beaches

Hi John,

I hope all is well with you. This is just a heads-up about events of last week concerning seagulls.

Greg Romanow, who I know from his Navy days, approached me privately last week about the seagulls and what additional action might be taken to reduce the seagull population. I mentioned what you are doing with Mike Grace and that we anticipate a report from him in the fall correlating rainfall, wind direction and E.coli readings on Beulow beach.

Greg would like to see additional E.coli water testing conducted next year in the waters surrounding the island. He said that huge balls of algae are now blowing over to the south west shore with winds from the north, and there is a thick layer of green slime on the bottom of the lake in that area which he is convinced is a direct result of the seagulls. He is very keen to take the lead on collecting these additional water samples and asked me for Mike Grace's contact info, which I promised to provide. As this would be an additional data set that should provide a better picture of E.coli generation on the lake, I feel that it should be very complimentary to the work you are already doing.

This was a hot topic at the AGM, so I explained the work you are doing and how we intend to collaborate with the LCPOA on this additional testing. I just wanted to give you a heads-up on these recent developments for your info.

Cheers,

Brian

Folks,

Please note the information below as it adds another reason for concern, as discussed at our AGM.

Lorne

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Smith, Christine L" <Christine.Smith@intria.com>

Subject: RE: lake clear water quality

Date: July 28, 2016 at 6:00:38 PM EDT

To: "lmonahan@magma.ca" <lmonahan@magma.ca>

Cc: "csmith0423@rogers.com" <csmith0423@rogers.com>, "jemc1@sympatico.ca" <jemc1@sympatico.ca>

My apology Lorne…I just read your last AGM and see that Foran Island is owned by the Lake Clear Conservacy so I have emailed them with my concerns. At any rate you are now in the loop as to the challenges in selling at cottage by Big Rock J

Enjoy the rest of the summer.

Christine.

-------------------------------

Good afternoon Lorne

As executor for the property at 1069 Manning Road I have been advised by potential purchasers that when they contacted the health unit about water quality they were advised by the Health Unit not to use the water from the lake for any purpose other than watering the lawn. They are attributing this to the fecal from the seagulls.

In addition, several potential buyers have commented on the sound of the squawking seagulls which is quite loud, consistent and disruptive.

If the problem with the seagulls is not resolved it may well impact every property owner at my end of the lake in that the value of their property will decrease. If the water quality decreases it will have farther reaching implications.

Please direct any correspondence to my personal email - csmith0423@rogers.com letting me know what measures are being taken to address the birds.

As an aside for your consideration, my realtor has advised that Golden Lake recently obtained approval to cull the birds and I’m wondering if there is any way this can be done.

Sincerely,

Christine Smith

Hello Christine,

The LCC completely understands your concerns and sympathizes with you. The LCC has been equally concerned about this situation for several years.

Seagulls are migratory birds and are therefore protected by federal law. It is a criminal offence to harm seagulls without a permit, and large fines can be levied. Usually such charges are laid against offending individuals, and not organizations (say the LCC in this case). In fact, charges and a $2,000 fine were levied against an individual with the LCC for actions taken on this island a few years ago.

Having said that though, the LCC did receive a permit about five years ago from the Canadian Wildlife Services of Environment Canada and did oil the eggs of the seagulls. This is a very effective method of controlling and reducing the gull population. Two years ago we reapplied for a permit but were denied.

The LCC will submit an application once again for egg oiling next year. We anticipate approval this time as we will submit E.coli readings and a report from the Renfrew Health Unit which collects the samples from the Beulow Road public beach. Next year we will augment our efforts by collecting additional samples from around the island to accumulate more data and proof that more effective gull population control measures are needed.

With your permission we will also cite how the gulls are affecting real estate values on the lake. We have also recently heard how they are affecting resort businesses on the lake. All of this information will be used to substantiate our requests to manage the gull population more effectively.

We will also follow up on your comment about the action taken on Golden Lake. A volunteer with a strong background in biology and the environment and a strong desire to reverse the effects the seagulls are having on the lake has recently begun to assist the LCC. He is a driven individual and will work closely with Renfrew Heath, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment Canada. If we may, we will forward your concerns to him to support this endeavour.

