PaBIA's eBlast June 9, 2021

PaBIA's Vision: To Preserve This Unique Natural Habitat for Generations to Come

Volume 13 No. 14

Greetings!

As you will see, PaBIA's eBlasts have a new look, with many thanks to Savannah Richardson, our Social Media wizard, who suggested we try this new format.

You will find the important links at the bottom of the eBlast such as our G4 Partners and emergency information so make sure you click on

"[Message clipped] View entire message"

at the bottom left of your screens if you haven't gotten to the end!!!!!

With this issue #14, we return to our weekly format for the entire summer months. I want to thank everyone who contributes to these eBlasts as, together, we have a great deal of information to share! If you'd like to see a subject in the eBlast that isn't covered, please let me know!

To add to our summer offerings from the Education Committee is information from Cam Richardson, Director of the Regulatory and Ratepayers Portfolio, to answer some of your questions most often requested about PaBIA's role in supporting our mission to help keep our Pointe au Baril pristine and natural.

FIRE

RATING

EXTREME

In this eBlast:

Congratulations to Helen Bryce
PaBIA Member Activities and Programs for Summer 2021
Boating Safety Check List by Ann Doritty, Education Committee
Art You Considering a new Building on your Property? by Cam Richardson
Literally, on the Bay by Janet Irving, Education Committee
Did You Know? FOCA - Federation of Ontario Cottagers' Association
The Ojibway Club Opening and Event Updates
Fox Snakes - A Cottager's Friendly Pest Control
GBA June 2021 Update - Sign Up for Your Copy
GBB Septic System Health & You - June 23
GBF - Families for Change 4.0
GBLT Webinar: Photography After Dark - June 21
GBB Gypsy Moth Ontario Infestation 2020
Lake Michigan-Huron Water Levels - June 8, 2021
Yearbook Update 2021
In Memoriam - Carman Emery; Bill Kennedy

Of Interest

Congratulations to Helen Bryce

This year The West Parry Sound Health Centre is 'launching the Helen Bryce Community Builder Award. This award is in honour of Helen, who took our annual Georgian Bay Walk, Run, Pole to a whole new level.'

A long-time Pointe au Baril cottager, Helen first joined WPSHC in 2015 during its 8^th year of running the GBay Walk, Run and Pole, the purpose of which is to raise funds to support the best in cardiac care for the West Parry Sound Health Centre. With everyone's support, the WPSH was able to purchase 9 replacement defibrillators. Among those were 193 fundraisers and 188 activity joggers – and together raised $193,042!

As our highest fundraiser, Helen put together a team in 2017. While team members have switched up a bit., Helen’s team is actively involved year after year, and, to date, has raised over $100,000, which includes those first two years when Helen participated solo. Thank you, Helen, and our Pointe au Baril Cottager Team!

Special Message From Member Activities and Education re Summer '21

by Helen Bryce and Virginia Skuce

Both PaBIA's Member Activity Director, Virginia Skuce, and Education Director, Helen Bryce, are hopeful that in-person events will be permitted this summer.

We would love to be able to provide regattas, speakers and more for our members, and many of those dates are already on the calendar for the 2021 season. We will make every effort to honour those dates, but the health and safety of all of you are most important to us. Rest assured that we will be listening carefully to the Federal and Provincial governments regarding COVID-related restrictions as the province slowly reopens.

Those timelines and restrictions are listed here and we will adjust dates and events if we can do so while still fully complying with the health and safety conditions laid out by the province of Ontario. We will continue to monitor Public Health restrictions and update you on the status of PaBIA events.

We welcome your comments or ideas and thank you for your patience with this ongoing and challenging situation.

Boat Safety Check List

by Ann Doritty, Education Committee

Just as it is important to know the Rules of the Road, it is vital to know the Rules and Regulations on the Water. As summer begins and we all rush out to enjoy the beauty of Georgian Bay, please take the time to ensure that you are well prepared.

You must have the right safety equipment on board. If something goes wrong on the water, you will be much better prepared to deal with it. Take the time to review each of your boats to ensure they are safely equipped!

All safety equipment on board must be:

in good working order
easy to reach in case of an emergency
maintained and replaced in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations

Your required equipment list:

Lifejackets for each person on board
The best protection you can give yourself is to wear a life jacket. People figure they can just grab their lifejacket and put it on in the water. Truth is, such a maneuver is difficult enough to accomplish in calm and warm water but in cold water, it is nearly impossible. Check all your lifejackets for buoyancy at the beginning of each season. Your lifejacket should fit snugly without being too tight. The term the Coast Guard uses is “comfortably snug”.
15 metres of buoyant rope
paddles
one anchor
one bilge pump
one sound signaling device
fire extinguisher
waterproof flashlight in working order
flares
first aid kit (optional)

Boating accidents can happen. Being prepared ahead of time will help everyone maintain calm. While most boating accidents occur during the warmer months, a HIGHER PERCENTAGE is fatal during the cold weather months because survival rates drop drastically with the combination of cold air and frigid water temperatures.

