Newsletter 2010

President’s Message

Once again Friends/Amis had a busy year at Sixteen Island Lake. In 2009, the ice went out on April 22, which is a little earlier than average for the Lake. Discussions were already under way concerning the municipality and the planning of the Friends/Amis photo calendar. This was quickly followed by the hydro line problem and the early testing of the lake water. The municipal scene was particularly busy ending with the election in November. Our volunteers continued to do an outstanding job with the environment, where most of the work is hands on. Also a number of our members participated in planning and municipal meetings held at the lake and many responded to our email survey concerning the shoreline setback . The first information outreach concerning land trusts was completed thanks to Dave and Lisa Logan, and of course there was the wonderful success of the Station becoming the first land preservation under the direction of the “Gestion 16” group.

The second best way to protect the future of the lake after land trusts is to have a good urban plan with the associated by laws. Many Laurentien communities have conducted major reviews of their Urban Plans in recent years and revised their bylaws accordingly. It is felt that our municipality of Sixteen Island Lake is in need of a major review as suggested in the recommendations, “A Vision for the Future”, submitted by Friends/Amis to the council.

This spring (2010) the ice went out on April 8th the second earliest on record for the past 73 years. (The earliest on record was April 5th ,1945). Could this be due to global warming?? In any case, it does open the lake up to a longer warming season.

We look forward to another very active summer.

Chris Campbell
[email protected]

Municipal

Friends/Amis had previously requested that the council pass a bylaw regulating the launching of boats on Sixteen Island Lake. The request was to have the regulation be similar to the Ste. Adolphe bylaw which had been successfully tested in the courts. The council passed Regulation 160 requiring that the launching of boats be restricted to the municipal launch site in the village. Details of enforcement are being worked on. Thanks to Bill Clelland, George Calder and Richard Lessard for their hard work on this.

Last November Mr. Luc Lamont (former councilor) was elected Mayor. The six councilor positions where uncontested. George Calder and Richard Lessard are returning councilors and the new councilors are Denis Charlebois, France Robillard Pariseau, Rene Pelletier, and Francoise Tasse. We thank all of them for offering their time and effort to see that the Municipality is well run and that the Lake and its watershed remain unspoiled for future generations.

Quebec law requires that the first 10 meters back from the shore line remain undisturbed in order to protect the lake. A number of years ago many municipalities, including Sixteen Island Lake, passed a bylaw extending the protection zone to 15 meters. This fall the new council decided to consider a request to reduce the protected zone to 10 meters. Friends /Amis polled our members with the result that a majority of respondents favored leaving the protected zone at 15 meters. These results were sent to the council. Unfortunately, the council decided to reduce the protected zone to 10 meters.

There was a request for a bylaw variance (derogation) to permit a helicopter landing site on or near Hawthorne Island. Had it not been for the prompt action by council member Calder, this derogation may well have been approved without the knowledge of the lake residents. As a result of our association’s notice to our membership, there was an excellent email response by members to the municipal council requesting that the helicopter not be permitted to land on or near the island. Also a special thanks to the many members who made the trip to Laurel in March to attend the Council meeting and to speak out against the proposal. You all made a difference, not only concerning this specific derogation but it also served as a statement that we all want to preserve the Lake and its watershed.

The municipality of Sixteen Island Lake has been classified as a “milieu défavourisé” (community in need) and funds have been made available from the Quebec Government to our MRC to study the situation and make recommendations. Friends/Amis submitted recommendations titled “A Vision for the Future” to the mayor and the council and to a meeting of citizens held in February. The “A Vision for the Future” paper discusses the critical need for planning for the future. Thanks to Jacques Causse for attending the meeting on behalf of Friends/Amis. The complete paper is included at the end of this newsletter.

Environment (Penny Love)

The survey of the condition of the lake water continued over this past year by Lucie Barbeau and her assistants. This survey, funded by the municipality, is developing a history of the health of the lake water and pointing out the areas of the watershed that are in distress.

Friends/Amis hired Biofilia in 2009 to research and inventory the littoral zone of the lake. Spawning beds were inspected by a team of scuba divers at specific times during the summer of 2009. The last portion of the initial study is to take place in the spring of 2010.
The Biofilia team is processing the data collected and it will be used to help determine and predict the health of the lake and what action is required to preserve and/or restore the littoral zone. They will report to Friends/Amis this summer and it will help set a direction for the season of 2010-11. It is hoped that we may be able to access grants from the Quebec government to assist us in these ongoing studies of Sixteen Island Lake.

Many thanks to Corina Lupu and her team: Lucie Robilliard Barbeau, Marg Meldrum, Janet Logan, Suzanne Causse and Hal Myers for their help with this very important project.

