KAPOA Fall Newsletter 2023
In this issue you’ll find important information about:
2023 KAPOA Recap
2024 Events Calendar – Hold these Dates!
KAPOA Dues, Membership Area Reps and Keeping in Touch
Recap of the 11th Annual Poker Run 2023
Regatta 2023 Success
Did you Learn to Fish 2023?
KAPOA Swag – Give the Gift of a KAPOA T-Shirt for Christmas!
What’s Happening in Counsel
Would you Consider Volunteering?
Useful Links:
- Floating Accommodation Update
- Blue-Green Algae Testing
- FOCA Stuff – Sudden Cardiac Arrest
- A Clean Drain Dry Reminder
- Ontario Nature’s new Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas (ORAA)
- An Important Safety Reminder (We’re not just blowing smoke!)
2023 KAPOA Recap
Reminiscing back to this past summer, our director team are reminded of the warm, generous and energized community in our membership area. Many folks stopped by the KAPOA booth at Bay Day last May to say “welcome back” despite the cold and wet day. The AGM drew a sizeable attendance in July with several members eager to hear from our municipal Mayors: Fitzgerald and Willmer. We had a record number of participants and volunteers involved with the 11th annual Poker Run later in July, wearing costumes that their teenage selves would be mortified to be caught dead wearing! The longstanding tradition, the KAPOA regatta, saw several new young faces keen to score a ribbon and a sandcastle award. In August, we also introduced angling to our youngest members and they took the bait! It was, once again, a splendidly fun and rewarding summer with our friends and neighbours. None of it could have been possible without you, our sponsors and our volunteers, and we thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. 
For all those fortunate to call the waterfront, Madawaska Valley or Hastings Highlands their permanent home, they probably don’t mourn the end of the season up north like the rest of us. Many of us have now shut down cottage operations and closed the shutters, though the late fall warm spells no doubt made some second guess leaving so soon.
Fall is when KAPOA renews our Federation of Ontario Cottage Associations (FOCA) membership, and as members, we are all entitled to take advantage of FOCA membership benefits. With the link provided below, members can set up their own individual Username and Password for the FOCA website to access online member materials, register at the member rate for FOCA events, and to access FOCA discounts and benefits. Check it out!
https://foca.on.ca/register/member-association/?ca=6889232b3d0218e1f34263fc32fb1c88
KAPOA doesn’t completely shut down throughout the fall and winter. Some KAPOA Directors will be attending the virtual FOCA Fall Seminar titled “Understanding the Changing State of our Lakes” on Sat Nov 4 from 9am to noon. Special guest Dr. John Smol will be speaking about the nature of our lakes and how they’re changing over time.
On the forestry front, Kerra recently attended two in-person events in Bancroft. The first was a meeting of interested stakeholders to provide input to a Conservation Area Network gap analysis of the Bancroft Minden Forest conducted by the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks (MECP). That event was attended by a large contingent of ecologists, biologists, nature enthusiasts, land trust volunteers, NGO’s and First Nations representatives. The second event was a field trip hosted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) and the Bancroft Minden Forest Company for the Local Citizens Committee of which Kerra is a participant. This event featured attendance and discussions related to water crossings and active operations in blow down areas from the May 2022 dericho event. In both cases it was a reminder of how much there is still to be understood and appreciated in the forestry industry.
As you’ll see from the below updates, there is much to celebrate from 2023, and to look forward to in 2024. We look forward to seeing you back next year participating in this special community of KAPOA members. Until then, keep healthy, keep learning, and keep smiling – it’s contagious!
