Beaver count erratum

The number of beaver taken by Matt Taylor reported in the earlier beaver post is too low. The actual total is 11.

• Rainbow Creek: 2 adults, 3 young
• Gustave dam: 1 adult, 3 young
• McDougall bog: 1 adult, 2 young

Apologies for the error.

Bryan Hollingworth

 

"Bob's for the Birds" Spring Report

The disappearance of the ice is a special event in the Lake Anne calendar.  Probably the most important event during the year.  Certainly one of the most anticipated!

This year it happened over three days.

Associated with the "Goneing" of the ice this year were:

• The arrival of a solitary loon, as well as another pair later on in the day.  The three are still here as I write.
• Six snow geese stopped over, as well as assorted Canada geese.  All moved on, but others continue to arrive sporadically.  A couple of big seagulls visited but moved on.
• Several hooded mergansers, as well as two mallards, showed up around Green Mountain.  No common mergansers yet!
• Trout are rising to feed off of Green Mountain point.
• Derek and Sylvie came up on Friday to watch two deer and five wild turkeys cross their lawn.  Pansy saw another single turkey on the Big House's driveway.  And I heard a real commotion at 7:00 AM on Saturday, between Derek's dock and the inside corner of Derek's bay, when one or more coyotes barked, periodically, at the turkeys who were in the trees.  Trying to flush them, I guess.  The brouhaha lasted a good half-hour.
• The resident broad-winged hawk made his first appearance on Saturday, his mournful "KIE" cry heard on  Anne Est, as he patrolled along the length of the road.

Lots of deer tracks and raccoon paw prints, every morning, on the road.

Great weekends in April.  Bright and sunny every weekend.

Looks good for this summer!

Bob

Beaver Activity, November 2015 through March 2016

Reported by Matt Taylor, submitted by Bryan Hollingworth.

Early winter ice conditions made it very difficult to set traps up to the end of December. There was no beaver activity in: Mary's Lake, behind Blachfords', Wood's Bay.

In Wood's Bay, the beaver dam let go sometime in the fall. If you look at the dam location from the  lake, you will notice a large flat rock on the right side. It is believed that water gets under the dam, then freezes, raising the rock, which causes the dam to fail. This has been the cause of previous dam failures and was once again this fall.

Beavers were located in the McDougall bog, but no new construction, dens or dam improvements were noticed. A large female and two smaller beavers were taken from this area.

Beavers were also located in the creek running from Dey's (Thompson's) Lake, which crosses the Gustave Road about 1 km from Mr. Joe Road on the west side. The Township of Wentworth is responsible for this dam, and I (BH) called them several times this past summer/fall to let them know that Wentworth North had put in two 24-inch culverts last year and that the outlet at the dam is one 24-inch Morency* drain, which is not adequate to handle the water flow, especially when the beavers have it blocked. The situation was checked by Wentworth's beaver guy in the fall, but the drainage pipe was entirely blocked again by December. Matt cleared out the debris, but this has to be done regularly if the drainage is to be effective and to prevent either a dam burst or the flooding of the Gustave Road. I will advise the Wentworth people of this. From this area, Matt was able to remove one large female and two smaller beavers.

Matt's contract calls for us to pay him $100 per beaver, so we are sending him a cheque for $600.

In addition:
Bob Gaudreau has seen large wolf tracks on Anne est road, so be careful when walking pets. Contact Bob for further information.

*A Morency drain is a pipe put through a dam wall with a wire cage at the inlet end to prevent the beavers from blocking it and the bog's outflow. Matt says we have clever beavers as they were able to figure out where the leak was and block off the cage.

Back in Business

After a very pleasant winter in the Caribbean, your humble editor is back and, I might add, so is at least one loon.

The ice is almost gone and the loon is newly back.
Next up: geese.

Many thanks to Derek for taking up the bloggerly slack during my absence. I look forward to keeping the Lake Anne community apprised of all the goings on here in the lap of beauty over the coming months.