Thank you for your feedback, and the LCC will continue to endeavour to minimize or eliminate the effects of the gull population on your property and the lake in general. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any additional information or questions you may have.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Cox

President

Lake Clear Conservancy

885 Manning Road

From: "Smith, Christine L" <Christine.Smith@intria.com>

Subject: Foran’s Island

Date: July 28, 2016 at 5:58:43 PM EDT

To: "lakeclearconservancyboard@gmail.com" <lakeclearconservancyboard@gmail.com>

Good afternoon

In addition, several potential buyers have commented on the sound of the squawking seagulls which is quite loud, consistent and disruptive.

Please direct any correspondence to my personal email - csmith0423@rogers.com letting me know what measures are being taken to address the birds.

As an aside for your consideration, my realtor has advised that Golden Lake recently obtained approval to cull the birds and I’m wondering if there is any way this can be done.

Sincerely,

Christine Smith

John, good for you for making this suggestion. I didn’t expect her to respond so favourably. I’d like to talk some more with you about the options (conservation easement, eco-gift, severance for conservation purposes, etc), and you could relate them to her. I’d be happy to talk to her but her parents were on the opposite side of the Turner Island thing and I’m not sure whether she has inherited a bit of an anti-Sally bias. I don’t think so, but who knows? I’m going to speak to the person at EC who is in charge of this stuff and ask some questions; let’s talk after. Wish you could come to the meeting.

Sally

On Aug 1, 2016, at 3:11 PM, john.almstedt <john.almstedt@sympatico.ca> wrote:

Hi Sally and Brian,

Thought you might be interested with the below exchange between Christine and myself.

Crazy how gulls are blamed for all the lake's problems, yet I bet most couldn't give a damn about the gulls. I wonder how people deal with animal problems in their gardens, gulls are simple in comparison. Besides the way the island is filling in with shrubs and trees the gull problem might not even exist in another ten years.

John

sent from my Bell Samsung device over Canada's largest network.

-------- Original message --------

From: home <csmith0423@rogers.com>

Date: 2016-08-01 9:47 AM (GMT-05:00)

To: "john.almstedt" <john.almstedt@sympatico.ca>

Subject: Re: Gulls and Cottage

Good morning John

Thank you for taking the time to write me. I sincerely appreciate your explanation about the E. coli readings.

As to donating the property, this is a suggestion that had never occurred to me so I'll definitely look into this some more and discuss it with the other beneficiaries. It's a very valuable suggestion.

Christine...Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 31, 2016, at 10:08 PM, john.almstedt <john.almstedt@sympatico.ca> wrote:

Hi Christine,

I'm your neighbour, the guy you helped with the canoe last summer. You must be very upset having to sell and I'd like to offer a few comments after hearing about your concerns over the gulls - I'm on the LCC board and have many years of teaching and organizing environmental groups.

Anyone telling you that Renfrew County Health says Lake Clear water is only good for watering the lawn is obviously trying to beat you down regarding price, the quality of water is probably one of the best in the county. For the past two years I've been working with Renfrew County Health to monitor Buelow beach and unless there's a big storm washing off the gull poop from the island and a beach on-shore wind the water is virtually drinkable: https://sites.google.com/site/lakeclearnaturalheritage/buelow-beach#TOC-2016-test-results An E.coli reading of 100 or greater is considered dangerous for swimmers so you can see this summer with little rain it's been very low. Even if it's greater than 100 it only takes 24 hrs before getting back under 100.

Also, the lake current probably makes your and our place less susceptible to the influence of the island.

Personally I like to hear the gulls and their excitement over the young ones as I think any environmentally inclined person would, besides it only lasts a few weeks until near the end of July, last night there wasn't a sound.

As for the cottage, have you ever considered giving the hill and it's shoreline to the LCC for tax considerations so when you do sell the cottage you retain more of the money? In addition, reducing the 1,400 ft of shoreline would significantly reduce the present $5,000+ tax bill which might even make the cottage more saleable.

Hope things finally work out regards,

John