FALL 2011

WATER LEVELS. WATER QUALITY. WETLANDS. INVASIVE SPECIES.

WATER LEVELS THE BIGGEST STORY IN THE BAY JUST GOT A LOT BIGGER PAGE 5

INSIDE: New Mysterious Algae Rod & JoanneJones BEAVER DAMS Outbreaks and Stepped- Coming home to & water chemistry up Testing Standards Sleeth Island & Following the Fish for Phosphorus PAGE 8 PAGE 9 PAGE 7 Georgian Bay Forever is a proud member of the Waterkeeper Alliance.

Georgian Bay Forever is a community response to the grow- ing need for major research and education projects to sustain the Georgian Bay aquatic ecosystem and the quality of life its communities and visitors enjoy.

We help monitor the Bay’s well being, throughout the THE FOLLOWING seasons, year after year. We fund the research needed to protect the environmental health of Georgian Bay and the surrounding bodies of water. Using our research findings, we inform and educate the GEORGIAN BAYERS general public and governments about any threats to environmental health and propose possible solutions. ARE GENEROUS Through conferences, workshops and seminars we are educating the Georgian Bay community. By teaming up with reputable institutions we enhance the credibility of our research and we strengthen our ability to protect PATRONS OF what’s at stake.

Georgian Bay Forever, formerly the GBA Foundation, is a GEORGIAN BAY registered Canadian charity (#89531 1066 RR0001). We work with the Great Lakes Basin Conservancy in the United States, as well as other stakeholder groups all around the Great Lakes. FOREVER Deeply rooted and broadly drawn, Georgian Bay Forever is steered by lifelong devotees to the Bay. We are committed advocates, educators, environmentalists, realists, idealists, and of course, residents.

Eric Jackman DIRECTORS David Parkes, President Brenda Drinkwalter Rod & Joanne Jones Peter Hatcher Michael Hensel Rod Jones John Honderich Mike McKeown Hugh McLelland Penny Pepperell Cameron Wardlaw Peter Singer Larry Ward Scott White Hugh Wilkins Bob Ogilvy Executive Director David Sweetnam Brian Chapman OUR CONTACT DETAILS 48 Lesmill Road Robert Hay Toronto, ON M3B 2T5 tel: 905-880-4945

David Beatty You can reach David Sweetnam, our Executive Director, at [email protected] Anthony Munk or at (905) 880 4945 ext 1. U.S. citizens wishing to make a donation to support our work can do so by giving to:

Penny & John Pepperell Great Lakes Basin Conservancy PO Box 504, Gates Mills OH 44040-0504 Ruth & Doug Grant USA (Please add a note saying: “For Georgian Bay Forever”)

Geoff Hyland Family This newsletter is just a snapshot of our work. For the most up-to-date information on our projects, longer versions of newsletter articles and the latest on breaking news about Georgian Bay, please become a regular visitor of our website. GeorgianBayForever.org

Tynan Studio (tynanstudio.com) graciously contributes photo services to Georgian Bay Forever

FALL 2011 Design by Key Gordon (keygordon.com) PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Punching Above our Weight President’s Report By David Parkes

