Annual General Meeting minutes August 25 2007

Municipal Hall -Lac des Seize Iles

The meeting was called to order at 10:15. There were 60 people present.

Chris Campbell welcomed members and guest Robert Lapalme, author of “ Proteger et restaurer les lacs”, as well as representatives from two new lake associations at Pine Lake and Lac Munich near Weir.

It was moved by Marlene Calder and seconded by Bill Meldrum that the minutes of the June 23 meeting be approved as published.

Mary Campbell reported that we currently have 90 members (94, as of today) which represents a total of 172 persons.

Nan Laurenzio has agreed to be our liaison with the children of the Lake to help us further our mission of education.

Chris Campbell introduced Dave Logan and welcomed him as the new Chairman of the Land Use Committee.

Dave spoke about the need to expand and to include the village and the south end of the lake in our planning and our association.

His committee’s focus is threefold:

• Land Trusts
• Conservation easements and servitudes
• Municipal by-laws

Penny Love, Communications, reported:

• Still working on a website and hope to have it up and running in the very near future
• Plan to have a Fall newsletter in addition to our Spring newsletter.
• We have created an email account: amis16island@yahoo.ca
• Noted that with the new focus on phosphate free and environmentally friendly products, it is difficult to always find these products. It is planned to compile a list of products and places were they can be purchased.
• Liaison with lake associations similar to ours.
• Noted that the Lake telephone directory is now under the association umbrella. If you have changes, contact our association email. It will most likely be updated every two years.

Chris Campbell mentioned that the municipality wants all trailers to be removed from the municipal parking lot by October 31, 2007

In keeping with our mission to preserve and protect the lake, Claude Lorange introduced our guest speaker, Robert Lapalme, whose field is the management of water ecology. Mr. Lapalme’s presentation on preserving our water ecology and the role associations can play was extremely informative. He began with a detailed explanation of the Ecology of a Lake. A more comprehensive report will be published in our Fall newsletter but some points he touched on are:

Sixteen Island Lake is not safe from algae bloom.

When it comes to polluting or destroying the shoreline, there are no acquired rights (doits aquis)

Causes of “nutrients” in the water:

• Septics
• Fertilizer
• Ashes from fire
• Soaps

Causes of warming:

• Deforestation
• Global warming
• Urban landscaping
• Aquatic activities
• Asphalt and driveway runoff

A 10 degree rise in water temperature doubles the metabolism of aquatic plants.

Farmers report that global warming has extended the growing season by a couple of weeks on both ends. This also extends the growth period for algae in our lakes.

We can’t control global warming but we can control our local temperature by planting trees, shading large open areas like parking lots, and with other plantings.

Pesticides can unbalance the ecosystem by killing all the birds and good insects that eat mosquitoes etc. until only mosquitoes are left.

Too many boats and too powerful high speed boats churn up the surface of the water causing the warm surface to blend with the cooler depths thus causing the warming of the lake in general thus encouraging the growth of algae.

Our ecosystem has a limited capacity which calls for the limiting of the number of boats especially big boats.

Phase out 2 stroke motors.

Lawns, even if not fertilized, draw the phosphorus they need to grow from the soil. Lawns do not prevent runoff so the phosphorus will end up in the lake.

Use sediment fences to protect against runoff when disturbing the shoreline. These can be removed when plants are established.

Septic systems force the phosphorus deep down into the soil. Plant large trees between your septic field and the water. The deep growing roots will absorb the phosphorus.

Plant shrubs on the shoreline to hold the soil and provide wildlife habitat

Shoreline concrete and stone walls heat the water. They absorb heat during the day and the infrared rays from the heated wall continue to heat the water during the night like 24 hours of sunshine. It is urgent to plant vines and shrubs to cover the retaining walls.

Three steps to deal with non compliance:

• Inform
• Change
• Legal Action.

Ensure that there is a wildlife habitat around the lake:

• Create green corridors so animals can access the water
• Create wildlife reserves on the lake where no boats are allowed

Beaver are part of the ecosystem but can be a big problem in small areas. Don’t let the beaver manage your watershed. Manage the beaver.

Design landscaping for zero run off. Capture and reintroduce run off.

The Association needs to develop an Environmental Watershed Management Plan. Then people wanting to alter the lake’s ecosystem will need to check with the plan before proceeding.

The government is not going to do it for us. It is the role of a Lake Association to assure that the municipality promotes and follows an environmental approach.

Consider designating the watershed an “eco-zone” with regulations.

After a brief question and answer period, Claude Lorange thanked Mr. Lapalme and told us that there would be a report published in the Fall on the results of the water sampling done on the lakes this summer which we will share with our membership.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Campbell

Secretary