2024 Events Calendar – Hold these Dates! 
It’s early but maybe you’re a planner and want to reserve a spot in your calendar for our KAPOA 2024 events. Here are the events that we can safely say will be a go:
| Event | Where | Date and Time |
| Bay Day | Barry’s Bay Hwy 60 main street – booths (including KAPOA’s) will be lining both sides of Hwy 60 | Sat May 18, 9am – 5pm
KAPOA booth until 1-2pm (depending on attendance) |
| Annual General Meeting (AGM) | TBC – stay tuned | Sat July 6, 9:30 – 11:30am |
| Poker Run – boats & bikes | Starts: Barry’s Bay boat launch
Finishes: Hinterland Beach |
Sat July 27, time TBD (see below) |
| Regatta | Hinterland Beach | Sat Aug 3, 1-4pm
Sailing starts 11am |
KAPOA Dues, Membership Area Reps and Keeping in Touch
(Extracted from the report of Membership Director, Peggy Olbrycht) – KAPOA’s membership increased from 180 in 2022 to 242 as of Sep 7, 2023. Having membership area reps keeps KAPOA “in touch” with the membership community and increases the likelihood of securing a new or returning membership payment. Many in the community wait for reps to show up at their doors despite reminders issued in the spring to renew and pay memberships online. Our 2023 membership handouts appear to have been well received this year.
Please consider helping us out as a membership area rep in spring/early summer 2024. The following areas need reps: 
Kamaniskeg Lake Road – between Lakeshore Road and the right hand bend toward the beach
Bleski Road
Arrow Road
Highway 60 / Barry’s Bay
A further reminder from our spring newsletter…
Please encourage your family members who enjoy time spent by the water to sign up to receive our bulletins and spring and fall newsletters. Your membership fee provides you with information and resources that we want to ensure is shared directly with everyone in your family. Additionally, we are increasingly finding emails and phone numbers to be outdated, so we’d appreciate your help to provide your most current information. (KAPOA Membership Information Form).
Recap of the 11th Annual Poker Run 2023
(submitted by Bruce Willmer, 2023 event chair)
Participants, Dock & Bike Station Hosts, Sponsors, Volunteers, Musicians, Everyone,
As the summer winds down and we all head back to work and school, and before the memories fade too much, we are sending you a quick note to thank you all for the incredible final total donation raised during the 2023 Poker Run in July. This year we raised and donated to the St. Francis Memorial Hospital $37,398.57. The official target of $27,000 was passed, ensuring the purchase of a new baby isolette for the hospital! The extra funds will also be donated to the hospital for the purchase of much needed equipment.
For all participants and donors, the St. Francis Valley Healthcare Foundation is currently issuing tax receipts. You should be receiving them shortly. If in a few weeks you have not received them, please don’t hesitate to reach out to pokerrunkapoa@gmail.com and we will work to resolve any issues.
From KAPOA and the organizers of the Poker Run, thank you to this incredible community. Our sponsors, participants, donors, business partners and volunteers all deserve a huge round of applause. The best part about all of this is we were able to have fun together as a community and join together to help build a better stronger healthcare facility for all of us to use. See pictures below as a reminder of the fun we had together, these will hopefully build some excitement for next year. Save the date for the 12th Annual Poker Run … July 27th, 2024!
Please email us to let us know if you wish to volunteer at, help organize, sponsor or if you have any ideas for next year’s event. We are contemplating shifting the start time to 1PM and running it through the afternoon with a late afternoon BBQ celebration for next year. Agree / disagree with this idea, please let us know, your feedback is welcome. The bike event will be back along with the best decorated boat and most festive dock awards (maybe with some twists).
In the meantime, please have a safe and enjoyable fall and winter, start thinking about your boat decorations and / or dock theme …. we can’t wait.
Regatta 2023 Report
Huge thanks to our numerous volunteers and sponsors who made the 2023 regatta a success. In anticipation of Kerra stepping down from actively managing the event in 2024, we had some new faces stepping up this year including the whole Wainwright family (finish line, raft in & out), Laura & Matthew Stevens (tabulation, distributing ribbons) and Andy Olbrycht on the bbq. All KAPOA directors, their families and friends were again on hand, along with a few folks who jumped in right at the beach when there was a need. We could not have done this event without every single one of you!!