eorgian Bay Forever is gaining momentum, the result of our Singer, Peter Hatcher, Brenda Drinkwalter, Rod Jones, former president board of directors punching above its weight in a number of Lloyd Posno and myself. Other new fund raising initiatives such as Gimportant respects. approaching businesses on the Bay, are also taking shape, led by Rod Jones and Mike McKeown, both new directors this year. Unlike so many organizations these days that rely on a ever-expanding team of employees (we have only our excellent executive director New director Penny Pepperell, who is heading up the communications David Sweetnam) our board members are hard at work not just committee, is providing high-value content for our newsletters and the providing direction for the organization but actually, in the best old- web. Scott White, our longest-standing board member continues to fashioned sense, getting the job done! play an active role, most recently in pulling together the annual report. Still to do is develop a higher presence in social media. First fundraising: raising money in the present economic climate (well it’s never easy in any climate) requires tenacity, optimism, Director and treasurer Larry Ward has laid out the organization’s connections, and increasingly behind-the-scene’s fundamentals, implementing careful planning Our experts are pitch-perfect approaches and and cost controls. Please check out our newly published annual just the right collateral materials. report, available on our web site, georgianbayforever.org to a guide making a major New board member Brenda for the shape we’re in. impact on our Drinkwalter has applied her tireless scientific work, energies and professional moxie This year we struck a science advisory committee to evaluate our to the task of mounting a many- research projects, with a view to identifying what most needs doing in ensuring the most faceted fundraising campaign. the fields of wetlands, water quality, and invasive species. Under the effective use of our Penny Pepperell has provided guidance of director Mike Hensel, our experts are making a major impact copy and Grant Gordon (not a on our scientific work, ensuring the most effective use of our donors’ dollars. board member but a highly-valued member of our communications committee) and his firm Key Gordon, have turned out some gorgeous, Sitting on a board of directors, any board of directors is increasingly credibility-generating materials. demanding, as donors, governments and competition from other charities set the bar high for transparency, accountability and a strong The results have been outstanding, especially with regards to the knowledge base. Our restructured board of directors has embraced marina sponsorship program, which got fully underway this past this new reality under the conscientious guidance of directors Hugh summer. As of this printing, we now have 14 marina sponsors. These are Wilkins and Hugh McClelland. businesses that have grasped what our mission is all about, and have assumed a prominent role in ensuring the health of Georgian Bay. The In closing, I must thank our many new donors who have joined the fold board members, who took the show on the road as it were, are Peter and those old friends who continue to give.

GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG | FALL 2011 page 3 THESE MARINAS STEPPED UP TO HELP PROTECT THE BAY. IS YOURS ONE OF THEM?

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Georgian Bay Forever Thanks The ABOVE Marinas For Their Steadfast Support Of OUR Waterkeepers’ Boat For Scientific Research. Without Their Help, We Wouldn’t Stay Afloat! “The Baykeeper” indicates that Georgian Bay Forever is a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a global movement of on-the-water advocates who patroL and protect over 100,000 miles of rivers, streams and coastlines in North And South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Africa. For more information go to waterkeeper.org multi-lake regulation

IT’S NO LONGER JUST ABOUT US Forget the dredging issue in the St. Clair River, the IJC is looking at solving a much bigger problem: By Penny Pepperell multi-lake regulation

