From the Dock of the KAPOA President
With the changing of the seasons have come changes on your Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners’ Association (KAPOA) director and executive team. Ed Kobylka and Andy Boyd have stepped away from the organization and before all else, I’d like to thank them both for their dedication, guidance and tireless efforts in pursuit of our members’ interests. This loss has left gaps in our small be mighty team of Directors. My name is Kerra Wylie, and I’ve been a member of the KAPOA team for over 10 years. Many will know me from the annual regatta which I’ve run since 2010, and more recently I’ve been responsible for keeping our membership updated on the forest harvesting and tending plans of the forest licensees in our jurisdiction. I have now undertaken the responsibility of KAPOA President and I am excited to continue to work with Lynne MacLean (secretary, past poker run chair), Vince Steepe (treasurer), Colleen Kobylka (membership) and Leonard Furtado (communications), as well as a large number of wonderful volunteers who help us when they can and when we need it most. I’ll admit that I’m excited but apprehensive. Excited because I think we can do more to understand what is most important to our members. Apprehensive because KAPOA spans a wide array of interests and we can’t possibly represent them all while balancing our responsibility for the natural environment in which we live, and the interests of those who earn a living and raise their families in our townships. What I can say for certain is that we will always maintain alignment with KAPOA’s mission statement which is as follows:
KAPOA is a not for profit, volunteer based organization that represents the majority interests of property owners surrounding the Madawaska River waterway upstream and downstream from Kamaniskeg Lake. In addition to reporting on a variety of monitoring programs and actively promoting water safety, KAPOA actively engages members in annual events and fundraisers which encourages a positive social network that benefits the area, its inhabitants and the natural environment.
What this mission statement means is that we will continue to keep our members informed of the issues that impact them, we will direct you to where you can raise your concerns, and we will ask probing questions of accountable agencies. In order to understand the majority interests of our members, we’ll be circulating a survey over the winter and compiling those results to help focus our efforts in the coming year. And we look forward to a time, hopefully in summer 2022, when we can again gather to have fun, some friendly competition, and raise funds for St.Francis Valley Hospital and other local charities. Until then, please consider joining us as a volunteer (more on that below) and should you have any comments, suggestions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us through kapoacares@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you.
PS – we are in the process of adding back into our newsletter and bulletin distribution list the emails of past members. We’ve lost touch with many of you and we want to win you back. We’re hoping that you’ll see the benefit that $20 per year gives you and you’ll take the time to join us again. See our membership appeal below. To those who have stuck with us through the pandemic, we thank you.
Regards, Kerra Wylie
A Call For Volunteers
Just a little of your time can make a big difference to the community surrounding Kamaniskeg Lake, the Madawaska River, Blackfish Bay and Negeek Lake. We need your fresh ideas, energy and enthusiasm to assist in the 2022 operation of:
- the Poker Run which raises much needed funds for St. Francis Memorial Hospital
- the regatta – a lake mainstay for kids young and getting up there for 50 years
- updating and maintaining the website
- assisting with our social media presence
- representation at local council meetings (Madawaska Valley, Hastings-Highlands)
- forestry, invasive species watch, water quality, corn roasts, and maybe some things we’ve not yet considered!
If you have an interest to meet other KAPOA members and want to get involved in activities that preserve the environment and the community’s enjoyment of it, please consider joining us. We’d be happy to discuss how you can help. We can’t do it without you.
Feel free to call Kerra Wylie (416-949-3879) or reach out our email at kapoacares@gmail.com if you have any questions. We can’t wait to meet you!
POKER RUN CHAIR REQUIRED
Lynne MacLean will be stepping down as Chairwoman of the Poker Run in 2022.
The Poker Run has raised $117,264 in the past 9 years for essential equipment needed in the Emergency Department of St. Francis Memorial Hospital, our local hospital in Barry’s Bay. It is because of community support like the Poker Run, and other fundraising events in our community, that the St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation (SFVH Foundation) has received an infrastructure grant from the Federal Government to renovate the Emergency Department. Community support is vital in order to keep our hospital up to date and eligible for infrastructure grants and most importantly in our town of Barry’s Bay, serving all residents, cottagers and visitors to our beautiful ‘piece of heaven’.
We are appealing to our members to have someone take on the responsibility of Chairperson of our Poker Run event. The event is held on the Saturday of the weekend before the August Civic Holiday. Lynne MacLean is happy to assist in the preparation of this event and will stay on as a volunteer to make the Poker Run a success. Hopefully, we will not have to have a ‘virtual’ event again in 2022 and we will successfully have boats on the water, followed by a luncheon at Hinterland Beach.
If you are interested or have any questions, please contact Lynne MacLean at kapoacares@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and assisting you in this endeavour.
KAPOA Forestry Update – Fall 2021
The two sustainable forest licensees contained within KAPOA’s boundaries – Bancroft Minden Forest Co. (BMFC) and Ottawa Valley Forest (OVF) – are nearly completed the 2-year process of developing their 10-year forest management plans. BMFC is now conducting operations under their new 2021-2031 plan, while OVF has just obtained an additional 3-month extension to continue harvesting under the 2011-2021 plan. Here’s how it impacts you:
OVF current and proposed operations:
- A 3-month extension to Dec 31, 2021 has been approved to allow operations to continue uninterrupted despite delays in completing the 10-year planning cycle
- Planned harvest in this cycle and into the next plan continues to include the north side of Gun Lake (part of the Thomas P. Murray trail system east of Hwy 62 between Combermere and Barry’s Bay). This harvest is accessed from a branch road corridor that will follow the Red Pine Trail and exit to Hwy 62 north of Long Lake Road. This area is visible from the Gun Mountain (Tom’s) Lookout.