Our ever generous sponsors were Cathy Pitts Remax Realty, Yuill’s Value Mart, the Pyz family and Sand Bay Camp. We sold over 100 drinks and 270 hotdogs at $1 each, with funds going back into KAPOA to fund the ribbons, trophy plates, medallions and dock upgrades that make the event so special. KAPOA t-shirts were also sold this year with KAPOA’s new logo.
The weather was fantastic and the turnout was noticeably improved from last year’s rebound from 2 years of covid cancellation. We specifically noticed the age categories 10 and under, and 11-14 were very well represented, versus prior years of multiple heats for the 15+ male swim races. We had to overlap the sandcastle winning categories due to the large number of participants, and there were 5 junior teams (50 youth!!) for the tug of war finale. This bodes very well for the next several years of regattas as the young ones carry the enthusiasm from year to year.
Lots of new trophy winners this year!
Best Male Swim – Cameron Gittins (age 10 & under)
Best Female Swim – Cheyenne Williams (age 11-14) & Taylor Mouliakis (age 15+)
Overall Competitor – Nathan Ives (age 11-14)
Sailing – Robyn Mitchell
Bill Cahoon is proposing a change to next year’s sailing event, by changing it to a fun “sail by” the beach instead of a race. He hopes to encourage more participants who aren’t necessarily interested in a race, but rather just a community sailing event. Thank you to Bill for his years of dedication to the KAPOA sailing event!
Please welcome, encourage and support Laura Stevens and Greg Zdzienicki, KAPOA directors, who have agreed to take over the management of the event in 2024!!
While we’re thinking about the regatta, if someone can find a more organized way to conduct the tug-of-war at the end of the day, we are all ears!! By having uneven numbers of teams in the first and/or second round of pulls, it results in the requirement for a team to get a “bye” (done by rock/paper/scissors this year) to keep the event on schedule. Otherwise, you’d need to do a round robin which requires too much time and would tire out the participants too much. Let us know what you think, and if you’d like to run the tug-of-war next year, we won’t turn you down!!
Did you Learn to Fish 2023?
(submitted by Wendy Wolak, Carson Trout Lepine & Greenan Lakes Association / CTLG)
From left to Right: Luke, Wendy, Doug, Angelo, Al and Scott
On Aug 6th, the Learn to Fish event that was held for the first time was a great success. Not only did we luck out with fantastic weather, calm seas, and no in the water mishaps, we had over 50 participants combined for both sessions. Luke and Scott from Ontario’s Fish and Wildlife were very pleased with how the day’s events unfolded and the fishing portion did not disappoint those who participated. Feedback was very positive and many parents were appreciative of the opportunity given.
A special note of thanks goes out to CTLG fishing committee volunteers Al Best, Doug Beingessner, Angelo Mosca Jr., who all assisted with the baiting and unhooking of caught fish and Shari Gray who manned the afternoon registrations. Many thanks also to volunteer Brian Moore, for arranging a generous door prize which included a fishing rod, courtesy of Mad Outdoors. And we can’t forget the help from KAPOA’s Kerra Wylie and Lynne MacLean for their assistance in promoting the event and overseeing online registrations.
Here’s a link to the Madawaska Current article that ran after the event: https://madvalleycurrent.com/2023/08/10/its-never-too-late-to-take-the-bait/
Editor’s note – This event would not have been possible without Wendy’s involvement in identifying the program, and coordinating a date and location with KAPOA, the municipality, and the Fish & Wildlife team. Wendy brought her enthusiasm, her CTLG team of volunteers, and a strong stomach for baiting the hooks. Thank you, Wendy, for including KAPOA in this fun and informative event that no doubt will be brought back in the future!!
KAPOA Swag – Give the Gift of a KAPOA T-Shirt for Christmas!
(submitted by Lynne MacLean)
Please consider getting your Christmas shopping started with great gifts or stocking stuffers for all the family. Get yours while quantities last. Order on kapoacares@gmail.com and advise how you would like to proceed with delivery. Shirts are $25.00 each, payable by e-transfer to pay.kapoa@gmail.com, cash or cheque payable to KAPOA.
