Winter News

Marsh's Falls update

Trails groomed and ready

Our 5km of groomed snowshoe trails at Marsh’s Falls are beautiful at this time of year. This winter they are available for use by Foundation members and community residents by request. To schedule a snowshoe or hike in this winter wonderland, email registration@lakeofbaysheritage.ca with your desired date and the names and email addresses of your party. Brian Simpson, our property management director, will follow up with the details on trail access and use. Please remember that use of these trails is at your own risk, as the property is not a public facility. Kindly note that no dogs are allowed.

Snowmobilers damage reforestation efforts

Much to our dismay, and despite our no snowmobile and no trespassing signage, several snowmobilers breached the Marsh’s Falls property on two weekends in January. They drove around the property, damaging young saplings and recently planted trees in reforested sections bordering highway 35. We are grateful to volunteers Craig and Doris Macdonald, Brian Simpson and Gloria Woodside for their 3-day effort to install 100 metres of snow fencing, steel support posts and more signage. You can see two sections of the fencing along highway 35.

Thank you to our donors

It has been a year of many challenges. Among these, for us, has been preparing for a demanding and costly Langmaid's Island LPAT hearing. To cover these costs, the Foundation and the Lake of Bays Association created the Langmaid’s Protection Fund (LPF). We reached out to our members for help. They stepped up to the challenge well beyond our expectations. We deeply thank every wonderful donor to the LPF. Because of you, we are close to achieving our fundraising goal.

The Foundation’s bylaw states that anyone who donates $40 is a member for that calendar year. Any individual or couple who donates $1000 or more in any one year becomes a permanent Life Member. There are various levels of permanent membership based on cumulative donations.

Thanks to the generosity of so many people, the Foundation welcomes many new annual and permanent members. We normally acknowledge large donations from permanent members in the newsletter. But this time the list is so long that we thought it best to put it here on our website!

Drone video of the Oxtongue River and Marsh's Falls

When Foundation director Simon Miles saw the drone video of Crown Island, in Whitehouse Bay, by Huntsville-based videographer Ben Carlin, he was awe-inspired. The video captured the atmosphere of the island, its seclusion and moods. Everyone who saw it was moved emotionally. Simon proposed that we do the same for the Foundation’s Oxtongue River property: that beautiful stretch from Marsh’s Falls down to the lake.

We engaged Ben and a team of Foundation volunteers to participate in the shoot. Two children from Irwin Public School joined us. A couple of members paddled down from the churning waters of the falls, through peaceful sections dotted with lilies, to the mouth of the river. Herons, ducks, turtles and other wildlife appeared as extras.

We plan to use the video as a running loop in the Foundation’s Education Centre at Marsh’s Falls, and in the Lake of Bays Marine Museum and Navigation Society in Dorset. When things get back to normal we will present it in talks at schools, retirement homes, clubs and so on. And of course we will post the video on social media. If you have any other ideas for using this video, please let us know by emailing newsletter@lakeofbaysheritage.ca

Bonus fact: After we finished the video, we learned that the videographer, Ben Carlin, had been honoured with a Sports Emmy Award, in 2019, for outstanding digital innovation. This was for Red Bull Rampage, an astonishing drone video of a mountain biker competition in Utah. For a behind-the-scenes look at the video and to learn about Ben’s award, check out this article in the Huntsville Doppler. We congratulate Ben for this award and thank him for the outstanding work he did for the Foundation.

Nature events

Mark McLean and the Natural Heritage Committee have some exciting plans for our spring and summer nature events at Marsh’s Falls:

May 15 Dr. Cathy Charles Bird Count. Rick and Kelly Stronks will lead this annual count of bird species during the spring migration.
July 7 butterfly count, led by Rick and Kelly Stronks. Overwintering butterflies can be seen as early as April in Muskoka. Migrating butterflies begin to return in May, but the greatest species diversity occurs in late June and early July.
August 28 mushroom count led by Mark McLean. Late August through September is the best time to see a variety of mushrooms in the woods.

If covid restrictions are in place, we will host 2-day stay-at-home or wherever-you-are counts instead, on the day of the count and the day after. These are great family activities! We provide a list of what to look for, tips on how to observe, and some photos to help with identification. You email your photos, audio recordings and observations to info@lakeofbaysheritage.ca. We’ll do our best to identify any unknown species, tally the results and report back to all participants. More details will be available closer to each date.

Tip: You might also consider joining inaturalist.ca. Their free app for smartphones lets you submit photos for identification. Scientists use this data to determine the population and distribution of species.

Photo above: Scarlet Tanager by Mark McLean

Western chorus frog surveys

If you are looking for a spring outdoor volunteer activity this may be for you. Our friends at Blazing Star Environmental are running their annual Western Chorus Frog survey, and you can help collect data on this threatened species. Volunteering involves visiting one or more wetlands near you, and listening for chorus frogs three times over the study period (March - May). Volunteers are particularly needed in the northern part of the range (Barrie and northwards, including Georgian Bay), but you can sign up from anywhere in south or central Ontario. Training is provided and no experience is required. Learn more about the program and how to sign up here.

Source: Georgian Bay Land Trust