- Contingency areas are south of Gun Lake / north east side of Halfway Lake as well as some smaller plots of crown land west of Hwy 62 near the Thomas P. Murray trails.
- As previously reported, KAPOA has negotiated 30 meter buffers with OVF for all of the Thomas P. Murray trails including those expanded as forest roads, meaning that your future hiking experiences (post harvest) will remain under a canopy cover. A modified level of logging will be allowable in that buffer zone, but no clear cutting will be allowed.
BMFC current and proposed operations:
- The annual work schedule for Oct 1, 2021 to Mar 31, 2022 has been approved. It allows for the River Road harvesting currently in process as bridging harvest from the prior 10-year plan to be completed (spans Wolf Creek Dump toward Kartuzy Road).
- 3 logging roads have been opened off River Road, and you are cautioned to watch for hauling trucks along River Road during weekday operations until at least November of this year. If you are hiking in the area during weekday operations to access the popular Kamawaska Lookout/Biernacki Lake/Big Point Lookout/Beaver Dams Loop hiking trails, please wear high visibility clothing and a hard hat and be aware of the equipment as the operators may have difficulty seeing you.
- An additional bridging operation included in the current work schedule is on crown land southwest of Bennet Lake (south of Hwy 62 before Combermere). Further approved harvest is on crown land west of Conroy’s Marsh Conservation Reserve (near Craigmont).
KAPOA’s main priorities while reviewing and commenting on the forest licensee plans will continue to include:
- Local resident safety
- Identification and continued access to the old logging roads (post harvest) that have become valued trail systems to our membership
- Adherence to approved plans and operational procedures that ensures the longevity and sustainability of our crown forests, water systems and the species that inhabit those forests and water systems.
- Continued communication between the forest licensees and KAPOA, who in turn commits to informing our membership of forest operations planned and in progress
Please refer to the KAPOA website at https://kapoa.ca/forestry for more information related to the current work schedules and the 2021-2031 proposed operations. For all other forestry related questions or comments, please contact Kerra Wylie at forestry@kapoa.ca.
A Note to Hunters re River Road Harvesting
BMFC has notified KAPOA that there is no plan to have any active operations in the vicinity of the River Road crown land harvesting during the opening week of hunting, effective Nov 1. This includes both harvesting equipment and hauling.
An unlicenced logger was spotted this week. He was apprehended and taken in for questioning.
Membership Update 2021
Just a reminder that our Annual membership fee is $20.00.
KAPOA Membership renewal in 2019 was approximately 227 and more than that in 2018.
Membership renewal has declined significantly this year with less than 160 renewals by the beginning of September although we have obtained a few new members. The decline may be partly due to the fact that KAPOA no longer has any area reps (volunteers) that helped by going door to door to collect the membership fee. Many members became accustomed to someone coming to their door and collecting the membership fee. The decline may also be due to the lack of activities the past few years that KAPOA organized due to the pandemic as many members renewed annually at specific events.
While we hope that all the activities will be back next year, we need to encourage our members to renew by e-transfer or by mail. We hope that all our members see the value in our organization. KAPOA needs the support of its members and would be nothing without them.
Thank you to all of those members who have renewed this year and welcome all new members.
E-transfers are now easier as no password is needed; just e-transfer to pay.kapoa@gmail.com.
Other options for renewal continue to include payment at KAPOA events at any one of our KAPOA events or by mail to KAPOA, Barry’s Bay On K0J 1B0 PO Box 297.
Colleen Kobylka
KAPOA
Director of Membership
Status of Ontario Energy Board Elimination of Seasonal Rate Class
In April 2021 KAPOA circulated a bulletin to our members on the status of the Ontario Energy Board’s (OEB) review of it’s earlier (2015) decision to eliminate the season rate class, and the proceedings available for individuals and organizations that continue to object to that decision. OEB made very clear that any proceedings thereafter would not include revisiting the elimination of the seasonal rates class as their review determined that the decision should remain in place. Further proceedings would focus only on:
(1) how to implement the decision to eliminate the seasonal class; and
(2) for those who will be experiencing rate increases of 10% or greater a year, what is the best approach to mitigating these increases, exclusive of maintaining the seasonal class.
The KAPOA Executive made a decision to not pursue the matter as an “intervenor” following the publishing of Hydro One’s clear language responses to customers’ most commonly asked questions (Elimination of Seasonal Rates). We are aware that the Balsam Lake Coalition and the Balsam Lake Association did direct questions to the proceedings related to the 2 above items in June 2021, and we will continue to follow the outcome of those proceedings.
We’d like to thank KAPOA member Don Yarranton for researching this contentious issue and following the proceedings on behalf of our membership.
Lake Protection Workbook
Check out the Lake Protection Workbook produced by the Lake Links planning committee with collaboration and review from various conservation authorities.
This publication has information on shorelines, wetlands, sewage systems, light pollution, runoff, docks and boathouses. There are a series of questions that help you assess how well you are protecting your property and lakefront through everyday actions.
Click on the link below:
Lake Protection Workbook
On behalf of KAPOA, keep safe and healthy. We look to seeing you in person in 2022.
