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The west end of Bain Lake After three days, we left Trapline and in Ontario, close to the made our way to Bain Lake. We Manitoba border and wanted to head back to Davidson at a Jerry Ameis Nopiming Park. more leisurely pace. Bain Lake is one of those popular destinations for weekend canoeists. It is an interesting lake with low rock shelves at its eastern end and much higher terrain at its western end. The preferred camping spot is on a low peninsula that juts out into the lake near the entrance to the narrows before the large eastern bay. Luckily no one was home at that spot. We stayed for two nights, enjoying the beauty of our surroundings. Cooked rice, noodles, oatmeal and the like are the typical leftover food after a meal. There are varied opinions about what to do with such leftovers when The Voracious Creatures of Bain Lake canoeing in Shield Country. Packing out the remains of a meal is reasonable by Jerry Ameis if you are on a day trip. On longer trips, having decaying n early August of this year, four Nature Manitoba pad- food stored in a packsack is an invitation to bears and an dlers [Jerry Ameis (leader), Dustin Ameis, Les McCann, Iand Don Himbeault] went on a 6-day canoe trip that (continued on page 6...) began and ended at Davidson Lake in Nopiming Park. We ventured as far as Trapline Lake in northwest Ontario. We were ambitious on day 1, travelling all the way to Trapline. IN THIS ISSUE... This involved a distance of 20 km and 9 portages. Trapline is a long, narrow and deep clear lake with a cluster The Voracious Creatures of Bain Lake .......... p. 1 & 6 of islands at its west end. A number of beaches are scattered President’s Corner ..............................................p. 2 along the north shore. We explored the lake up to the Member Profile: Gerry & Maureen Recksiedler ..p. 3 narrows just before the east section of the lake. We were Nature Manitoba Store .......................................p. 4 hoping to find a way north that involved travelling up one Members’ Trip Photos .........................................p. 5 of two possible creeks. Unfortunately the low water levels in the creeks ended our plans of exploring the lake country Birding in Flooded Southwestern Manitoba ........p. 7 north of Trapline. Book Review: Dragonflies & Damselflies ........ p. 8-9 Garage Sale Coordinator Wanted ......................p. 9 While exploring, we saw what we at first thought was a caribou swimming from an island to the mainland. When Outdoor Activities ....................................... p. 10-11 the caribou reached the shore it morphed into a black bear Bird News & 2011 Fall Hawk Watch ........... p. 12-14 that scurried away into the forest without stopping to look 2011 Christmas Bird Count ................................p. 15 at us. Perhaps the bear was shy or our aroma was not Young Ornithologists Workshop .................. p. 16-17 enticing enough. Discovery Evenings ..................................... p. 18-19 President’s Corner by Roger Turenne Canada Post Publications Mail Sales Election Loser: The Environment Product Agreement No. 0040069231. I have two fond memories of the recent provincial election. One is the fun I had being a talking head, Issued 6 times a year as the official analyzing the campaign for Radio-Canada. The other publication of Nature Manitoba. was the glorious late summer/early fall weather which Subscriptions are a benefit of membership. offset the dreariness of that campaign. There may have See backpage for membership details. Opinions are those of the writers and not been a time when elections provided an opportunity to necessarily the organization as a whole. debate major issues. No longer. Otherwise there might have been at least a passing mention of one of the major challenges confronting governments: climate change. Office and Library The environment was missing in action during the election. The greater the urgency 401 - 63 Albert St. Winnipeg, R3B 1G4 of dealing with climate change, the less the politicians – and even the media – want Phone/Fax: .......................(204) 943-9029 to talk about it. Did you know there was actually an all-party debate on the environ- Email: [email protected] ment? You’re forgiven if you didn’t. The event was barely publicized. It was held at Website: ............www.naturemanitoba.ca the same time as a leaders debate, and none of the papers reported on it. So here’s what transpired. Office Administrator ............ Susan McLarty Hours: 10:00 am to 3:00 pm The government representative was Labour Minister Jennifer Howard. She stated Monday to Friday that the NDP had two major environmental priorities for the coming years: (1) sending Bipole III down the West side and (2) saving Lake Winnipeg. The latter is Nature Manitoba News certainly an important and worthwhile objective but it has no impact on climate change. From an environmental perspective, the former is probably a wash. Newsletter Editor ................... Tommy Allen Email: [email protected] That’s it? From a government that was once Editorial Committee: Tommy Allen considered one of the leaders on the continent in he greater the Donna Danyluk taking climate change seriously? One might have “T urgency of dealing Roger Turenne expected the Official Opposition to take them to with climate change, task. Not so. The Progressive-Conservative the less the politicians representative, Heather Stefanson, managed to Advertising Rates: Full page $200, half a want to talk about it.” page $140. Contact the office for other get through the whole two-and-a-half-hour debate sizes & rates. Rate reduced if ad appears without making a single substantive criticism of 2 times. Classifieds are also available. the government – it was probably the friendliest debate of the campaign. The most pointed critiques came from the two parties with no chance of forming Submission deadline is the first day of the government: the Liberals and the Greens. Those two parties are also the only ones month prior to the newsletter publication. that dealt seriously with environmental issues in their party platforms. That is to be Deadline for the Jan. / Feb. 2012 issue expected from the Greens. As for the Liberals, this reflects leader Jon Gerrard’s is December 1st, 2011. personal commitment and understanding of environmental issues. His platform even included an item on establishing the Manitoba Lowlands National Park! This newsletter is printed on Enviro 100 20lb paper which is 100% Post Consumer Green Party leader James Beddome was on home turf, had a friendly audience, Recycled and FSC certified. showed considerable debating skills, and easily won the debate – to such a degree that Liberal representative Paul Hesse graciously suggested that it would be good if 2011/2012 Executive Beddome actually got elected. He didn’t of course, but Jon Gerrard did, and that’s a good thing. At least we can count on one member of the Legislature to try to hold the President ............................ Roger Turenne government accountable on environmental questions. Exec. Vice-President ....... Donald Himbeault Vice-President .................. James Whitelaw As of this writing, we still don’t know who the new Conservation Minister will be. In Treasurer ............................. Sean Worden his last months in office, departing Minister Bill Blaikie made considerable progress Secretary ..................................Alain Louer in areas of interest to Nature Manitoba, notably the creation of Fisher Bay and Little Past President ......................... Les McCann Limestone Lake Provincial Parks. But the boundaries of these parks need to be expanded, and Nature Manitoba and the Manitoba chapter of CPAWS will be request- 2011/2012 Board Members ing a meeting with the new minister as soon as we find out who it is. Christian Artuso, Lewis Cocks, We have no illusions: protecting the environment will continue to be a tough slog. Donna Danyluk, Scott Falkingham, The political class in Manitoba has decided that the environment is not a vote getter. Carol Hitchon, Michele Kading, They may well be right. The Free Press took a survey to rank the issues of most Rose Kuzina, Richard Staniforth, concern to Manitobans. The environment was not low on this list – it wasn’t even on Michael Sykes the list. We have our work cut out for us. Page 2 Nature Manitoba News Vol. 3, Issue 6 - Nov. / Dec. 2011 by Tommy Allen Photo: Gerry Recksiedler Welcome New Members! Passi August 15th - October 14th, 2011: le o Elaine Henderson p n Abbeygail Hibi & o a Richard Thomas Wood e t Ted & Linda Holloway e P Loretta Kampeas Alerry Lavitt Karen Lind Georgia MacDonald Sharon Mah Kelsey Molloy Maureen & Gerry Scott & Robin Potter John & Shyla Pattie Recksiedler . Sydney Toni A .. bo re ut Natu erry Recksiedler had lots of room try, including some of the game reserves. to roam around in nature from his They can recall a game guard taking them Ghometown of Grand Marais, for a walk outside of their vehicle, and Manitoba. He can recall exploring the leading them unknowingly into a pride of marshes of the area and noticing the lions. The game guard sprinted back to various birds, although he didn’t know the vehicle, with his gun, leaving Gerry their names. When he was 18 he moved and Maureen where they were. Luckily to Winnipeg, and tried being a mail-boy, a the lions weren’t hungry. log scaler, and an Engineering student, Christian Artuso After their work overseas, they moved but it was Teacher Training College that back to St. James, yet found themselves he stuck with. A moose at Riding more drawn to the countryside than the Mountain National Maureen grew up in Winnipeg, and city. They bought a piece of property near Park last fall. although her family had tried doing some Stonewall in 1971 and built a house, camping, the experiences always went where they still live today.

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