layers of the lake. That is bad news for deep water fish, which then face the prospect of suffocating or coming to the warmer surface waters which upsets their hormone systems. The upset hormones are often reflected in poor reproduction next season.
Each Fall and Spring, the water in the lake ‘turns over’ when it reaches 4C. Strong winds at this temperature pushes lots of oxygenated water down to the depths. Calm and sunny days at this temperature will quickly warm surface water and create the density gradients that halt the turnover so you can see that weather is a big factor in determining how the ecology of the lake will be affected by next summer’s algae bloom(s).
Aside from mixing oxygen into the water column, nutrients left by decayed algae in the sediments can be brought to the surface to feed the new generation of algae. This is the reason why everyone has a public duty to restrict, as far as possible, their contribution to water contamination. Every type of pollution has long term effects. If there are lots of such careless moments, it is no surprise that things can get out of hand with lasting effects. Trying to “clean up” nutrients at that point is practically impossible. So every act we take to prevent nutrients from entering the lake is important. The payoff for good behaviour, and conversely the penalty for bad behaviour, will be seen for generations.
In previous newsletters, I have mentioned this topic. It will not go away. There continue to be no valid and reliable ways to detect poorly working tanks (aside from pools of smelly water near the surface). The result of this realization is that tanks and weeping beds over some arbitrarily set age, are deemed to be faulty and will require replacement. When it comes to that point, the authorities can padlock your premises until you fix the situation.
In a pilot project run on Georgian Bay a couple years ago, tanks over 25 years old were required to be replaced. If yours is around this age, you might think about putting the tank/tile replacement in the budget in the next few years. There are knowledgeable people available to offer suggestions and modern alternatives if you need to know them. You will need to find out those facts sooner than later if you are to make something other than a panic decision.
The annual
Three Mile Lake Golf Tournament was played on Sunday, August 1st and
was a huge success. It was held at the
Katrine Golf Club this year and everyone was pleased with the weather, the
grounds and the food. Every player went
home with a prize and had a great time.
The set date for the tourni is the Sunday of the August long weekend and
it is played using a “best ball” format.
Special thanks to Lori Kyle and Wendy Teufel for their continued efforts
in organizing a great lake event! Watch
for the signs on the message boards in mid-July for sign-up information.
Sharon Sheils,
one of our new directors, is investigating ways in which she can offer the
membership a picnic in 2005. Watch for
more news on our website and in the Spring newsletter. Anyone who would like to throw their name
into the pot of potential “volunteers” can email or snail-mail as noted above.
Reeve Richard Thomas
spoke about roads, the Landfill Site, drinking water and the Mail-In-Vote.
In the next
election there will be the opportunity to vote at the polls in the Township or
by mail. If you wish to vote by mail you
must apply at the Township Office to receive a mail-in ballot package. The
mail-in ballot will not be automatically mailed as they were for the last
election.
Work will be
done to improve Three Mile Lake Road.
There is a
great deal of concern over the capacity of the landfill site and we were all
asked to help in as many ways as possible to reuse, recycle and reduce. The site could be at capacity as soon as
2006.
Reeve Thomas
spoke of the stringent administrative conditions on offering a free water
source to the public since Walkerton.
The Ministry is reviewing the new legislation that imposes strict rules
regarding drinking water.
Ken Watson our
Lake Steward gave a report that concluded that our lake water quality is good.
We were warned
that there had been break ins at Rat Lake and to report to police anything
strange in the area.
We heard an
update concerning the proposed Gravel
Pit and our court challenge.
We heard that
our loons have chicks, that there have been a few bear sightings around the
lake, and concerns about the speed of traffic on Skyline. A request to minimize evening “light
pollution” and where possible have the lights face towards land rather than the
water. A solution to the white trailor used as a boathouse was discussed. Be careful when composting so that wild
animals are not attracted. Cottage
composting should not contain meat or eggs, just vegetables that are always
covered with soil. A request from Echo
Bay that seadoos be aware of the wakes that they cause.
