Thankful for the extended summer
Hopefully you have enjoyed a great Thanksgiving weekend with your family and will continue to enjoy the pleasant days provided by this lingering fine autumn weather.
As the season changes along the shores of Mississippi Lake take time to enjoy the migration of the birds, the beauty of the fall foliage and the morning mist across the lake as the sun rises. We are truly lucky to live this close to nature with a big city not too far away.
Have fun, while you prepare for the winter to come
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Join your lake friends at Lake Links 2017 - 21 October - Perth Citivan Club
Each October, Lake Links welcomes citizens and scientists from all over to come together and discuss the freshwater issues that matter most. On October 21st in Perth, Ontario, this year's day-long workshop will give individuals the opportunity to come together to network, learn, and discuss strategies for the protection of our lakes and rivers. Join us to learn more about the inseparable connection between lakes and upland areas, and learn about how lake health is impacted by EVERYTHING that lies beyond the shoreline.
Scientists, lake associations, and municipal representatives will provide their perspectives on cooperative lake protection. View numerous posters and displays and recognize how thousands of small changes around lakes add up to make big changes!
All are welcome to register and attend, and we hope to see you there!
You can view additional Lake Links 2017 information by visiting the event page on Watershed Canada web site.
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Help us Improve the MLA web site. Your input is important.
By taking the time to complete this short six question survey you will be helping our web site team provide you the information you want.
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Helping Build New Fish Habitat
An opportunity to create/enhance fish habitat on the lake has arrived. This simple but effective joint MLA/Watersheds Canada project involves creating brush bundles which are submerged in specific locations in the lake.
These bundles, when submerged in waters that are more than 12 feet deep, to ensure they don’t interfere with boating and other recreational water activities, will provide safe havens for fish.
As the lake is quite developed, there is a limited amount of the woody habitat which fish use for food, feeding areas, shelter and spawning habitat. This project hopes to address this issue by creating some new habitat for the fish.
For more background info from Watersheds Canada....Read More
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Do you have time help?
We need 12 volunteers to help us out. Here are the details we have sorted out so far:
1. Dates - October 24th / Rain date: October 26th
2. Location - Ebbs Bay as a bundling and launch area.
3. Volunteers - Need 8-12 people for creation of the bundles and 2 or 3 people to launch the bundles.
4. How It Will Work- Volunteers gather bundles of brush (approximately 6 feet long, 2-3 feet high with branches about 1-2 inches in diameter) / Volunteers would bring brush to launch point the morning of the event / We create the bundles and head out on the MissLA and place the bundles in the lake.
5. Misc - Refreshments and lunch will be provided.
If you are interested in helping out, please get in touch with Doreen Donald at doreen.donald@xplornet.com
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To Cut or Not to Cut?
That Is No Longer the Question
 (Check out Doreen Donald's first hand account of her journey with the natural edge program)
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like cutting grass. Well, truth be told, it really is my husband that doesn’t like cutting grass. I just hear about it from April to October every year. And that’s part of the reason I’m writing this article. Full Story.....
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Be On the Lookout...
It has been an extended boating season, thanks to the great fall weather, but the cautionary buoys will soon be removed so boat with care over the next few weeks.. As soon as the weather drops to single digit day-time temps the buoys will be gone.
Many thanks to the boating committee for their good work with managing these cautionary markers. See you back next summer.
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Keep Conservation In Mind When Closing Up The Cottage
 For many cottage owners, Thanksgiving typically signals the official end of the cottage season. In an effort to make the task of closing up as easy as possible, Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority is offering up some advice on how to help avoid unnecessary expense, frustration and environmental problems. As a tip, keep a list of things you do to close up the cottage so that reversing the list in the spring will be as snag-free as possible. Read more....
Loon Survey: results 2017
Cliff Bennett (Mississippi Valley Field Naturalists) presented the following results and summary for the 2017 Loon Survey that was conducted for the MLA by the MVFN:
| Loon Count Numbers |
2007 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2016 |
2017 |
| Max number of adults |
24 |
35 |
35 |
39 |
40 |
43 |
35 |
37 |
| Max number mated pairs |
10 |
12 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
12 |
17 |
18 |
| Max number young |
8 |
7 |
5 |
8 |
8 |
12 |
17 |
9 |
| Actual chick survival |
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7 |
6 |
· An orientation meeting was held in May at the MVCA Gatehouse with 19 persons present.
· Four teams of two, plus boat drivers, conducted surveys on four different sections of the lake, 3 times during the summer; end of Jun., end of Jul. and end of Aug.
· All sections of the lake recorded an average number of adults over the summer but the maximum number of chicks counted was much lower than last year (17-9)
· There were no chicks found in the Lower Lake.
· Nine chicks in all were found in June; nine in July but only six were found surviving by the end of Aug. (same as last year).
· MVFN would like to do the count again next year
· Survey report submitted to Bird Studies Canada
There was some discussion about the survey results and the low number of chicks this year compared to last year. Factors that may contribute to the lower number of chicks include high water levels during nesting, predation and the impacts of human population. Cliff indicated that the loon chick survival rate for Eastern Canada is 10%.
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Sometimes even bats need a Superhero!
Researchers predict that 99 per cent of bats will disappear and become extinct in some areas of Canada by 2020. They may not be able to recover without our help!
Checkout the CanadianWildlife Federation Website to see what you can do to help. |
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