Box 142, Westport, Ontario K0G 1X0
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Box 142, Westport, Ontario K0G 1X0 |
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INTERIM PRESIDENT’S 2008 MESSSAGE Although our Lake Association name has not changed, in 2007 we welcomed our closest neighbours at Green Lake to our Association. They also share our concerns regarding excessive lake development, water quality and the preservation of the natural lake environment for future generations. 2007 was a year to remember as we considered the possible impact of new commercial developments on the shores of Wolfe Lake. Some folks expressed considerable alarm concerning the planned Wolfe Springs Resort, a fractional ownership development at the Green Shingles site. Others were of the opinion that the new development would actually be an improvement over what existed before. In any event after consulting with municipal authorities and legal experts there was little that could be done without considerable effort and expense and little chance of success. Our concerns regarding future high-density developments were conveyed to both Rideau Lakes and South Frontenac municipal authorities. A brief study on what additional properties might be commercially developed was conducted. Any such potential properties would likely be in South Frontenac Township. Liaison has been made and continues with other lake associations which are experiencing similar commercial development pressures and lake concerns. The best approach is considered to be a united front to exert the strongest influence on the municipal governments. To this end, our fellow lake associations in South Frontenac have joined with the Lake Networking Group comprised of various lake associations in south-eastern Ontario. The latest meeting was held April 17, 2008. At this meeting lake, management planning, policing, lake plans, information workshops, the South Frontenac Official plan and other issues of concern were discussed and actions planned. In March, the South Frontenac council members were considering substantial changes to the Official plan concerning property severance and the establishment of back lots on private lanes. This would lead to more pressures on our lakes as a second tier of lots could be approved behind lake front properties. As a result of an e-mail and telephone campaign facilitated by the Lake Network Group, these changes to the Official Plan have been put on hold. Any vote would likely be close so if you have concerns regarding additional development off private roads or additional partition of existing lots beyond the current Official Plan limits, you should contact both of our two Bedford District councillors: David Hahn at (613)273-5545 and Del Stowe (613)374-2742 to express your concerns. Another issue on the South Frontenac Official Plan which has not at this writing been resolved are restrictions on additional fractional ownership developments. We will continue to track progress on this issue. In order to deal more effectively with our two townships it may be prudent for our lake association to develop a lake plan. This plan would require a consensus of Wolfe and Green Lake property owners on a wide variety of lake issues including: acceptable standards for water quality, septic systems, lake development, shoreline development etc. Lake Plans have been developed by a number of our neighbouring lake associations including Bobs and Crow Lakes. In each instance developing a lake plan required a considerable amount of work. A questionnaire has to be developed and responses are required from each property owner. A summer student could deliver and administer the questionnaire to property owners. In addition, other lake associations with completed lake plans would permit us to use their plans as we develop ours. Also, the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority (RVCA) would provide assistance. If a decision is made to initiate a lake plan for Wolfe and Green Lakes, dedicated volunteers will be required. We are in dire need of additional directors, as there have been some resignations from our board due to family and other reasons. These include our secretary, our treasurer, as well as several directors at large. Also, the position of president, vice president and a director of fishing were not filled in 2007. In addition a Rideau Lakes cottage owner director is required to liaise with the Rideau Lakes municipal authorities on issues unique to the Rideau lakes portion of Wolfe Lake. I have been serving as interim president for two years following a term of three years as president. If anyone would aspire to any of these lofty positions or knows anyone who is motivated and talented to serve, please advise a board member so the nominations can be made and confirmed. This is a great opportunity to meet your fellow lake cottagers and make a real contribution to the future of Wolfe and Green Lakes. I sincerely thank those directors who have resigned for their past services and would encourage them to offer their services at some future time when their personal circumstances permit. During the five years I have served as your president and interim president and have found it to be very challenging. It has been an enjoyable and rewarding experience which I highly recommend. It is the time for new blood. Go for it! You will not regret it. Glen Ewen Fairy Shrimp  The animal in the photograph is a fairy shrimp. Fairy shrimp do not live in Wolfe Lake, or in any other lakes, because if they lived where fish live, they would long ago have been eaten into extinction. Fairy