The Executive
and Directors for 2004/2005 are:
President Rod
Ward, Past President Ron West, Vice President Jack Lesser, Treasurer Barb
Leonard, Secretary Arlene Vujacic, Lake Steward Ken Watson
Directors are:
John Barnett,
Albert Bollenbach, Gordon Isbister, Jamie Kropf, Peter Kuri, Gary McFarlane,
Denise Minns, Robert Mitchell, Al North, Wilf Schneider, Sharon Sheils, Tim
Taylor, Mae Watson
If you wish to
report something of a concern contact the By Law Enforcement Officer through
the Armour Township Office. The By Law
Officer will assist you or give you further direction on how to proceed.
Please remember
not to empty bait buckets containing minnows, leeches, etc. into the lake and to keep any pike and rock bass
that are caught as they should not be in our lake!
The natural
species indigenous to our lake are small mouth bass (walleye), pickerel and
perch and we want to keep those species healthy. A fish survey is being launched by
Lloyd Bristow who has recruited a number
of people to help him. He has contacted the MNR and has received information
concerning the fish population in our lake. An excerpt follows.
Steve Taylor a
resource technician from the Ministry of Natural Resources writes, “A walleye
spawning survey was conducted by the MNR in April of 1991. A total of six actively used shoals were
identified, with one shoal located on each of the islands. Walleye were observed at each of the
locations, with the shoal located at the most northern island having the
largest numbers observed. A few other
walleye were observed along the main shoreline.
No walleye were seen at the inlets or outlet. Approximately 130 walleye were seen in total
during the survey.”
There was a
letter to the editor of the Almaguin News (Oct.6th issue) asking for
donations to assist Greg Boyes in going to South Africa to represent Canada at
the World Arm Wrestling Championship.
The letter explained that Greg does not have corporate sponsors and is
therefore responsible for funding his own expenses to represent our country at
the world championship. The Three Mile Lake Community Club has donated $100 to
help Greg in his quest. He is a local
hero in our cottage area and is representing our country at a world event, we
felt it was appropriate to support him.
We wish Greg the best of luck in his quest for gold on November 20,
2004.
Tim Taylor
discovered that approximately six of our blue barrels marking the rocks and
shoals are missing. Membership dues have been used to purchase these barrels
and they benefit everyone who uses the lake so we would really like them
back! They have metal straps on them and
some are marked “TML”. Some of the
chains were replaced during the summer but those that didn’t have the chains
replaced tended to come loose once in awhile.
If you helped bring some of them in around Thanksgiving or have found
some floating please call Barb Leonard’s at 382-1602. Please leave a message
with the date, your name, phone number, cottage address and location of the
barrel, ie; on my dock, back of the cottage.
Someone will then come and retrieve the barrel on their next visit to
the lake. Your assistance is appreciated.
When many of us
return in the spring we will see a changing landscape due to the Hwy 11 four
lane expansion in our area. The Lucky
Dollar will house the Post Office. The
Old Mill Camp will be gone and the Katrine Golf Course will have an entrance on
Three Mile Lake Rd.
A new cottage
owner commented that he was happy to join the Association simply for the safety
of having many of the shoals and rocks marked.
It is good to get that kind of feedback.
There have been
some concerns regarding the use of 4
wheel ATVs on our lake roads. Please use caution, care and please slow down
when running ATV’s on the cottage roads for everyone’s safety. FOCA has an article regarding Provincial
regulations for ATVs use on Provincial roads.
Each Municipality will have its own by-laws. We have a link to FOCA on our website www.3milelake.org.
There have been
a number of people who have experienced difficulty at the boat ramp. This might be an issue to discuss with our
membership at the annual meeting.
Non-members
will have a membership form included.
Please consider joining. Each
owner benefits from helping us maintain a healthy lake. There really is strength in numbers!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------THREEMILE LAKE
COMMUNITY CLUB INC.
P.O. Box 291, Burk’s Falls, Ontario P0A 1C0
MEMBERSHIP
FORM $25.00 for 2004
NAME________________________________________________________
HOME ADDRESS______________________________________________
CITY_____________________PROVINCE/STATE____________POSTAL
CODE_________________
HOME PHONE_____________________
COTTAGE PHONE_________________________
EMAIL______________________________________Fax___________________________
Would you prefer to receive your newsletter by email
-Yes___________No_________
COTTAGE
ADDRESS_________________________________________________________________
One year membership $25.00
__________ Two year membership
$50.00______________
Please make cheque payable to ThreeMile Lake Community Club Inc.