Love Your Lake Report

This project is complete. The summary follows. For the full report click here Love Your Lake

In 2018,  the Love your Lake project, done by two students, analyzed our Mazinaw shorelines (properties).  Heather Murphy of Love your Lake, sent out letters to all property owners around the lake on April 15, 2019.

The letters contained a code for each property which gave owners access to their individual report. 

Please note: All reports were totally confidential and none of the results are enforced or shared with any other body or authorities. 

Project Description: MPOA & Love your Lake:
The importance of the shoreline for the health of a lake has long been known and humans can have a positive impact on maintaining and preserving this most sensitive zone of our lakes. A short excerpt from the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority brochure on ‘Healthy Waterfronts’ speaks to this:

“The shoreline of your waterfront property is called a ‘ribbon of life’ because it is where 90 percent of all lake and river life is born, raised and fed. Natural shorelines support cattail, pickerelweed and reeds that provide habitat for fish, nesting birds, mammals and insects. Plants at the water's edge help filter nutrients and prevent erosion......”

At our 2016 AGM a motion was approved (Anne Hawkins / Robert Reid) with one opposing vote to apply to the “Love your Lake” a non-profit organization, to have the shorelines of Mazinaw Lake assessed by their trained staff. “Love your Lake” (LyL) is governed by ‘Watersheds Canada’ and the ‘Canadian Wildlife Federation’ (CWF) and has already assessed over 90 Lakes - many in Eastern Ontario - and Canada wide. When we applied we were told that Mazinaw Lake would have to wait for a couple of years and now we have confirmation that they have the funding to assess our lake this summer 2018.

The assessments of the lake shore will occur from a boat on a property-by-property basis using GIS (Geographic Information System) taking a picture of the shoreline and using a standardized Shoreline Assessment Protocol and data sheets. At the conclusion of this process every property owner will receive an individualized report of their shoreline with possible suggestions for improvements. All reports are totally confidential and none of the results will be enforced or shared with any other body or authorities. The MPOA will only receive an overall summary describing the general ‘State of Health of the Shorelines’ of Mazinaw Lake.

“Love your Lake” and the MPOA will take on different aspects of this project and we want to appeal to our membership to help us accomplish our part in this project:

Love Your Lake’s Responsibilities:

Setting up the whole program and communicating with all property owners by mail prior to the start. They are hiring and training staff for the assessments, afterwards evaluating the observations and reporting back to all property owners individually. The actual assessment is supposed to last 2 to 3 weeks weather permitting.

MPOA’s Responsibilities:

The assessment is scheduled for the first three weeks in July and we need to secure  accommodation for two assessors (summer students) for up to a maximum of 3 weeks at/near the lake (not water access) in a cabin/cottage ideally with some cooking facilities (no need to provide food). If you see yourself able to accommodate the students for a week or longer this would be a great help. Different locations at the lake for different periods is entirely possible. Please let the MPOA know if you happen to have the capacity to help us out by sending an email to:     communications@lakemazinaw.ca

Later on we will be looking for volunteers with boats to drive the assessors along the shoreline to perform their tasks. We will divide the lake in smaller sections and hope that property owners familiar with their neighbouring shorelines will be able to assist us with this project.

Besides planning and coordinating this project the MPOA needs to make a financial contribution between $300 - 500.

All in all this is a great opportunity for all property owners to get a confidential professional assessment of their shoreline and as members of this lake community we will get an overall assessment of the health of our lake. As the board of your lake association we look forward to your support and assistance in realizing this important project.   

Coordinator, Love your Lake project:  Arndt Kruger (Arndt retired from the MPOA board in 2020)