Available sizes:
Mens/Unisex Childrens – Oatmeal colour
Small – 9 dark grey, 1 white XS (age 4/5) – 6 available
Medium – 3 dark grey, 7 white Medium (age 8) – 3 available
Large – 3 dark grey, 1 white XL (age 14/16) – 7 available (works also as women’s Small/Med)
XL – 4 dark grey, 4 white
2XL – 3 white
What’s Happening in Counsel
Madawaska Valley Interlake Gathering – On Oct 5th, a first ever meeting of 4 Madawaska Valley associations was held including: KAPOA (represented by Greg Zdzienicki), Carson Trout Lepine & Greenan Lakes Association (Wendy Wolak), Paugh Lake Property Owners Association (Steve Clarke) and Kaszuby Cottagers Association (Sophia Sudnikowicz). The group established a mandate to build a positive and reciprocal relationship with the MV Mayor and Council, as well as to share successes, challenges and prevailing priorities amongst the associations for the benefit of all participants. It was followed by a “meet and greet” with Mayor Willmer, with agreement to meet with Council in spring 2024. This new interlake association has agreed to meet annually in the fall. As you may recall, KAPOA is also a participant in the Hastings Highlands Interlake Association that meets annually in June. That group was formed by David Wilson during his time as KAPOA president and continues as a viable concern with 7 member associations as participants.
Hastings Highlands Vegetative Buffer by-law: On September 11, 2023 the Ontario Land Tribunal (OLT) issued their decision regarding an appeal related to the Municipality of Hastings Highlands’ Shoreline Preservation Bylaw (which had been approved by Council in May 2022). The OLT approved the Bylaw and dismissed the appeal, but amended the Bylaw to add a definition of “vegetative buffer” and include clarification as to what level of maintenance of vegetation is permitted within the buffer. Additionally, it was clarified that all waterfront property owners who owned their properties as of the date of passage of the new bylaw on May 4, 2022 are grandfathered. Read a media release issued by Lake St. Peter POA about the Tribunal’s decision. Anyone wishing to learn more about the appeal process and the outcome can reach out to Stan Ralph at reabaigh@sympatico.ca.
Hastings Highlands Fire Station #6 Information – Lynne MacLean recently reached out to the municipality to gain an understanding for members’ fire insurance coverage purposes of the status of Fire Station #6. Here is what was received:
Station #6 on Centreview Road, serving the northeastern portion of Hastings Highlands, is not closed. However, it is not considered active as there are only two volunteer firefighters assigned to this station, and that is an insufficient number to sustain a fully active station. It is not practical to conduct regular station meetings or training sessions at this location. Regular equipment / apparatus checks and maintenance are conducted at Station #6 but regular training, fire practices and meetings are held at Station #3 in Monteagle with the Station #3 firefighters. For a local fire call (in the northeastern portion of the Municipality) Station #6 firefighters will respond with apparatus (fire trucks) to an active incident. In addition, we have an Automatic Aid Agreement in place with Madawaska Valley Fire Department to provide fire response coverage to some distant areas in our northeastern region. Also worth noting, Hastings Highlands Fire department responds as a group from every station, except for small incidents, such as burn complaints (campfires) during restricted fire bans. As a department, we train and practice skills regularly in various parts of the municipality and have implemented comprehensive group training on a monthly basis to allow all stations to come together and train for coordinated responses and be prepared for any emergency.
NOTE – A detailed review of Hastings Highlands Fire Services that was presented to council in July 2023 can be found here: Report: Public Fire Protection Analysis/Fire Service Review/Fire Master Plan (civicweb.net)
Would you Consider Volunteering?
Website Co-Administrator – OPEN 
- Shares responsibility for updating the KAPOA website for new announcements and articles.
