9.1.1 Action Plan Overview

The Environmental Committee, over the course of many years, has held workshops, conducted two major surveys, gone door to door and spoken with property owners, summarized annual general meeting questions and concerns and been able to determine key issues. It is our hope through Indigenous meetings and talks, this data will get expanded and improved in the coming months. Currently the identied actions in this action plan are a combination of the data that has been collected, coupled with general knowledge and insight into what is required to accomplish some of the values and targets. This list of actions is in no way to be considered complete or final, but instead an evolving list of actions for the coming months and years ahead. 

Some of the key actions may have overlapping characteristics with other actions. 

The list action items:

  1. Monitoring, protecting and enhancing water quality;
  2. Maintenance and restoration of natural shorelines and habitat;
  3. Increase property owner participation and knowledge of McKenzie Lake Lake(Stewardship) Plan;
  4. Promoting and advocating for Sustainable Development through Municipal Planning and Policy;
  5. Protecting and enhancing fish habitat and populations in the lake;
  6. Improving resident internet access;
  7. Increase involvement, input and knowledge with Indigenous communities; 
  8. Inventory all natural surrounding aspects (streams, flora & fauna, endangered & at-risk species, etc);
  9. Maintaining and improving septic systems;
  10. To reasonably evaluate lake capacity with particular input from Lake St. Peter Provincial Park Planning Committee.

 

9.1.2 Action Items Detail

 
Action 1 - Monitoring, protecting and enhancing water quality.

Objective: 

To maintain and improve, where possible, the water quality standards of McKenzie Lake, and to promote public awareness of lake water quality and identify opportunities and support standards that may improve the quality of lake water.

Description: 

  1. Water Quality Testing – To continue to collect water quality information through the MOE’s “Lake Partner Program” as well as a thorough inventory of the benthic and plankton communities. Maintaining a consistent monitoring program, which collects routine samples from various locations, will produce and contribute to, over time, a database that could be used by lake residents, resource managers, and researchers to establish trends in water quality and standardized monitoring protocols.
  2. Encourage a Phosphate-Free Life-Style in the Lake Community – To assist the municipalities with educating, on a regular basis, all members of the lake community about the importance of using only phosphate-free laundry and dishwasher detergents and refraining from using pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers on waterfront properties.
  3. Maintenance of Buffer Zones –To encourage the Municipality of Township of South Algonquin to enforce buffer zones within 30 m of the high water mark in order to protect tree and vegetation cover as well as the riparian and littoral zone habitat from development, and to mitigate the impact of septic field nutrients and surface water runoff into the lake.
  4. Identification and Protection of Wetlands –To ensure that the municipalities have maps that depict all wetlands within their jurisdiction, especially the identified Provincially Significant Wetland complexes on McKenzie Lake, and to ensure that land use planning decisions are consistent with provincial policy and Official Plans.
 

Tasks:

1. Water Quality Testing:

    1. Maintain water quality monitoring programs, which includes the monitoring of inflows to McKenzie Lake, with the MOE and the MNR;
    2. Implement a long-term water quality monitoring plan and test for nutrients and dissolved oxygen and temperature profiles as well as other factors identified by the MOE;
    3. Maintain accurate records of all water quality data and distribute results, at least on an annual basis, to MOE, municipalities, agencies and residents; and
    4. Initiate benthic (aquatic insects living near the shoreline) and algae community monitoring surveys.

2. A Phosphate-Free Life-Style in the Lake Community:

  1. Encourage the use of phosphate-free products through the McKLPOA Newsletter, notices to the public, and on the McKLPOA web site
  2. Identify alternatives to non-ecologically sound products (environmentally friendly laundry and dishwater products, etc.) and ensure that these phosphate-free products, which can be identified in the McKLPOA Website and on notices to the public, are widely available for purchase at local stores
  3. Solicit and encourage public support for a municipal ban in Township of South Algonquin on the use of herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers on properties abutting a water-body, or at least within a defined buffer zone measured at 30 metres from the high water mark, and challenge and encourage each municipality to establish a by-law to this effect;
  4. Encourage property owners to maintain healthy and approved septic systems and monitor waste and usage.

3. Identification and Protection of Wetlands:

  1. Distribute maps that accurately identify the boundaries of the wetlands of North Chainy Lake, McKenzie Lake and all watershed wetlands of McKenzie Lake, in particular, the boundaries of the two Provincially Significant Wetland (PSW) Complexes, to each municipality;
  2. Make a formal request to municipalities to identify the location of wetlands in official plans and zoning by-laws, if they have not done so already. Encourage the municipality to provide appropriate land use policy to ensure their protection, and require an environmental or lake impact assessment to be completed and peer reviewed by a qualified consultant at the expense of the proponent, selected by the municipality, for proposals of any development in or adjacent to Provincially Significant Wetlands (PSWs);
  3. Ensure that all wetlands have the same level of protection as the PSWs; and
  4. Develop an education program that highlights the ecological significance of wetlands, including the significance of wetland habitats for “species at risk” conservation in Ontario, and promotes the need for wetland conservation.
 
Action 2 - Maintenance and Restoration of Natural Shorelines and Habitat

Objective: 

To evalute the health of McKenzie shorelines and ensure that natural shorelines are maintained and degraded shorelines are rehabilitated

Description: 

  1. Establishment of a Natural Shoreline – To establish buffer zones, in cooperation with the municipalities, that would protect natural vegetation in areas between the development site and the high water mark;
  2. Implement Phase Two of the PLCA Shoreland Restoration Program – To restore shorelines, in cooperation with the municipalities and property-owners, by planting indigenous plants to reduce erosion and nutrient loadings as well as mitigate the impact of contaminants from surface runoff water; and
  3. Replace Shoreline Structures – To provide assistance and advice to residents who need to upgrade old structures near the shoreline.
MLP_9.0_Action Plan