he likelihood that the International Joint This tension, among Great Lakes users is Engineering challenges Commission will actually do something adding to the dilemma facing the IJC. But Lake Superior, an enormously deep and T about low water levels in Georgian Bay only by tying Georgian Bay’s interests into this wide lake, narrows to a relative trickle when has never been greater. Here’s why. larger, more ambitious engineering exercise, it funnels into the St. Mary’s River, and this The Study Board is now giving serious will there be any possibility that the greatest makes it difficult to control the outflow. fresh water ecosystem in the world will be consideration to multi-lake regulation, (which Regulation of Superior outflows can at best in broad strokes, is exactly what Georgian able to hang on to, and maybe get back, the water it needs. have only a very limited impact on the balance Bay Forever has been recommending for of water between Michigan-Huron and years.) This is the only possible way that the Superior. The sort of extreme and uncertain conflicting interests, Georgian Bay’s included, MULTI-LAKE REGULATION’S NEW TOOLS weather systems likely to be generated by around water levels can be reasonably The general objective of climate change would be impossible to dealt with. And it should benefit all of the manage with this limited tool. Great Lakes. multi-lake regulation, as The amount of water the Study Board is Originally, Georgian Bay Forever had focused conceived by the Study contemplating shifting about is absolutely its efforts on getting the IJC to address the Board, is to keep the “entire huge. If the IJC were to allow a few speed deleterious impact of channel alterations Great Lakes-St. Lawrence bumps (well-engineered boulders) in the St. in the St. Clair River; that foundered in 2009 River system within observed Clair River to increase the water in Michigan- when, after much study, the Upper Great Huron by a modest amount, three inches, Lakes Study Board recommended that this historical extremes on all under extreme low precipitation conditions, it problem be folded into a study of a much lakes, even under the more would take 25 to 30 years to fill the lakes up bigger problem: climate change across Lakes extreme projected climate if they wanted to be careful not to shock the Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, St. Clair and downstream hydrological system. Georgian Bay. conditions in the future.” But now, in addition to climate change, glacial Throwing rocks in the river The current infrastructure can’t cut it. The only isostatic adjustment is at work, as the earth’s So a problem that many people thought could form of regulation now upstream of Niagara crust adjusts to the lifting of the weight of the be fixed by throwing a few large boulders in Falls is on the St. Mary’s River at the twin cities continental glaciers that retreated more than the river to slow down the water has morphed of Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario and Michigan. 10,000 years ago. This is fundamentally and into an enormously ambitious, engineering absolutely changing the relationship among exercise, with the entire liability for failure Regulating for the new multi-lake standard the Great Lakes. (The St. Mary’s River might potentially falling on the IJC. However, failing would require building new control structures have to be dredged someday for example.) in the St. Clair River to restrict outflows and to act could be calamitous. So there are some Stakeholders and the economic very real pressures converging on the Agency. raise levels in Michigan-Huron. Another control structure would also have to be consequences of water level changes The Study Board acknowledges that something built on the Niagara River, and these new Changes in water levels, even apparently small is owed Michigan-Huron (and Georgian structures would be in addition to the existing ones, can have deleterious impacts, generating Bay) for the way in which the St. Clair was control structures on the St. Lawrence and St. costs to the environment and to property deepened without thought to compensating Mary’s Rivers.. The agreements, approvals and owners, companies, local governments and for its increased conveyance. (In contrast, funding for construction could take decades, other users of the lakes. some mitigation was forthcoming for the if the governments can’t find a way to speed Detroit River.) High water levels are responsible for flooding, the process up. erosion and loss of beaches, recreational lands Clashing interests Equally necessary would be more and better and wetlands. Low levels can also cause erosion Besides the scale of the problem, there are information going to the right decision- as structures are undercut. They can threaten conflicting interests to consider. Since the St. makers, enhanced monitoring and modeling water supplies, water quality, boater safety, Clair was dredged, the property owners on of precipitation, evaporation and runoff, and the viability of marinas and other businesses, the south shore of Lake Michigan have taken improved tracking of changes to the lakes restrict power generation, expose mudflats, advantage of the lower waters, such that now and their connecting channels. The Study impact tourism, impound and dry out they are reluctant to see any change unless Board proposes a new Water Quantity Board wetlands, decrease property values, hurt local it comes in the form of mitigation for some be instituted to address this issue across the economies, restrict commercial navigation future problem of their own. entire Great Lakes system. and increase the risks of boats running aground.

GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG | FALL 2011 page 5 as further damage to the 23 endangered risk is sustained low water. Dried out wetlands or threatened species in Georgian Bay) could potentially impact all the species in the associated with the do-nothing option. region and foster the conditions attractive Here’s why. If the IJC does nothing, the to invasives, which in turn will stress the extremes expected from climate change ecosystem further. would eventually be incorporated into a So the Study Board’s analysis of the anticipated new “normal”, just as the lower water levels impact of climate change is not reassuring. associated with dredging in the St. Clair Georgian Bay is already in deep trouble; and River have been incorporated into so-called doing nothing isn’t going to help. “normal” conditions. Glacial isostatic adjustment is not GIA impacts on the coast line of the Upper Great Lakes But if the agency were to step in and attempt an equal opportunity threat (vertical movement relative to each outlet in centimetres to control water levels, it will “own” any per century). Reproduced with the permission of the Interna- resulting problems outside the historic norms. There is not much doubt about the impact tional Joint Commission, Upper Great Lakes Study Board. This explains the fixation on calculating the of GIA, and it looks bad for Georgian Bay. Ten collateral damage associated with raising thousand years ago, the Great Lakes were The Study Board has admitted that on water levels, and not with calculating the weighed down by two kilometres of ice. Since balance the benefits associated with higher damage associated with doing nothing. And its melting, the earth’s crust has gradually water levels in Michigan-Huron outweigh doing nothing would continue to really hurt rebounded, but at unequal rates at different the negatives. For example Great Lakes Georgian Bay. places, rising higher around the shores of shipping would see their costs go down if Georgian Bay and lower around the southern they could carry more cargo; and compared Climate Change: what changes to expect edge of the Great Lakes. At the same time, to alternatives like rail and truck, that would The Study Board has concluded that, with bulges that rose around the glaciers have deliver a substantial reduction in greenhouse climate change, upper Great Lake water levels begun to settle down. gas emissions. can be expected to stick closely to their long- The overall effect is that Georgian Bay is losing If Georgian Bay wetlands, which are now term extreme ranges but will continue to water to Michigan-Huron. The exact impact on life support, got their water back, they decline. It looked at records for the last 2,000 varies with location. Parry Sound is rising at a could return to being nurseries for tens if not years as well as those for the last 100 years. rate of about 24 cm (9.4 in) per century. At the hundreds of species. If the water levels stayed It sees more precipitation during the winter/ same time, the shoreline around Milwaukee, the same or got a little higher, marinas would spring season and less of it in the summer/fall, Wisconsin, is “sinking” at a rate of about 14 cm be spared the huge costs associated with netting out to slightly less water overall. (5.5 in) per century. dredging, blasting and dock building. But there is also going to be greater turbulence Here’s how the Study Board looked at GIA in But structures to raise Lake Michigan-Huron over the next 30 years: increased precipitation; its Restoration Study. Over the next 40 years, could increase the likelihood of flooding more frequent and more intense storms; less Parry Sound will lose 9.6 cm (3.78 inches) of during extreme weather events along the ice coverage and increased wind speeds water to GIA. If the IJC arbitrarily decided southern shore of Lake Michigan, which that will cause greater evaporation, which to raise water levels 10 cm (3.94 inches) in already faces an increased risk as a result of will offset the increased precipitation; and Michigan-Huron-Georgian Bay—which by GIA “tipping” Georgian Bay water southward. increased lake temperatures. the most optimistic estimates would take Shoreline property and wetlands along Lake Prior to this finding, climate change experts 15 years given government approvals and St. Clair and Lake Erie, as well as sensitive were predicting a more severe impact: a drop implementation—the net increase (3.94 habitat for five threatened or endangered of a metre by the end of the century. The new inches minus 3.78 inches) would be a measly species in the St. Clair River system, could be less dramatic scenario is based on an analysis 4 cm (0.16 inches.) compromised by changes in the St. Clair River, of regional, not global models. The problem with this scenario is it doesn’t although much depends upon how and when However, if the IJC were to decide to raise address the impact of climate change. It these changes might be introduced. The First water levels in Michigan-Huron, and climate doesn’t take account of the fact that, were Nations in the area have also expressed their change resulted in more water, not less, then water levels to be raised, it would be because concerns about their wetlands drying up. this climate-change-impact water would be climate change would be dragging them In its Restoration Report, the Study Board put in addition to the IJC-managed water-level down. Water levels would net out to where dollar numbers to these negatives and noted, increase; and that might put the high water they were before climate change impacts ominously, that environmental legislation mark outside the historic norms, the point at took hold. stands in the way of water levels being raised which the IJC could expect some litigation for citing as an example the potential disruption the resultant damage. of the habitat of the lake sturgeon, an In contrast, if climate change dragged the endangered species. (THIS STORY IS CONTINUED ONLINE AT water levels down (the more likely scenario), GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG/MULTI-LAKE) Why the study board didn’t look at the the restored water levels would ameliorate environmental costs of doing nothing the impact. What the Study Board didn’t do was put As everyone in Georgian Bay knows, its waters similar efforts into tallying up the costs and swing up and down dramatically. That isn’t otherwise quantifying the negatives (such the problem. What’s putting the ecosystem at

page 6 FALL 2011 | GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG Executive Director’s Column TRACKING WATER QUALITY New testing standards for phosphorous, oxygen By David Sweetnam depleted water and a $100,000 grant from RBC

