Author: Rod Layman

What does the heart of Georgian Bay look like in winter? Is it possible to do a winter crossing? Scott Parent was curious to find those answers and when Zane Davies’ first answer was “not on your life”, Scott knew this was the guy to join him on what was to be a paddling expedition on a wintry Georgian Bay.

Scott Parent and Zane Davies presented their fascinating story to a packed audience at the Jan 2019 BPEG Meeting.

This was not an adventure to be undertaken lightly and would draw on all their skills and preparations.

Altogether, the team had over 10 years experience with ice climbing, glacial expeditions, outdoor adventure, fire and water rescue and spent weeks developing systems to allow them to traverse the transitionary terrain of open water and thick and thin ice. They experimented with a wide range of gear from ice climbing tools, ski poles, dry suits and reinforced paddle boards, and used NOAA satellite images to study the ice. They also set some ground rules such as ‘not risking each other lives” and ‘self-rescue” and “not to travel at night”.

After practicing off Lighthouse Point at Neyaashiinigmiing, refining their techniques, finally the required mature ice formed during the last days of winter/early spring 2015. Ideally, they needed 4 to 5 days of consistent weather whereby the wind would not change direction. The only window during the 4 week training and waiting period was 3 days. “Go Day” was 11 March 2015, the overnight ice was less than 2 inches thick.

With their fibreglass paddleboards reinforced with glued-on crazy carpets, 2 drysuits, 2 sets of gear each, food essentials such as beef jerky and chocolate bars and a balmy 0C (quite different conditions from their minus 20C practice days with glare ice); they left from Neyaashiinigmiing. The greatest threat were bummocks, large plates of ice turned up by the wind and hidden under the floes that can be pushed up at anytime. They walked on the ice, tapping ahead every step, constantly in tune with the ice and what it was doing all around.

Day One was slow going, by nightfall they had completed 20km, with another 27km to get to the Western Island Lighthouse. Sleeping on their paddleboards and in their dry suits, they accounted “ best night sleep ever”. However, while they were sleeping, the ice opened up and they drifted backwards 1.5 km, panicking their ground support tracking them on their SPOT device.

On the second day, they pushed through to the Western Lighthouse and camped out in the lighthouse. With the movement of the ice, had they stayed on the ice, it would have taken them an extra day to get back on track. With cell service, they were able to update their families and arrange their transport home.

They arrived at 12 Mile Bay on March 13, 2015, meeting their families for the drive back home.

They noted how deadly quiet the lake was, admired the dark skies, met one seagull. 3.33% of the trek was on open water. Asked if they would repeat the trek, Zane replied “maybe Lake Superior!”

TICKS ON THE SAUGEEN BRUCE PENINSULA 6 JUL 2018 7:30PM

Dr. Trace Mackay talks about ticks on the peninsula, their life cycle and presence among us, and what we need to know to protect ourselves.

To hear an audio recording of the talk click here.

Background on me: veterinarian for 15 years and completed a masters of public health degree in 2010. For that degree I did a placement at the Grey Bruce Health Unit and conducted active tick surveillance in Bruce county dragging for ticks and did not find any Lyme disease positive ticks or significant signs of endemic tick populations in the county.  

About ticks: Most ticks live in forested areas with sandy soil and lots of leaf litter. They wait on grasses upto 30cm in height to hitchhike onto passing animals or people – this is called questing. Wild animals are typically the target – mice and deer are part of the natural blacklegged tick/deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) life cycle and are involved in spreading the bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi) that can cause Lyme disease. There are other ticks around (groudhog ticks, dog ticks, brown ticks, and the newest tick in town the Lonestar tick) and other tick borne diseases than Lyme disease. People and dogs are not the intended targets for ticks but incidental targets – dogs are more likely to pick up ticks than people as they will wander off paths into grassy places where leaf litter builds up and they have nice fur to cling onto – this is why dogs are important sentinels for the discovery of tick problem areas. Ticks usually hitch a ride on clothing and then find a way to get to our skin until the can find a warm, moist location to attach and feed. Most common spots to find attached ticks on people are hairline/scalp, behind or in ears, armpits and groin, and between toes but they could attach anywhere. Spots to check on pets include in/around the ears, under collars, on the back/neck, axillae (dog “armpits”) and groin and between toes.  