Good idea to pack lightweight, easy-to-stow emergency thermal blankets.

Did You Know ...

You must have your Boating Licence on board at all times? I suggest taking photocopies of your Boat Licence and keep a copy in every boat.

For more details visit the Government of Canada Mandatory Safety Equipment List or the Safe Boating Guide (pages 15-18)

Are you Considering Building

On Your Property?

by Cam Richardson, Director, Regulatory and Ratepayers

We all love our beloved cottages, and we all love our pristine Pointe au Baril’s natural setting. Well, like all great love affairs, sometimes these two loves don’t always dovetail naturally! Enter, the Comprehensive Zoning By-Laws. (CZBL’s).

The bottom line is we need

regulations to keep excessive building and over-development out and
our human footprint in keeping with the magic that is Pointe au Baril - a natural and well-managed paradise.
We do not want what has happened further south of us to creep north.

The rules are fair, the rules are reasonable, and the rules have been rigorously vetted by your PaBIA Regulatory and Ratepayer Committee. Based on the most recent member survey, input has been provided to the Township as they conduct their review of the CZBLs and prepare their updated plan that should have a public hearing later this summer.

PaBIA’s Regulatory and Ratepayer Committee supports the CZBL's purpose and serves to recommend compliance.

Here are some of the highlights:

Included as part of the property owner’s total lot coverage; all roofed structures, structures under 100 sq. ft., saunas, pumphouses, and decks.
You need a building permit for the following buildings, the main cottage (contains the only kitchen), 3 Sleeping Cabins within 540 sq. ft., an accessory building (cannot exceed the floor area of the main cottage building), and a boathouse.
Buildings allowed without a building permit but that still count as part of the overall lot coverage calculation: Marine Storage, Pump House, Sauna, Woodshed, Deck with roof, etc. – these must be under 100 sq. ft. to qualify.

Next time I will outline how to calculate the lot coverage so stay tuned!

GBA eUpdate for June 2021 - Sign Up for Your Copy!

As was seen last week with PaBIA's supportive efforts for our American and International members' SAFE return to their Canadian cottages, our PaBIA GBA Rep, Mark Gwozdecky, worked diligently with the GBA to strongly advocate for the return of those totally vaccinated. We are ever hopeful that their efforts will go a long way toward getting all of us back to normal.

Would you be interested in learning more about what the GBA is doing as it works tirelessly on our behalf? If the answer is yes, and you haven't already done so, check out what the GBA is doing on your behalf...open their June eUpdate and/or subscribe to their monthly eUpdate.

Literally, on the Bay

Book recommendations by Charlotte Stein, owner of Parry Sound Books

Edited by Janet Irving, Education Committee.

There is nothing – absolutely nothing - like reading a book on a summer’s day on Georgian Bay! This summer we suggest some books that are literally set on the Bay – or feel so much so that we just had to include them.

Light Keeper’s Daughters by Jean E. Pendziwal is set on the shores of Lake Superior, the story moves back and forth from the past century into the present time. The passages from the light-keepers journals about daily life on the island paint a picture of a time long past, beautiful days picking wildflowers, herbs, and edible wild plants, as well as the harvest of the gardens. There is fishing and trapping and hunting. There are also ships in distress and some who founder.

Ghosts of the Bay tells the story of shipwrecks, abandoned fishing camps, and lumber villages, with tales of adventure, scandal, and folklore. The book serves as a guide to over 140 sites around Georgian Bay, with maps and archival photographs. The DVD combines archival footage with contemporary film and animation in an excellent documentary film.

Jessica Bromley Bartram’s Water Water is a lovely picture book set on Georgian Bay, as a young girl experiences all the magic and wonder of all that the days have to offer in this exceptionally beautiful and natural world. Summer North Coming combines verse by Dorothy Bently with Jessica’s illustrations of the changing seasons on Georgian Bay and the North Woods of Ontario.

Families For Change 4.0 – New Summer Tasks!

Wanted – new families and

Welcome back families that have

previously participated!

If you and your family are concerned about climate change, pollution, and preserving wetlands, Georgian Bay Forever (GBF) has a program for you. It’s called Families For Change (F4C).

How does it work?

It’s entirely up to your family. GBF’s F4C program can take as much time as you and your family have to devote to it. Your family can choose from 16 tasks in 3 different categories, or you can simply focus on one or two.

The categories include:

Decreasing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Reducing Waste and Litter in the Environment, and
Preserving wetlands by tackling and getting educated about invasive species.

Please join families making a difference in reducing our collective impacts on the future of the environment.

To get started, click on these list of tasks.

Did You Know?

FOCA is an Ontario Association of over 500 community groups and represents the interests of the 250,000+ waterfront landowners who collectively contribute over $800 million each year in property taxes, and who collectively own 15,000 kilometres of freshwater shorelines and 50,000 hectares of environmentally important lands.