his past summer was fantastic for boating so we have switched to Ontario Ministry are interested please get in touch. and swimming but most especially, for of Natural Resources and Trent University’s More details will be available in the T working outdoors. As a result, our water testing lab in Dorset for the detection of very spring, but at this point we would quality projects wrapped up as scheduled. low phosphorus concentrations. expect samples to be taken about Our external evaluation and review of Oxygen Depletion six times over the summer, one per previous water-quality monitoring efforts in month from May to October. the Township of Georgian Bay showed that In addition to this chemical testing, it looks while the data collected to date has enhanced like we have amassed an excellent data set for The RBC Blue Water Project our understanding of our complex coastal- this year for dissolved oxygen, temperature As part of a consortium that included the aquatic system, it can’t tell us much about and pH (a measure of acidity and alkalinity.) Muskoka Watershed Council and our GB5* long term trends, whether water quality is Twelve Mile Bay Site One (see charts) is close partners, we received a $100,000 Royal Bank improving or deteriorating due to human to the open water while Site Six is inland of Canada “RBC Blue Water Project Leadership behaviour or natural conditions. and east of Moose Deer Point Marina. You can see that the open Georgian Bay water is Grant” to assist in the development of the To address this concern, phosphorus samples fully saturated with oxygen all the way to the Eastern Georgian Bay Report Card. were taken in Twelve Mile Bay, Cognashene bottom, whereas the inland bottom waters are The project will outline current conditions in Lake, and Go Home, from the inner bays where fully depleted of oxygen producing the anoxic the region from the Severn River to Killarney circulation is limited or poor, as well as from conditions associated with high phosphorus as well as identify gaps in environmental data. the open water. These sites are representative levels and late-season algae blooms. Similar to the Muskoka Report Cards that are of other areas that are susceptible to water released every three years, our report will quality problems. By collaborating with the Township of Georgian Bay and our partners like the Severn come out every four years beginning in the Because Georgian Bay has only scant Sound Environmental Association on projects summer 2012. traces of phosphorus typically, previous like this, we have been able to eliminate The intended readership includes commercial testing methodologies could only provide redundancies in sampling, reduce the costs to and recreational users of Georgian Bay, background reference levels; there is so much the Township while improving the quality of provincial and national parks users, municipal water to dilute it, very little agriculture runoff the overall data. planners, policy-makers and residents in (except in the Matchedash Bay) and only a trace the coastal communities, the province and of lawn fertilizer and septic system discharge. We’ll be looking for volunteers

Stepping up the program to monitor trends to participate in local sample has necessitated a change in facilities, and collections next summer. If you (CONTINUED PAGE 10)

12 Mile Bay Site 1 12 Mile Bay Site 6

0 10 20 30 0 10 20 30 0 0 5 1.5 TEMP (°C) TEMP (°C) 10 3.0 15 4.5 DO Conc (mg/L) DO Conc (mg/L) 20 6.0

DEPTH (m) 25 DEPTH (m) 7.5 30 pH 9.0 pH

Sample Site 1 is located in the outer portion of Twelve Mile Bay where fully oxygenated water is found all the way to the bottom. The colder bottom water holds even more oxygen than the warmer upper water. Sample site 6 is located at the inland end of Twelve Mile Bay and despite being far shallower, the lower water and upper waters aren’t mixing, resulting in anoxic conditions and higher phosphorus levels, factors in late-season algae blooms.

* The GB5 are: Georgian Bay Forever; Georgian Bay Association; Georgian Bay Land Trust; Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve; and The Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council. GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG | FALL 2011 page 7 PATRON PROFILE ROD & JOANNE JONES Coming home to Sleeth Island By Penny Pepperell

od’s family goes back six generations in Channel as it took us three hours to get in My grandfather is the young guy with white pants. His Georgian Bay and he’s got the pictures and out of town in our old Viking seven- father is next to him with white pants and my great grand to prove it. “I have a photograph of horsepower cedar-strip boat. The mice and father is the guy with the white beard. The other three are R their cousins. my grandfather, my great grandfather and other rodents had gone wild and my mother my great great grandfather standing on the fled to town to buy new bedding.” porch of the old Rose Point Hotel in Parry But this spot on the Long Sault became their ‘We came up in October —it was after we’d Sound, dressed in coats and ties, ready to go family homestead. It grounded the family closed up—and everything was gone. It was fishing.” for two or three weeks a year before they devastating for all of us, especially my father Rod’s forebears made the trek up from dispersed around the globe. Rod and Joanne and he never came up again, but for Joanne Cleveland Ohio during the early 1900’s for the honeymooned there of course, with ten and me it became an opportunity to build greatest fishing on earth and that particular our own place. No more mouse holes!” mixture of rustic charms and luxury (lots of “Georgian Bay Forever Their new cottage is Homes-Magazine bugs and lots of help) that the grand hotels perfect but its charms are old-fashioned. of Georgian Bay served up to their American is doing a great job and The kids are spread far and wide. Kimberly guests. I am very proud to be is in Cork Ireland, Emma is studying law in However time went by and the family lost Chicago and Trevor is at university in Maine touch with Georgian Bay in the 40s and 50s. associated with it.” but they all come back faithfully for their His mother married and moved to Nassau special sojourns in Georgian Bay. Bahamas. They loved the island lifestyle of friends who had come for the wedding. “We “After 50 years of incredible experiences, I sailing trips, calypso music and bougainvillea. had to,” said Joanne, “otherwise we wouldn’t feel a strong need to give back to the Bay. However, the Bahamian summers were very have seen them enough.” Georgian Bay Forever is one hundred percent hot and they longed to get away to the They had three kids and many adventures: devoted to protecting and preserving coolness of the north woods. sleeping on the rocks and eating pancakes Georgian Bay. This wonderful place is under So his parents bought Sleeth Island in the on Snake Island, close encounters with threat from invasive species, pollution, Sans Souci area, one dilapidated cabin and bears, boating in gale-force winds, climate change and water level depletion. two old boats on 17 acres, which had been memorable sunsets; visits with friends; The only way to halt this decline is to on the market for five years. “We had to pass visiting “lonely” places and lots and lots of understand exactly what is going on and to one night at Amanda’s Lodge in the South reading. And then there was the fire, and educate users and regulators about solutions the old main cabin burnt to the ground. to the problems.”