Do we have a problem with ticks and Lyme disease on the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula? The answer is not likely. There is no evidence that tick populations are cycling through our winters and there is no evidence to suggest we have an endemic Lyme disease problem in our tick and wildlife populations. What we do have is all of the perfect habitat, wildlife hosts and migrating birds that will drop ticks off in the spring that they have picked up further south. As climate change continues and our winters shorter with less below freezing days, tick populations can establish (ticks can be active anytime temperatures are 4’C or warmer – we can still see tick activity all through the winter on breakthrough warm days). So we need to be aware of ticks, but not worried too much about tick bites and tick borne disease yet. There are many areas in Ontario that are Lyme endemic areas with large tick populations  (notably along the north shores of Lake Erie, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence waterway) so extra precautions should be taken when visiting these areas. Not all ticks carry disease causing bacteria and even when they do, people and dogs have less than a 5% chance of contracting an illness from a Lyme positive tick. It takes 24-36 hours of blood feeding/attachment time for ticks to infect a person or pet with bacteria or viruses. If a tick is just crawling on your skin, you won’t get sick from it and there is no need to keep it or get it/yourself/or your pet tested – flushing it down the toilet is the best way to get rid of it. 

What can we do about ticks? Prevention, prevention, prevention. In our own backyards, we should keep grass cut and remove leafy debris where ticks will go to molt and lay eggs. We should stay on paths when we hike and wear appropriate clothing in areas where picking up a tick is possible – long pants tucked into socks, shirt tucked in. Use effective repellents on lower body clothing like DEET and check yourself, your family members and pets for ticks after walking in wooded/grassy areas. A sticky lint roller brush is a great tool to take over your clothes or throw them in the dryer when you get home – this would dry out and kill ticks on clothing. Having a shower will wash off any ticks that may have gotten onto your skin within hours of a hike. Ask your veterinarian about tick medications for your dogs and outdoor cats that kill ticks quickly rather than just repel ticks – any dead tick is one less tick that could lay 100s of eggs that will grow into more ticks.  

What if you still find a tick on yourself or your pet? The best thing to do is remove it quickly without “ticking off the tick” – use tweezers or a tick removal tool to get under the biting pieces and pull straight out. Do not put any irritants like alcohol on the tick as this can cause it to dump more bacteria from its gut into your skin. If you can’t pull the tick off yourself, seek medical or veterinary assistance or use vaseline or vegetable oil to smother the tick for a slower release. Wash the area with basic disinfectant. Save that tick – you can submit ticks to the Grey Bruce Public Health Unit for testing if found on a person or to a veterinary clinic that is collecting ticks as part of the passive surveillance plan. Pet owners can also send pictures of ticks or mail ticks to the University of Guelph to be identified and tested – information on how to submit ticks can be found at www.petsandticks.com. And monitor your health and your pets healthy for any changes up to 30 days after a tick exposure. If you develop a bulls eye rash that spread outwards from the bite site or experience any other unusual symptoms, seek care from your doctor as most tick borne diseases are easily treated with a course of antibiotics. Early detection and early treatment are key in preventing Lyme disease and other tick borne illnesses. 

So the bottom line is this: we should be aware of ticks on ourselves and our pets, do what we can to prevent tick exposures, but keep on enjoying the great outdoors as the health benefits of keeping ourselves and our pets active far outweighs the risk of contracting a tick borne disease on the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula. People can learn more about tick activity by following the Grey Bruce Health Unit website or www.petsandticks.com.

ARE THE PENINSULA BEARS IN PERIL? 6 JUN 2018 7:30PM

by Jan Mackie

Dr Martyn Obbard gives us the details on the black bears of the Bruce Peninsula. Very fascinating and informative. And gives us food for thought on how we might live better with these unique creatures.

To hear an audio recording of the talk click here.

The June meeting was a joint venture between the Bruce Peninsula Environment Group and the Sources of Knowledge, held at the Visitors Centre at the Park and was well attended.

 Brian McHattie introduced Dr. Martyn Obbard, now retired, an Emeritus Research  Scientist with OMNR&F and a professor at Trent University.

In 1996/7 there were concerns about the black bear population on the Bruce Peninsula which had not been previously researched. Dr. Obbard embarked on a project for which there is data between 1998 & 2012.

Originally the project was a 3-year collaborative agreement between MNR & Parks Canada with support from managers. Funding was shared with the MNR bringing in graduate students

The concerns were: 1. Possible isolation of the BP bears, 2. Possible small population, 3. Habitat fragmentation, 4. Human-Bear conflict

The objectives of the project were: A) what is the size of the bear population on the Peninsula and B) Is the genetic diversity sufficient for the population to be sustainable.

The field work began in late summer of 1998. That year only one female bear was outfitted with a radio collar. Traps made from old oil drums with a trap door were used. In 1999, 14 bears were radio collared, giving the research team the ability to track their movements. When the bears are live trapped they are sedated, weighed, examined for age & health and given a radio collar. These collars are only placed on the females as the neck of the males is too thick and they can slip the collar off. These collars allowed the researchers to track the bears’ movements and locate the bears in their dens in the winter to gather information about numbers of cubs being born.

Bears ranged in size from: males – 64 to 128kg – females 60.5 to 78.8kg and newborns are tiny, approx. 300grms. From information gathered it was estimated that there were approx. 316 bears on the peninsula in 2012.