FOCA, an umbrella organization of which GBA is a member, was one of the organizations that wrote a letter on the behalf of the American cottagers who are fully vaccinated and desiring access to their Canadian properties.

Fox Snakes - A Cottager's Friendly Pest Control

Thanks to Cathy McKeever for sharing these photos of 'her' fox snakes. Not only did she have 2 large (40-45 inches) snakes lurking around a grackle’s nest, but one then ventured up a tree to try and get access, while the other climbed my screen door and window frame! Both have been unsuccessful in reaching the nest....so far. But they did manage to get into her cottage the next day!

Fox Snakes (taken from Ontario.ca)

If frightened, the harmless Eastern Foxsnake will mimic a rattlesnake by vibrating the tip of its tail in leaf litter to produce a buzzing noise. Don’t be fooled. The Massasauga has a real ‘rattle’ at the end of its tail, a darker background body colour (brown-grey), and a short thick body compared to the long and slender fox snake.

The Eastern Foxsnake is a constrictor and suffocates prey such as larger rodents (like mice and rats!) with the coils of its body. They also eat baby birds, eggs, and frogs:(.

Eastern Foxsnakes are excellent swimmers! You can distinguish the Eastern Foxsnake from a watersnake at a distance because the Foxsnake swims on the surface of the water, floating like a pool noodle, while a watersnake swims with only its head above the surface.

Gypsy Moth Information Package Available

Following a sharp increase in areas affected by the Gypsy moth in Ontario during 2020, there have been many questions about Gypsy moth, its impacts in our area, and what can be done to control it.

The Georgian Bay Biosphere has created an information package that aims to provide answers to some of these questions.

June 2021

Life in the Biosphere Webinar Series

The Georgian Bay Biosphere is pleased to launch the Life in the Biosphere Webinar Series! Along with our partners, we'll explore many different aspects of living in a UNESCO biosphere, from cultural teachings to gardening to invasive species and more!

Septic System Health & You

Wednesday, June 23 @ 10:00 am EST

In this free webinar, we're joined by Danielle Ward from Adams Brothers Construction as she shares information on greywater pits, composting toilets, septic inspections, and more! Learn how important and simple it can be to keep your septic in tip-top shape. Short-term care can mean long-term savings and peace of mind! Click here to register! This webinar is offered in partnership with the Township of the Archipelago.

Lessons from an Ontario Biosphere in Phragmites Management

Wednesday, July 14 @ 10:00 am EST

Webinars will continue to be scheduled throughout the year. Mark your calendars and bookmark this event for the following event!

LANDMARK Speaker Series

Georgian Bay Land Trust's virtual LANDMARK Speaker Series returns for 2021 with monthly presentations from 10:00 - 11:00 AM on conservation and Georgian Bay topics. Mark your calendars with the dates below, and register to attend each session here.

Photography After Dark with Ariel Estulin -

Thursday, June 17, 2021

With the rapid advance of digital camera technology, today’s cameras are capable of producing images that were not possible even just a few years ago. This talk is designed to show you how to get started with taking photos of the night sky in Georgian Bay.

Topics covered:

gear requirements
planning your shoot
camera settings
calculating exposure, finding focus, and getting sharp images
shooting star trails

As a photo educator, his goal is for students to come away with not just better photographs, but a better understanding of photography, better compositions, and most importantly, a skill set they now have and can use on future adventures.

ToA Large Item Pick Up Days 2021

Saturdays, June 26th and August 7th

Due to Covid-19, social distancing needs to be respected and no assistance can be provided. Please make sure you bring helpers with you if you have exceptionally heavy or large items to drop off. Further information such as what can/cannot be dropped off is posted on the Township website.

July 2021

News from the Ojibway Club

Please watch for new details in late June following the June 21st Government announcements around the next steps and details regarding the re-opening of the Province.

Unfortunately, the Club can't make any definitive arrangements until the mandatory COVID 19 protocols are determined by the Province & Regional Health Agencies for the following:

permitted group sizing of an outdoor function
physical distancing protocols

The Ojibway Club also wants to share that the pricing is different for Summerlicious (Beer Fest Tasting Evening) and the Feast on the Trail Return than is indicated in the Yearbook.

Lakes Michigan/Huron Water Levels June 8, 2021 To better read the charts, please click on the chart for the Daily or Six Month Forecast Water level chart and the corresponding websites

Yearbook Update! (unchanged from last week)

With each eBlast, we will provide you a list of names for those members who have provided updated contact information. The details of all the changes since the 2021 yearbook came out in late April are provided in THIS printable format for you to print out and insert into your own Yearbook!

In Memoriam

Carman Emery, Pointe au Baril resident, husband of Joan, father of Janine (Rob), Cindy (Bob), Bryan (Joanne), Shawn (Cory), Heidi (Rick), June 3, 2021.

William (Bill) Kennedy, past PaBIA member, past owner of C.C. Kennedy Co. Ltd. (now CCY) and past President of the Pointe au Baril Chamber of Commerce, husband of Lauralee, and brother of Murray (Mabel), June 5, 2021.