To assist with the project to study the health of the lake, Friends/Amis is asking fishermen to complete a brief survey when they catch fish on Sixteen Island Lake. This questionnaire is purely to help determine the types and numbers of fish being caught and the approximate location. This information will help to identify sensitive spawning zones and indicate the state of fish life in our lake. The survey forms will be available at the parking lot and we are asking Eric to help with their distribution. There will be a drop box at the municipal building by the boat ramp.

Friends/Amis is a member of this regional environment council. Its focus is to promote sustainable development, to protect the environment and to encourage collaboration in these efforts in the Laurentians. Their website: www.crelaurentides.org

In the spring of 2009, it was discovered that a contractor working for Hydro Quebec had severely damaged the area under the power lines and through the woods on the southeast side of the lake. The damage included trees cut for bypass through the woods, compromised drainage and muddy runoff into the lake. Friends/Amis was able to get the work stopped just before damage was done to the wetland area at Beaver Creek. A public meeting was held with Hydro, the municipality, and residents from the lake. The contractor did some repair work to the damaged land and an effort was made to keep the muddy water from running into the lake. The work of replacing the hydro poles on the northeast end of the lake has not been restarted.

Land use (Dave Logan)

Our land use committee requested that the municipality revise the zoning bylaw to increase the lot size and waterfront required for all residents, lake and village. This was done to a limited extent. We also talked about the advantage of land trusts and servitudes as a method of establishing permanent protection for the future of the Lake as compared to bylaws that can be revised at any time. This year in the continuing effort to protect and preserve to lake and watershed, the Land Use committee sent a letter and book to many lake residents informing them about land trusts and servitudes as an excellent approach to preserve the lake for future generations. Sixteen Island Lake is in an area targeted for preservation by The Nature Conservancy of Canada and there have been recent land trusts completed at nearby lakes. If you would like to receive these publications and/or discuss the advantages of land trusts please call Dave Logan 450-226-8939 or Chris Campbell 450-226-8939.

2009 saw the first major success in the preservation of property at Sixteen Island Lake. Thanks to the vision and hard work of Phil Deschamp, Bill Cleland, and Ross Hamilton, and to all the residents of the community who stepped up and purchased shares of “Gestion 16”, the “Station” general store and property have been preserved for future generations. Additional good news is that Sylvie Tasse has agreed to continue the operation of the Station. This is a wonderful example of the community pulling together to preserve what is good for Sixteen Island Lake. Let’s all support The Station.

Membership (Mary Campbell)

Our membership numbers were, once again, strong in 2009 with 108 memberships representing 197 members. Your support of the lake association has united residents in a new way. It helped get the word out to everyone several times this year, when your participation in municipal affairs was crucial. Now that we have joined together with a common purpose, much can be achieved to protect and preserve our beautiful lake.

For your convenience, we have added the option of a three year membership to our membership form. We hope you will print up the form and drop it in the mail! We look forward to seeing you at the Annual General Meeting on July 16.

Calendars

Once again Tim Boswell did a superb job at producing the beautiful Lake Calendar. From photos to finished calendars, we owe Tim our thanks. Also thanks to all the Lake photographers who gave us great photos from which the 38 photos in the calendar were selected. All 200 calendars were sold making them the largest contributor to Friends/Amis. Look for the 2011 Calendar with beautiful lake photos again this summer. Thanks, Tim, for your great contribution.

Volunteers

An organization such as Fiends/Amis depends on volunteers. I would like to offer a special thanks to Lucie Robillard Barbeau for the work she has done to preserve our lake in recent years. Lucie as a councilor initiated a long term study of the lake water, found the experts and the funding and with the help of others sampled the lake water through the year and sent them out for analysis. When the study of the littoral zone was initiated by Corina Lupu, Lucie offered to help with the scuba diving necessary to make the measurements and observations. Over the years she has attended many meetings and conferences concerning the environment in the Laurentiens and she identified the blue green algae when it occurred in Sixteen Island Lake. She is a dedicated environmentalist for the benefit of our lake. Friends/Amis would like to offer a special thank you to Lucie for her dedication.

The Annual General Meeting will be held at the Municipal Center on Friday July 16th at 7.00 P.M.
The invited speaker will be Mr. Michel Trudel, director general from Bark Lake. Bark Lake has recently made many changes. They have had the help of the environmental firm Biofilia and the engineering firm Apur to study their watershed and lake environment and recommend changes including an urbanism plan and bylaws. All members and friends are invited to hear of Bark Lake’s vision and how they have proceeded to made changes to achieve it.

Friends/Amis wishes everyone a safe summer filled with family and friends!