The winter work of the research team consisted of tracking the females in their dens when the cubs would be 8-10 weeks old. Each female has 2 or 3 cubs per winter and remains somewhat awake to tend to the cubs, nursing & grooming them. Dr Obbard entertained us with the Mercer Report episode of finding the winter dens and extracting the cubs & mother to weigh them and check on their health.

To determine the genetic diversity of the peninsula bear population hair traps were set. A sample of hair would be left on the barbed wire when the bears passed under it for the bait. DNA from these samples and from the live traps showed that the bears on the Bruce peninsula are genetically unique, differing from other bear populations in Ontario. This lack of diversity could be an issue for the sustainability of the population and the idea of occasionally introducing a bear with different DNA is an option that researchers are looking at.

The dens of the peninsula bears are also unique – of the ones the researchers visited, 80% were in deep rock crevices, a few were excavated under brush piles or overhanging boulders. This crevice den is not found amongst other bears in Ontario.

This separation from other Ontario bears is likely due to the bottleneck at the base of the peninsula created by development.

If the bear population were reduced to just the park, within 50 years the bears would be gone.  One more threat has appeared in the last couple of years in the form of the Beech bark disease that is currently threatening the entire population of Beech trees.   Beech nuts provide an important staple to their diet.

In order to reduce the risk of extirpation (wiping out of this unique population) there is the need to 1. Conserve habitat outside of the park (dense mixed and deciduous forests), 2. Reduce incidental mortality (roadkill), 3. Reduce overall harvest (hunting), 4. Reduce proportion of the adult female harvest.

 All of us who live on and visit the peninsula have a part to play in keeping this unique bear population from going into serious decline. One simple thing we can do to reduce the possibility of human-bear conflict is by not leaving food & garbage out to attract the bears. We need to put our garbage out only on the day of collection. If you are a weekend visitor your garbage can be taken to the Lindsay landfill site (for full info go to www.northbrucepeninsula.ca ) that is open on Sundays during the summer until 6pm OR take it home where you can add it to your local collection system. And if you rent out your cottage be sure to leave information available to encourage visitors to be aware & deal with food & garbage appropriately.

To watch the Rick Mercer video of his visit to a bear den with mother and cubs, accompanied by Dr. Obbard, click here.

10 JAN 2018 7:30PM

You can view a videotaped recording of this meeting HERE.

Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, is the fourth largest lake in the world, and is and an international one at that, is one of the world’s most complex bodies of water with a bathymetry – or topography – quite different from other lakes.  Jason reviewed the transformations of the lake over the last 100 years to explain some of the changes in the lake’s ecology, including its food web and the approaches taken to preserve the lake’s native fish species in the face of overwhelming challenges. 

In the early 1900s, Lake Huron supported strong commercial fisheries in both Canada and the U.S. However, theis level of fishing was not sustainable and, harvests declined and mademaking native fish more vulnerable to invasive species. In the 1940s, Lake Huron’s ecology faced a strong challenge from thefollowing the invasion of the non-native sea lamprey and the alewife that were introduced- through the Welland Canal from the Atlantic Ocean. Over the next twenty years, lake trout, whitefish and lake herring cicsco populations were devastated as a result of lamprey-induced mortality while populations of alewife and smelt flourished without predators and competition from other fish. But the smelt population flourished since it was not prey to either.

In the 1960s, non-native Chinook and coho salmon were introduced to control smelt and alewife populations and to create a new sport fishery. This approach recognized that diversity among fish stocks would be important to the diversity of the fish community as a whole and to achieve this there would need to be a balance throughout Lake Huron between predator and prey fish. With the introduction of new predators,Consequently, alewife numbers decreased while, and numbers of native species increased – like sculpin, burbot and various types of trout.

By the 1980s, other invasive species such as- zebra and quagga mussels – had arrived, brought in by cargo ships; they spread throughout the Great Lakes and inland waterways. These mussels are filter feeders, consuming the plankton that feed small fish from the water column and concentrating nutrients at the bottom on the lake. As a result of their introduction, Lake Huron became clearer. However, they also caused a reduction in plankton though the water column that feed small fish causing ripples throughout the food chain with aincluding a startling decrease in forage fish. The overall biomass of the fish population decreased over the next twenty years, and populations of predatory fish such a salmon rapidly declined. Jason’s charts illustrated the rise in density of mussels in Lake Huron in the early 2000s.

As anglers know, the salmon population did have declined but other many native fish species populations have grown. Without alewifes, walleye and lake trout have been able to flourish as have emerald shiners, bloaters and smallmouth bass. Jason finished on an upbeat note: native fish species, including sturgeon, grow and thrive showing that the Lake Huron ecology continues to evolve.