shrimp avoid that problem by living in waters where fish cannot live, and throughout most of North America their preferred habitat is temporary vernal pools. These pools are formed from melted snow and spring rain in small depressions of the landscape, and remain visible in spring for 3 months or so until the surface water is evaporated and the basin becomes dry again, thus eliminating any fish. Temporary pools are common throughout Canada and the northern United States.But when spring comes again the pools are renewed, and fairy shrimp can be seen once more cruising through the clear shallow water. They manage this biological strategy by laying eggs that resist desiccation through the 8-9 months of the drought phase of temporary pools. Nearly 2 cm in length, fairy shrimp are readily visible under favourable illumination from the sun; they swim slowly, fully exposed in the upper levels of the pool, but they are distinctive because they swim on their back, revealing the synchronous waves of many pairs of short swimming legs. So why are fairy shrimp worth anyone’s notice? The reason is that fossils of ancestors of fairy shrimp of today are found in sedimentary rocks 500 million years in age, in Sweden as it happens, thus dating their lineage to the Cambrian period of geological time. That historical fossil record means that the fairy shrimp lineage had already been in existence for 250 million years when the first dinosaurs appeared, and moreover that fairy shrimp were contemporaries of dinosaurs throughout the entire 180 million years or so of reptilian dominance. Fairy shrimp were part of the biological background on Earth throughout the origin and diversification of vertebrate animals from fish through birds to mammals. And fairy shrimp still thrive in their own obscure way. Even so, fairy shrimp have had some severe challenges of their own – most recently the advance and retreat of continental glaciers in the northern hemisphere. Advance of the glaciers that once covered much of northern North America forced all living things to move southward or face extinction. Fairy shrimp were no exception, and they did not become extinct. But some 18000 years ago, the glaciers began to recede, and little by little new living space was opened along the leading edges of the ice, space well suited to fairy shrimp because water would have been abundant. In response to the receding glaciers, displaced plants and animals including fairy shrimp moved slowly northward to regain the land they had given up a few millennia before. Most displaced animals walked or flew or swam to new territory but a few of the swimmers such as fairy shrimp would have been further constrained from using connected waterways as routes for migration because of heavy predation by fish. Even so, abundant evidence confirms that fairy shrimp did return to temporary pools over much of the previously glaciated terrain. Indeed, glaciers have been major agents for creating gouges in the landscape that became temporary vernal pools. But the question still largely without a satisfying answer is: How did fairy shrimp with their limited powers of dispersal manage the continent-wide postglacial return to the countless trillions of transient pools where they now occur? The conventional explanation is that the eggs of fairy shrimp adhered to mud on the feet of ducks and wading birds that forage in shallow pools of all sorts. Temporary vernal pools are common in the countryside around Wolfe Lake. Some dry up too quickly in spring to support fairy shrimp, but the pools that do have fairy shrimp usually support as well a diverse community of beetles, bugs, dragonflies, damselflies, caddisflies, snails, mosquitoes, wood frogs, and spotted salamanders among other creatures. Fairy shrimp complete their development in the early part of the pool cycle, thereby minimizing predation from insects such as dragonflies and beetles; May is usually a good time to see fairy shrimp. In the Wolfe Lake area, one place to catch a glimpse of this remarkable biological phenomenon of animals that have survived through 500 million years of Earth’s history is pools in roadside depressions on the way to the Salem Road dump.  Glenn Wiggins Adapted from a forthcoming book Biological Notes on an Old Farm: Exploring Common Things in the Kingdoms of Life Avoiding Black Bears Although rarely seen, bears have lived in the Wolfe and Green Lake areas long before cottagers took up residence. Every year bear sighting are made. Bears are by nature shy and will usually avoid humans as we are so unpredictable and from a bears prospective dangerous. On the other hand bears are smart, curious, powerful and can cause humans immense pain or worse, so we are both wise to avoid each other. Wolfe and Green Lakes are not considered a bear danger area; there have been no reported bear attacks or encounters. Every year there have been several bear sightings near IAWAH Road and at other locations around our two lakes. We have and can continue to co-exist with bears at Wolfe and Green Lakes by following a few simple rules:
Glen Ewen WHAT IS “SWIMMER’S ITCH”? By: Margie Manthey It’s the first really warm weekend of summer, and you have been enjoying some long-awaited wading and swimming around your dock. Later that evening, you notice some small red spots on areas of your body not covered by your swimsuit, but think nothing of it. However, within 12-24 hours the red spots appear a bit larger and are somewhat raised (papules), and now they itch – and they may continue to do so quite severely. This itching may continue for up to a week, and welting may occur before your symptoms abate. Did you wander into a horde of stinging insects or a patch of poison ivy? Think again. You very likely have a case of Cercarial Dermatitis, or as it’s more commonly known, “Swimmer’s Itch”. While in the lake, you encountered a parasite that is from a group of flatworms called “schistosomes”. Only 1/80 of an inch long, these transparent, larval, aquatic stage parasites tend to use bird hosts (i.e. ducks) for their adult phases and aquatic snails as intermediate hosts for their larval stages. Their life history is cyclic [see the Life Cycle diagram]. Eggs released from adults worms that reside in a bird host make their way into the bird’s digestive tract and are passed out with feces into the water. After hatching, the aquatic stage of free-swimming parasite is seeking to penetrate a snail host, where it will eventually produce another stage of life called cercaria. These free-swimming cercariae are then released and penetrate the skin of birds to complete the cycle. Humans are inadvertent and inappropriate hosts – the parasite may penetrate your skin, but can not develop further and will die, thereby causing an immune response in your body. Milder cases of S.I. can be relieved with over-the-counter anti-itch creams or anti-histamines. However, people with more severe cases should see their doctor and ask for a topical cream to reduce swelling. It is documented that most people, once sensitized to these parasites, will have more intense reactions with each subsequent encounter. As an educated cottager, you can do your part to help avoid Swimmer’s Itch and combat the life cycle of this parasite by:
If anyone has any questions, please contact me. Also, here is an informative link to learn more: healthlink.mcw.edu/article/955152713.html. Being aware and educated can help us to take some good preventative measures against Swimmer’s Itch.  Life Cycle: Typically, hosts of avian schistosomes are migratory water birds, including shorebirds, ducks, and geese. Adult worms are found in the blood vessels and produce eggs that are swallowed and passed in the feces. On exposure to water, the eggs hatch and liberate a ciliated miracidium that infects a suitable molluscan intermediate host. The parasite develops in the intermediate host, usually a certain species of snail, to produce free-swimming cercariae that are released under appropriate conditions and penetrate the skin of the birds to complete the cycle. Humans are inadvertent and inappropriate hosts; cercariae may penetrate the skin but do not develop further. A number of species of dermatitis-producing cercariae have been described from both freshwater and saltwater environments, and exposure to either type of cercariae will sensitize persons to both. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Parasitology Diagnostic Website at www.dpd.cdc.gov/DPDx The Raven These large black birds are everywhere it seems and increasingly so. We see them at the cottage; we see them in the towns and cities. I have often wondered; what do these birds eat, how do they survive our Ontario winters and why are they so prolific? People often mistakenly identify ravens and crows, as they are quite similar. They are both large black birds, which caw. Ravens however are larger than crows with larger and heavier beaks. Ravens are approximately 60 to 70 cm long at maturity with a wing span double their length. Other distinguishing features are the throat feathers; raven’s feathers are pointed and elongated while the crow’s are rounded. They both caw, but the raven’s caw is much deeper and throatier than the crow’s and with a much more varied vocabulary. After all, the raven is considered one of the most intelligent birds. There are many tales and fables relating to the raven’s intelligence. Ravens do have the largest brains of any bird species. They have been historically been associated with mischief. Ravens, for example, have been observed hiding food and stealing from other birds, even remembering the location of their food caches. They also play with other ravens and have even been observed playing catch-me-if-you can with dogs and wolves. My research on ravens indicates they will eat just about anything remotely edible. This includes insects, berries, seeds, road kill, eggs, small birds and human garbage. This explains the raven’s ability to flourish in our towns and cities. Most birds can survive the cold of Ontario winters if there is a ready source of food. Unlike most birds, ravens are very opportunistic in their diet and in winter human garbage admirably fills the bill. If a large garbage dump is available, a large population of ravens can be supported. Ravens tend to mate for life, but are known to play around by visiting a female’s nest when her mate is off scavenging for food. Their nests are normally made of twigs lined with mud and bark and other soft available materials, and placed in a tall tree, pole or cliff ledge. Three to seven eggs are laid, hatching in 18 to 21 days and fledging in 35 to 45 days. In Ontario, eggs are normally laid in March and April. While not the most beautiful of birds, ravens have long been part of human folklore and fables. The mythology of the Haida natives of the North Pacific coast is based on stories about the raven and its various exploits. The Vikings also held the raven in high regard, as did the British. As long as ravens occupy the Tower of London, according to legend, England would not fall to a foreign invader. Several ravens with one wing clipped are still kept at the tower just to ward off invaders and, no doubt, as a tourist attraction. Glen Ewen  |