LWCA Quarterly

In October the LWCA hosted a Succession Planning webinar with Peter Lillico. There were 136 participants, approx 60 were LWCA members.

Peter talked about: why it’s important to talk about ‘what next’ for the cottage with adult children, capital gains taxes and how they work, joint partner and sprinkling cottage trusts, and cottage sharing agreements. At the end of the talk Peter answered all sorts of questions for us - it was very informative.

Do you want to know more about succession planning? You can purchase access to a digital recording of Peter’s introductory talk, “Cottage Succession A to Z” or one of the “deeper dive” subjects like Cottage Sharing Agreements, Trusts, and others: https://form.jotform.com/230125303487045 or you can consult Peter by contacting him at 705-743-3577 or by email plillico@lbghlaw.com His website is www.lbghlaw.com

Don’t forget to sign up for the FOCA Elert (monthly e-news) so you will receive notice of the 2024 seminar sessions in the new year.

Congrats to Danch's Den for being the big winners of the GooseChase! They participated in 20 of the challenges in the contest, such as completing the Lake Protection Workbook, entering the photo contest (3 times), sharing their favourite stop en route to the lake, and taking a hikes to Canoe Lake, Pike's Peak & Little Weslemkoon Lake.

Danch's Den members will be receiving a set of T-shirts from Weslemkoon Marina with "GooseChase Champs" written on the back of the shirts.

Wakes:

Wakes from boats contain much more energy than wind wakes. Wakes are especially amplified in small bays, circular bays, and long narrow bays.

Click here to link to the presentation on boat wake research.

For those concerned about the sport of wake surfing, and the impact on our lakes, check out this video.

Floating homes:

An advocacy group out of Georgian Bay has been trying to get the Federal Govt to change regulations to align with BC regulations. Click here to see their site, which outlines their stance on Floating Homes.

Lifejackets:

Wear your lifejacket!!! Bill 26, Lifejackets for Life Act (2022) indicates that a fine will be levied when a child 12 years of age or younger is not wearing a life jacket when on a pleasure boat or being towed. This find can be up to $200. Currently mandatory PFD (personal floatation device) wear is still being contemplated by Transport Canada, with possible thresholds including age (children vs. adults), vessel type (powered or not), and vessel size (under or over 6 metres) under consideration. Expect to hear more in the new year about this issue. In February 2023 Cottage Life wrote an article on this topic, if you are interested.

Know the boating rules!!! Check out the Safe Boating Guide for information.

Make sure you have your Pleasure Craft Operator Card.

Ministry of Transport - Proposed Regulations

Engine cut off switches to be installed on all new boats less than 8 m in length.

The final photo challenge of 2023 was to submit a series of photos taken at the lake that, when put in order, spell WESLEMKOON. It was a tough challenge!

There were 4 cottage families who submitted entries. Each entry is in the newsletter directly below this article.

Let us know who YOU think should win! Send a quick email to info@weslemkoon.com and tell us Collage 1, Collage 2, Collage 3 or Collage 4.

Best Practices

A key component in protecting the lake and water quality is to keep your shoreline healthy. The best shoreline is the natural shoreline. Naturalized, vegetated shorelines with native trees and shrubs reduce surface run-off that could contain soil/sediment, fertilizers, pesticides (although no one is using these near our lake, right?), septic leachate, animal waste. Pollutants result in algal blooms, weed growth, loss of fish and wildlife habitat and potential water contamination. The natural shore absorbs nutrients, traps sediment and encourages filtration.

Shoreline DOs and DON’Ts

• Don’t – use any chemical based fertilizers, pesticides or herbicides on your property. The nutrient phosphorus harms clear, free water by creating algal blooms. This process, known as eutrophication, turns the water green, clouds the water, causes odour problems, and depletes the oxygen for fish and other species, effectively suffocating them.
• Do – maintain a natural shoreline. Naturally vegetated land with native grasses, shrubs and tree roots anchor the soil and prevent the shoreline from being washed away. These plants act like sponges, removing impurities found in rainwater runoff, such as soil, pet wastes, salt, pesticides, fertilizers, oil and grease, fuels, leaves, litter and septic output.
• Don’t cut down trees near shore in the riparian zone (setback from watercourses with natural landscape). This zone is protected under the zoning by-laws and provides a vital function in filtering run-off before it enters the lake and protecting your property from erosion.
• Do – create pathways and walkways using a “softscape” such as wood, absorbent pea gravel or woodchips and a meandering or terraced path to delay the inevitable runoff.
• Don’t – replace natural plants with grass. Manicured lawns, with their shallow roots, encourage erosion and allow as much as 55% of the unfiltered runoff to reach our lake.
• Don’t – disturb the lake bottom. The area from the water’s edge to where the sunlight no longer penetrates to the lake bottom acts as a home or food corridor to 90% of all the fish and aquatic wildlife species on the lake. By leaving logs, rocks and plant material in the water, good algae, spawning fish, ducks, loons, turtles and crayfish can live, hide and feed upon the billions of microorganisms that this “debris” provides.

For more tips, check out FOCA's Guide to Healthy Waterfronts. We will publish more about why we need to take care of Weslemkoon's shorelines in the 2024 Loon Call.

Wouldn't it be great to share some of your cottaging life and experiences in the Loon Call? You might have a story, poem, vintage cottage photo, recipe, or piece of cottage art to share. Don't be shy! Send us an idea and we'll make it happen.

Email us today info@weslemkoon.com

Check out some old editions for inspiration by clicking on the Loon Call image to the left.

Email: Info@weslemkoon.com
Website: http://www.weslemkoon.com
Location: Weslemkoon Lake, Ontario, Canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1847905442182189/