- Activities include: adding semi-annual KAPOA newsletter and occasional news bulletins and articles of interest to the web site, maintaining the list of current year events, look at opportunities to improve the current user experience with the KAPOA website, etc.
- Required experience, skills and abilities include knowledge and prior experience with WordPress (KAPOA’s website platform), and knowledge of HTML is helpful. Works comfortably and respectfully with a team of volunteers.
Other open positions include:
- 1 KAPOA Director to be effective early in 2024 (before the AGM due to an existing open position)
- Area Membership Reps (as indicated above)
- A KAPOA representative to virtually attend Madawaska Valley Municipal meetings
If interested, please reach out to kapoacares@gmail.com – thank you!!
Useful Links:
Floating Accommodation Update – The Float Homes Not Vessels Coalition has provided a summary of their 3 months of advocacy work to their member associations in August. A summary and detailed description of their phased approach and what you can continue to do to advocate against unregulated float homes on our waterways is on the KAPOA website at Float Homes Not Vessels Advocacy Update – Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners Association (kapoa.ca)
A further progress update in October shows just how much the Coalition has been able to achieve to date. KAPOA will be forwarding further instructions in the coming weeks for how our members can respond to a Transport Canada consultation process on the topic of “long term mooring”. Here’s more on this progress including how the docking and steel stabilizing equipment for mooring float homes will soon not be permissible without issued permits for these “shoreline works”: Float Homes Not Vessels Advocacy Update_Oct 2023 – Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners Association (kapoa.ca)
Blue-Green Algae Testing – A certificate of analysis has been forwarded to KAPOA by Hannah Gutoskie (Recreation and Community Development Coordinator, Township of Madawaska Valley) showing a negative result for screening of a suspected algal bloom occurrence in Kamaniskeg Lake near Arrow Drive. The test involving identification of algae cells with microscopic methods was done Aug 17th based on a resident concern, and representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks came to complete the test. The contact info for the ministry is at https://www.ontario.ca/page/blue-green-algae People can also contact the Renfrew County and District Health Unit (RCDHU) if they spot a suspected algae bloom in future. Anyone wishing to obtain a copy of the report, please reach out to kapoacares@gmail.com.
FOCA Stuff – Sudden Cardiac Arrest: A free webinar was made available earlier this year for all FOCA members that provided attendees with critical life-saving information for anyone suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. What’s available for portable automated defibrillator equipment (AED) from presenter and vendor “Action First Aid” and a lesson on how to respond when you think someone is in cardiac distress was shared. The video can be reviewed here or on the FOCA website under “Emergency Preparedness”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CriTvUIG5o&feature=youtu.be
FOCA discounting for defibrillator products is available to all KAPOA members.
A Clean Drain Dry Reminder – Please see the attached link to a current article in the Peterborough Examiner regarding cleaning boats as you move from lake to lake.
North Kawartha Township working to curb spread of invasive species (thepeterboroughexaminer.com)
Ontario Nature’s new Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas (ORAA) Join Ontario Nature on Wed Nov 29 (7:00 to 8:30 pm) for a webinar about their new ORAA publication which will be released the week of November 20th. After more than 10 years of data collection, the publication is the most comprehensive source of information on Ontario’s reptiles and amphibians available! At this free webinar, the registrants will hear from a panel of ORAA experts about the origins of the atlas project, species accounts, lessons learned, and future directions for reptile and amphibian conservation in Ontario. Please join us to celebrate this major milestone and learn how to freely access the ORAA publication: Webinar Registration – Zoom
An Important Safety reminder (We’re not just blowing smoke!): 
Get your chimney swept annually and keep the bills to prove that you are maintaining your fireplace for insurance purposes. Make sure your provider is WETT certified, and in between cleanings, keep an eye out for nests in your fireplace if you don’t have a cover (submitted by Nancy Roper, KAPOA member).
Your KAPOA Team 
For general KAPOA inquiries: kapoacares@gmail.com
Find us on Facebook! Kamaniskeg Area Property Owners Association (KAPOA)
