Percy Lake Update – Summer 2024

On behalf of the PLRA Board, we extend our warmest welcome and wish you all an enjoyable and pleasant spring and summer at Percy Lake with friends and family.

A couple of quick points:

• Please avoid Loon nest with eggs on the smaller island
• Phragmites: small stand growing near junction of Lonewolf & Stillwater ditch, possibly a second patch near Lot 24. Please check your property ditches.
• Note also that the road work on Percy Lk Rd has left tire unfriendly debris, which will be hard to see in the evening.
• And a different board member had an afternoon encounter with a deer just entering Haliburton Village. So, contrary to conventional wisdom deer aren’t completely nocturnal.
• Note that Dysart has a Daytime burning ban from April 1.

Upcoming events – 2024

Angling activities

A – Full Season Youth Angling Contest (16 Years and Younger)

Lou has the trophies for the 2023 winners in his hands.

B – Fishing Tournament – August 17

PLRA’s Catch and Release Fishing Tournament (from 8:00 AM to noon).

This is open to members (and family) of the PLRA. [don’t wait and be disappointed, get your membership fee paid now!]

The rules for both the Youth Angling Contest and the one-day fishing tournament can be found at: http://www.plra.net/index.cfm?page=fishing_derby.

PLRA Annual General Meeting – August 24

Golf Tournament – Sept 14

REPEATING: [don’t wait and be disappointed, get your membership fee paid now!]

Social Event – Date TBD

Telecommunications – Cell Towers – EORN (Eastern Ontario Regional Network) Cell Gap Project

Here’s a link to the EORN map showing the current status of all (BELL and ROGERS, existing upgraded, new approved and completed) cell towers in Haliburton: for example, the new tower on North Lake: https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/a809b6321cca4923a67cad860d1858…

Telecommunications – Fibre – Bell Canada

Here’s a link to the status of the Bell fibre project. Nope. They are keeping status a very closely guarded secret.

Road Work

Dysart plans to repave the municipal part of Percy Lake Rd this summer. [macadam – like the roadway to the West Bay landfill] The preparatory work of replacing culvert is mostly complete. The decision on how to handle the ‘spring’ above the Johnson Bay intersection won’t be made until the paving/grading crews arrive.

Photo: a roadside sign reading “Culvert replacement – expect long delays”.

OP/Shoreline structure

Last November Dysart Council tried to bring forward amendment to the Official Plan & Shoreline bylaws to find the least restrictive option. We and other Dysart Lake Associations wrote to council in opposition:

When Dysart staff were contacted just before May 24 Weekend, we were informed that they did not receive sufficient direction from Council to proceed with clear recommendations for shoreline structure OP/ZBL changes and has dropped the initiative for the foreseeable future. There were no items related to shoreline structure OP/ZBL discussed or presented at the May 28 Council meeting.

This is probably good news and perhaps signals a couple of things:

• Dysart will likely default to the current process, which has been working for well over 25 years. This process has Dysart staff identifying non-compliant structures through building permit reviews, variance applications, zoning amendments, complaints or shoreline purchases, which has been effective and most properties will eventually be brought into compliance through this approach.
• Our Lake Association advocacy has perhaps prompted Dysart Council to pause and reconsider major changes to the OP and ZBL regarding shoreline structures.

Lake Testing

The oldest Lake Steward data seems to be from 1994. There may have been others involved but at least Jack Russel, Bruce Meacock, Dave Smith, Herman Wenghofer and now Mick Tilman.

Just before Covid, the Ont Ministry was looking for partners and FOCA stepped up. From ~2018, the name changed to Lake Partner from Lake Steward.

For Percy, the testing is a Spring water sample[s] from two locations. These are shipped to the Lab in Dorset and analysed for phosphorus, calcium and recently chloride.

During the boating season, water clarity/turbidity is measured with a ‘secchi disk’ (see “Secchi disk” on Wikipedia).

The Lake Steward/Partner programs are Ontario-wide. About 550 lakes. Descriptive analysis link: https://foca.ca/lake-partner-program/

Images: a satellite map of the two Percy Lake sampling sites, and charts of total phosphorus (LPP 02-22, station 4318), Secchi depth (roughly 3 to 6 m, 2001–2024) and calcium (roughly 3.5 to 4.5 mg/L) over time.

• the total Phosphorus and Clarity both seem to have risen when the new roads/driveways were cut through the bush.
• While Calcium appears to be increasing, it’s ‘low’ at <10mg/L
• There are only two sample results for Chloride: 0.33 in 2018; 0.45 in 2023.

PLRA Membership

The annual PLRA membership fee is a modest $30 per family. These fees pay our major expenses, including membership in organizations including Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Association (CHA), the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations (FOCA), and the Coalition for Equitable Water Flow (CEWF) and for expenses incurred by PLRA’s annual obligations and events.

• FOCA: sponsors the lake partner program, some cottage insurance providers offer a premium reduction for membership, sponsors/publishes research on lakes/boating; does lobbying esp provincial on items of cottager interest. (About FOCA – FOCA answers Ontario cottage country questions)
• CEWF: provides an interface to TSW/MNRF on water management specific to the reservoir lakes supporting the lower canal/waterway. (History and Goals – Coalition for Equitable Water Flow, cewf.ca)
• CHA: very similar to FOCA, but focused on Haliburton/Dysart. (About Us – Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Associations, cohpoa.org)

We encourage you to renew or if not a member, to join the PLRA. For a wealth of information about the history and activities at Percy Lake, check out the website: https://plra.ca/

The new member form on the website is now fillable on-line. So, if you direct your new neighbour that hasn’t joined to the plra.ca/memberships site they can do it all online!

PLRA – Current Board of Directors

• Anna Tilman, President
• Koko Yamamoto, Treasurer
• Brian Edey, Secretary
• Ted Mills
• Lou Kiriakou
• Peter Mills
• Bob Wong
• Shelley Lindsay
• Tim Jansen
• Mark Rechsteiner

Have a great time this summer, and I look forward to meeting you on the lake or thereabouts, and at our AGM and any other activities that may be planned.

Best regards,
Anna Tilman