Skootamatta District Ratepayers Association

S.D.R.A.


EXPLORE THE LAKE AND CELEBRATE

AUGUST 14, 2010

We need your help. Last year's survey of the community indicates a strong lakeside community attachment to the miles of comparatively untouched crown lands that grace the shorelines of Skootamatta, Sheldrake and Pringle Lakes. Now we need to document what is there; otter slides, fish spawning areas, turtles, blueberries, sand, rock, pines and at least one rare and possibly one endangered species. Odd rock and deadhead shapes and potential ancient aboriginal campgrounds are all game for documentation. We need to put eyeballs close up on the shoreline, (see the map below), to document what is visible above and below the surface. We'll use digital pictures along with your notes to explain what you have noticed. We need volunteers on August 14th (alternate August 15 for weather). The information will go into a data base to help guide us in the future on the use of the lakes. Followup by a formally trained biologist for the more interesting finds is planned. There will be prizes for the best (and craziest) efforts.

You'll have your own kilometer of shoreline to investigate for and hour or so on a Saturday morning. Take pictures and describe what you see. On Skootamatta, we'll meet at the sandy beach on the upper lake just west of Blake Island and Jacques Bay at about 10 am. From there we will spread out around the upper lake shoreline crown lands. We'll do the lower lake and below the causeway next year. We expect that there will be some towing to get people to the more distant sites and back in a reasonable time. Bring your own boat that is good for being close to the shore such as a canoe, kayak, rubber dingy or row boat. If you contact us ahead of time, we'll try to match with someone else's boat if you don't have anything appropriate. We hope to have everybody back to the beach by 12:30. We'll collect the survey forms and the pictures and consider who should get the prizes which will be announced, hopefully with sample pictures, at the pot luck dinner and the Nowell's that evening as well as on this website.

We want this to be fun and get some serious work done too.

For further information, contacts are listed below. Just click a name to email, (preferred). We will also try to respond promptly to any telephone inquiries.


THINGS TO BRING

Camera (Preferably Digital) - Don't forget to take a picture of you or your crew
Camera Data USB Transfer Cable
Sense of humour
Pencil or two or three
Hard surface such as a Clipboard to write on
Sense of humour
Life Jacket
Sun Screen
Hat
Shoes and pants that don't matter if they get wet
Sense of humour
Extra rope, in case you need a tow
Standard safety items for boating; especially a loud signaling device
Emergency TP (you will already be near the bushes)
Sense of humour

WHERE WE'RE GOING TO EXPLORE


WHAT TO LOOK FOR

Shoreline Drop Off
  1. Steep drop off
  2. Typical drop off
  3. Shallow bottom
Shoreline Type
  1. Cobble (stones and boulders)
  2. Beach with sand bottom or sand bottom against forested shore
  3. Mud bottom
  4. Rocky - solid rock or very large boulders
  5. Urbanized or modified shoreline
  6. Other - add notes
Shore Vegetation
  1. Deciduous Forest (examples: maple, birch, oak, aspen, ash, beech)
  2. Coniferous Forest (examples: white pine, red pine, jack pine, cedar, spruce, hemlock, tamarack)
  3. Shrubby (examples: speckled alder, short trees, dogwood, sweet gale, willow, beak hazel, steeple bush, meadowsweet, winterberry, mountain holly, blueberries)
  4. Meadow - mostly soft plants (examples: cattails, asters, meadow rue, sedges, grasses, touch-me-not (Jewel Weed), Joepye weed, wool grass, horse tails. etc)
  5. Combinations of above or other - add notes
Water Vegetation
  1. Plants sticking out of the water (Emergent) (examples: Pickerel weed,, hard or soft rush, pipewort, sedges, arrowhead, burr-reed, cat tails)
  2. Plants lying on the surface or below the surface (non-emergent)(examples: bull lily, white lily, pond weed)
  3. Little or no water vegetation
  4. Other - add notes
State of Development or use
  1. Crown land, mostly undisturbed
  2. Cottage or residence land, light disturbance
  3. Cottage or residence land, moderate disturbance
  4. Cottage or residence land with heavy shoreline modification
  5. Evidence of campsite use
  6. Public water access
  7. Commercial use
  8. Other - Add notes
Water flow into lake
  1. Substantial creek or river inflow to lake
  2. Small creek, (possibly drying up in summer), inflow to lake
  3. Marsh area likely related to inflow to lake
  4. Local plant life along shoreline such as cattails indicating some inflow but watercourse not observable due to small size or flow below ground surface
Miscellaneous Features - Add to Notes
  1. example - old lumber camp/air-sea rescue training site on upper lake
Animals or Birds
  1. Guano (bird poop) on trees or rocks
  2. Water related birds such as loons, ducks, mergansers, heron, osprey, sea gulls, cormorants, kingfishers
  3. Animal droppings, example - deer poop, bear 'scat'
  4. Water related mammals such as otters, beaver, muskrat and mink and their shore signs such as beaver huts, otter slides and deer trails to the water
  5. Water related reptiles such as painted turtle, snapping turtle, five lined skink ( the rare little lizard with the blue tail) and northern water snake
  6. Amphibians such as salamanders, leopard frogs and bull frogs
  7. Mussels (fresh water clams)- inspect empty shells washed up on bottom and shore for rainbow pattern on outside of shell especially in areas where there is a little current near creeks. Note, do not disturb living mussels. The various mussels live about a meter or two below the surface on muddy/sandy bottoms)
  8. Crawfish
  9. Fish fingerlings and minnows and any larger species. Identify if you know them

See the reporting form, (double-sided), that will be used.


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