page 8 FALL 2011 | GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG WETLANDS RESEARCH RESEARCH UPDATES FROM DR. PAT CHOW-FRASER By Penny Pepperell Tracking the impact of beaver dams and following the fish

Research Updates from Dr. Pat Chow Fraser, Evidence suggests that impoundments are equation of less-water, less-habitat, fewer-fish McMaster University, September 2011 also having an impact on the water chem- would suggest. istry, reducing or preventing altogether, the “These results reinforce the importance of at Chow Fraser’s work on Georgian Bay’s mixing of ion-poor soft water runoff from the understanding the intricate relationship be- wetlands has been crucial to engaging granite watershed with the harder, ion-rich tween the plant and fish communities in the attention of the IJC; and crucial to P Georgian Bay water. coastal wetlands and should provide insights her work has been the financial support pro- “Eastern Georgian Bay is one of the few areas to the International Joint Commission’s Upper vided by Georgian Bay Forever. Without both, in the Great Lakes where it remains possible Great Lakes Study as they make recommen- the implications of low water levels would to study water chemistry in relation to natu- dations on future water-level regulation plans probably be viewed as a drive-by problem, ral watershed dynamics while establishing for Lakes Superior and Huron-Michigan.” with consequences only for dredging, dock true baseline conditions against which future construction and navigation. The full report can be found impacts can be assessed. The research sup- at GeorgianBayForever.org/dams Pat started out identifying all the wetlands in ported by the Foundation in this regard is of Georgian Bay and used representative sites to utmost importance to the wise management study the implications of low water levels on and conservation of this natural resource,” the the natural environment. Rachel DeCatanzaro report notes. (M.Sc.), Amanda Fracz (M.Sc. candidate) and Fluctuating water levels encourages biodi- Jon Midwood (Ph.D candidate) have carried versity by preventing the dominance of a out much of this research over the last two particular plant type, submerged plants thriv- years. Rachel and Amanda looked at the im- ing in conditions of high water and meadow pact of landscape factors, wetland geomor- plants taking advantage of low water; but the phology, beaver dams and water levels on relationship is complicated, as the vegetative water chemistry, while Jon studied the effects type that seems to be on the ascendency at of low water levels on both fish habitat and any given point may be the result of water fish communities. conditions two to five years earlier. A report on their most recent research can be Another promising area of research con- found on Georgian Bay Forever’s website, but cerns whether fish move from wetland to Amanda Fracz and team at McGibbon Marsh here is a review of her findings. wetland, and whether the distance between “Sustained low water levels over the past de- the sites influences this movement.T o study cade are already restricting water exchange. this, Pat’s researchers looked at six wetlands In addition, the slower flow and shallower in Massasauga Provincial Park and Tadenac depth appears to be encouraging beavers to Bay, with distances varying between the build dams across the wetland mouth. Bea- sites anywhere from a few metres to a kilo- vers build dams to raise water levels behind meter. They tagged pumpkinseed sunfish, the dam to allow them safer access to their largemouth bass, yellow perch and rockbass lodges and to increase foraging areas. This with wetland-specific and cycle-specific dyes change will consequently alter hydrology (to determine when they were caught). The and the type of aquatic habitat since fish can results suggest that only a small percentage no longer migrate across the dam. Absence (seven to 10 per cent) of the fish moved away of fish will have cascading effects on the food from their wetland of origin, although larger web, particularly on the type and abundance fish tended to travel longer distances than of amphibians and reptiles. “ smaller fish.T his has important implications The researchers found that these impounded for conservation. wetlands were providing a safe haven for Pat’s research supports the premise that habi- minnows, brook stickleback, sunfish and tad- tat changes are influencing fish population, poles (green frogs, leopard frogs, bullfrogs, and that low water levels affect these habitats tree frogs, spring peepers) snakes, and turtles. in complex ways, well beyond what a simple Jon Midwood with Maja Cvetkovic processing fish that were caught in a fyke net in Tadenac Bay.

GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG | FALL 2011 page 9 Changes on the rock face in South Bay: the pristine lakeshore along the Baxter River inflow is within two kilometers of the algae-covered shoreline further out towards the Honey Harbour area, Sept 2007. Phosphorus levels alone do not account for this pronounced change. : Kar l S chiefer photo

(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7) general public. The report will go beyond has been missing. As part of this project we’re equipment, food and camping gear as well as traditional “state of the resource” reporting looking at the causes of a recent spike in our scientific crews, and getting us to where (e.g. fish and water) to communicate more aquatic plant growth in Honey Harbour. Many we need to go from our base at Paragon complex socio-ecological information. people have contacted us this past summer Marina in Honey Harbour. Our goals are to: improve water quality noting a similar trend elsewhere in the Bay. If you had a chance to see the Georgian awareness; design a remediation project in Wetlands Baykeeper at a regatta or while we were taking two areas currently experiencing water quality water samples this summer, you would have We redesigned our wetlands program to degradation; protect additional wetlands; noticed the numerous marina sponsor decals provide more volunteer coverage of the and educate the public on sustainable on the hull. Over 14 Georgian Bay marinas coastal wetlands. Our first ever train-the-trainer behaviors to maintain biodiversity and a have signed up as sponsors with more to session took place at the Baxter Community healthy watershed. We will produce scientific come next year. Centre one beautiful Saturday followed by a reports, a visually appealing report card short trip to a large healthy coastal wetland. We are once again indebted to the many and an interactive website. We will report But even here we identified the invasive volunteer host families who provided our on ecological conditions, general threats or reed phragmites australis growing in several research teams with shelter, transportation drivers of change, hot spots and emerging patches. We made the adjacent landowner and hospitality. issues; identify knowledge gaps and research aware of this invader. opportunities; and detail local stewardship activities. The Georgian Baykeeper Numerous anticipated pressures are facing The addition of our new Georgian Baykeeper the Great Lakes over the coming years as research vessel allowed us greater mobility development and climate change have within the coastal waters of the Bay. This 19- the potential to seriously impact the foot Stanley Islander Runabout with a 115 health of our coastal communities. Despite horsepower, ultra low-emission Yamaha significant research in the region, effective engine from Connor Industries and Gordon communication leading to behavior change Bay Marine is perfect for transporting test

page 10 FALL 2011 | GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG 1 Our Annual Report is coming soon. Sign up to receive yours at georgianbayforever.org 2 Save the date Mark your calendars for next year’s Georgian Bay — Vital Signs Speakers Series event April 14, 2012 at the Metro Toronto Reference Library 3 Don’t forget to give! Please see the attached reply envelope and send us a cheque today. Your support will go towards vital research and education that will protect the Bay for generations to come “WE SEE GEORGIAN BAY FOREVER AS A GREAT INVESTMENT IN THE FUTURE”

Ruth and Doug Grant Georgian Bay Forever Patrons, 12 mile bay

HELP US PROTECT GEORGIAN BAY. FOREVER. USING THE ATTACHED ENVELOPE, SEND IN YOUR DONATION TODAY! GeorgianBayForever.org | 905.880.4945 page 12 FALL 2011 | GEORGIANBAYFOREVER.ORG