Gamiing aims to educate the public, especially waterfront owners, about the necessity to preserve natural habitat for the benefit of wildlife, aquatic life, and humans. Gamiing undertakes outreach programs to help people understand the importance of natural habitat preservation and enhancement, encouraging them to do their part in preserving our fragile ecosystems.

The issue

Much of our efforts focus on environmental enhancement at the water's edge because so much of our lake's shoreline has been impacted by human activity. Many landowners cut their lawns to the water's edge, reducing the stability of the shoreline since grass cannot hold the soil with its shallow roots. Because of the constant wave action caused by wind and boat wakes, shoreline soil is worn away, adding silt to the lake, which impacts water quality and fish habitat. It also eats away at the shore, providing a never-ending reduction of property and setting in place continuous environmental impacts.

Landowners who face this issue often fertilize their lawns to excess, in an effort to strengthen their shoreline plants. Unfortunately, this effort is wasted: grass can only absorb so much fertilizer, and chemical fertilizers actually reduce the effectiveness of naturally occurring processes that help plants grow. The consequent runoff of fertilizer causes excess growth of aquatic algae, which leads to oxygen reduction in the water when the plants die; the impact on fish and other aquatic animals is enormous, and can be tied directly to reductions of game fish that have been documented over the past 20 years or more.

Those who follow this type of lawn management often use pesticides to control the types of plants that grow in their lawns. Once they start on this path, however, they create an imbalance in the natural soil conditions, which again leads to soil erosion. There is also an impact on the natural plants that border landowners' properties, reducing the food and habitat available to wildlife. And though many pesticides become inactive shortly after they contact soil and water, they can still have some impact on terrestrial and aquatic plants and animals before they break down.

However, there are better ways to manage our shorelines and actually improve the quality of our lakes. By using nature as our guide, we can stabilize our shorelines and provide aquatic habitat and clean water. This is the message we provide our shoreline partners: let's learn from nature to find the best ways to maintain habitat and water quality.

With that in mind, we have created information brochures for distribution to the public. We have received many thanks for this information, and we are always encouraged when we hear that homeowners and cottagers have stopped cutting and fertilizing their lawns, and no longer use pesticides.

In addition to eliminating pesticides and chemical fertilizers, we hope to convince them to strengthen their shorelines with shrubs and rocks, and to naturalize other parts of their property.

Solutions

Environmental Enhancements: Environmental improvements to shoreline and upland areas will involve a variety of techniques. We plan to restore a natural balance of indigenous species and the consequent shoreline stability they provide. Of course, these plantings will also provide habitat and food for indigenous fauna, and improve water quality. Activities will include the following:

• Shoreline stabilization with rocks, logs, and shoreline plantings, primarily at demonstration sites arranged with owners of waterfront properties on Pigeon Lake and other local lakes
• Upland plantings of species indigenous to the area, with more demonstration sites to encourage duplication at other properties
• Plantings of rare species and "borderline" species (e.g., Carolinian) to broaden the species mix and enhance biodiversity
• Operation of a greenhouse and plant sales nursery to provide stock for the plantings indicated above, both at Gamiing and within the Kawarthas

For more information, contact the GAMIING office, 705-799-7083.