A small portion of the northeast shore of Peninsula Lake, near where Shaw Road and Maplehurst Drive meet, is to be renaturalized with native plant species.
It’s an initiative of the Peninsula Lake Association (PLA) through The Muskoka Watershed Council’s The Natural Edge Program, a national initiative aimed at protecting freshwater lakes, rivers, and tributaries by improving the health of shorelines where plants help filter pollutants and sediments before they enter the water.
“During the summer of 2017, a severe storm caused a washout of Hwy. 60 just east of Maplehurst Drive. The water continued to flow following a creek bed, overflowed onto Maplehurst Drive and resulted in the flooding of the Maplehurst/Shaw intersection washing out part of Shaw Road and pouring into the lake,” PLA director and Maplehurst Drive resident Wendy Somerville told Lake of Bays council at its August 3 meeting.
“Although the washout would not have been prevented by vegetation, vegetation could help to slow the stormwater from running down the road into the lake on a more regular basis,” she added.
Somerville said during the summer of 2020, the area, a municipal right-of-way, was used by the contractor hired to repave Hwy. 60. She said there was a lot of vehicular traffic in that area because water was being pumped into tankers to spray on the highway in order to reduce the dust. “This may have contributed to the packing of the soil and destruction of some of the vegetation. Because there is little or no vegetation, Canada geese can easily come ashore, nest in the nearby fields with easy access to the lake for their gosling. Increasing the vegetation would make this more difficult,” she noted.
She said a member of the Muskoka Watershed Council visited the site and provided their recommendations to the PLA and a $250 fee to provide the plants for the naturalization of an estimated 11 metres of the shoreline.
“The PLA is seeking permission from the Township of Lake of Bays to naturalize this part of the shoreline… labelled as Shaw Road turnaround,” said Somerville, adding that there would be no cost to the Township as the PLA would be prepared to pay for the cost of the planting materials.
Lake of Bays Mayor Terry Glover thanked Somerville and the PLA for their stewardship initiative.
Councillor Michael Peppard referred to the program offered by the Muskoka Watershed Council as amazing and asked if any other properties around the lake would be participating.
Somerville said she has encouraged people to take part in the program through the PLA’s publication but no one else has utilized the program yet. “I’m hoping that this is a good example, and we will definitely publicize it and take pictures. Hopefully, someone will start doing this,” she added.
Some of the properties in the area have been re-naturalized, noted Somerville, “partly because of the fact that they have changed hands, applied for building permits and the town has required them to plant along the shoreline but there are quite a few in the area that have not taken advantage yet.”
You can find the report to council here (pdf).
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