Minutes for Ramsey Lake Stewardship Committee Meeting Tuesday, November 23, 7:00 pm @ Main Library on Mackenzie In Attendance: Steve May Audrey Wagemann David Battiano, previously on the Ramsey Lake Advisory Panel Lorne Johnson Lilly Noble
• David gave us a historical perspective of the Ramsey Lake Advisory Panel, which worked on Ramsey Lake issues in the past. He mentioned David Pearson of Laurentian could come to one of our meetings to give us more info. Perhaps in the New Year? Many of the same issues still exist; salt, railway line, boating, pollution from stormwater. • 4th Annual Water Gathering is to be held Dec. 6 at the Science North Cavern 6:30-‐ 9:00pm. The Environmental Commissioner of Ontario Gord Miller will be one of the speakers. The main topic will be on the invasive Eurasian water milfoil and the damage it is doing to some area lakes. • Katherine Mackenzie is doing a polar bear dip into Ramsey Lake on December 16 to raise money for Stephen Lewis’ Dare for AIDS in Africa. On behalf of RLSC, we wished her luck but we won’t be joining her! • Membership and outreach. It was mentioned that we should put a full page add in the Northern Life to reach a lot of people. • Audrey is working on a framework on who to call for which issue when there is a concern on the lake. All the relevant phone numbers are listed on our website. • The city has a new Water and Wastewater bylaw, which will regulate and control substances which can or cannot be discharged into lakes, sanitary systems or sewer systems like swimming pool water, radioactive, chemical or pathological wastes, highly acidic or basic solutions or grease. The bylaw is attached. • Many people have inquired about why motorized boats are allowed on Ramsey Lake. Why don’t we start an online petition to allow only motorized boats that have electric motors or 10 and under horsepower engines? We would have to allow anyone who owns a boat and lives on the lake to be allowed to keep using their boats. Let me know if you want to help with setting that up online.
• Phosphorus Reduction Working Group met Oct. 27 and has lead to the formation of the Greater Sudbury Watershed Alliance. The Alliance currently has 15 groups as members including lake stewardship committees, the Junction Creek Stewardship Committee and Planet Earth Organic Landscaping. The Alliance https://sites.google.com/site/sudburywatershed/ will focus its short term goals on phosphorus reduction and invasive species in the City of Greater Sudbury. • If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining a Ward 10 CAN, please let me know. Two people are interested so far. Community Action Networks are interested in community-‐building activities such as working on playgrounds, community gardens, and neighbourhood revitalization. Wish List: • That the city would stop using salt in the areas around Ramsey Lake that drain directly into the lake. Letter should be written to the City requesting Ramsey Lake watershed has priority cleanup in spring of sand and salt. • That we collect land use designations around the lake to know what could be built. • That we build a green infrastructure rain garden at the Bell Park storm outlet where the stormwater was found to have 100 micrograms/L phosphorus this summer which helped to feed the Blue-‐Green algae at Bell Park beach. See below.
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