Kathleen

Conservation Presentation by Gore

Hello Everyone,

As you may recall, last summer, Lake Anne welcomed Mathieu Madison, the Environmental Manager for Gore Township, to give a presentation on “The Basics of Nature Conservation in Gore”.  In his presentation, Mathieu outlined the process the Township is going through in terms of its new strategic planning process, including setting new goals for Protection and Enhancement of the Natural Landscape. This process envisions setting new urban planning guidelines and zoning regulations.

The presentation was attended by many residents, but others who could not attend have requested to see a copy of Mat’s presentation, which is attached.               

  

Although only a few Lake Anne residents have properties in Gore Township, the topic is relevant to all of us. As Mathieu mentions the Dalesville watershed (slide 14) has potential as a conservation initiative including land in Mille Iles and Wentworth Townships as well.  Note that Lake Anne is a significant property owner in the headwaters of the Dalesville water system.

In the presentation Mathieu also gives an overview of how other lake associations and property owners in the Laurentians are approaching the issue of nature conservation on private land, whether through a nature conservancy, establishing a land trust or by participating in Quebec’s voluntary conservation program as enacted in the province’s Natural Heritage Act.

As mentioned at last year’s Annual General Meeting, the LA Board of Directors is looking at various options related to nature conservation on Lake Anne Club land. We hope to have some further information to share in advance of this summer’s AGM.

In the meantime, please contact me if you have any questions or would like any further details on this topic.

I look forward to see many of you at the lake this summer! - Stephanie

Stephanie Foster

Fostering Sustainability

Cell. 416-722-4497

www.fosteringsustainability.ca

Update on Subcommittee Recommendations

There was an important communication from a Subcommittee of the Board chaired by Reid McDougall and Pam Ross dealing with various issues relating to how we manage our affairs both as co-owners of the Lake Anne Club Inc. and in relation to the individual property owners.

[Because there is not control on access to this blog, the material has been removed. In future, information of any sensitivity will be emailed to property owners until our Lake Anne Web site is launched. That will be password protected.]

 Much has stayed the same at the Lake, yet some important changes are also occurring. The Lake remains the go-to place for the next generation to learn how to swim and for families to reunite. Even though many of you travel from afar, you still manage to come!

Some of the changes are internal, of note the increase in joint ownership. Other changes are externally driven, including more involvement from the municipalities in setting regulations and policies under planning legislation passed by the province. The value of land has risen significantly as developers serve the demands for cottage style life, resulting in a surge in property taxes on our buffer land, and reaction by municipalities to secure sufficient green space. As the Club's property spans five separate municipalities, this can be a challenge.

I invite you to stay engaged and informed on key issues. As well as directly consulting with you from time to time, we will be posting regular updates and information on the Lake Anne Blog at lakeannenews.blogspot.ca, created and edited by Kathy Hugessen. Your contributions to the Blog are also very welcome.

[Sentence and link deleted.]

Signed

Derek Johnson

Company Secretary

This entry was editied. Changes are shown in red.
kmh

Goings on at the Lake

On Saturday, Dec 12, we had two loons and 18 common goldeneyes drop by.  They stayed pretty well all day.  No ice on the lake.  Had some thin patches develop on Sunday morning around the Island, but very scant and thin. Still no snow for the upcoming holiday residents at the lake. Record high temps last week in Montreal and in the Laurentians. Also watched a pine marten (between Sally's and our place) go fishing and wander along the shoreline.

-- Bob Gaudreault


Willie and I arrived yesterday (Dec 21) for the holidays. It started snowing as we drove in at about noon, and the light snow continued all day. Not much accumulation and today it is melting away quickly. There was a bit of ice on the lake, but it disappeared overnight. Montreal is bracing for 18C on Thursday, Christmas Eve, with temperatures dropping a bit for Christmas day. Better start dreaming of a green Christmas, so your dreams can come true.

-- Kathleen Hugessen