ONTARIO—Due to strong public interest, the International Joint Commission (IJC) has extended the deadline for written comments on the Upper Great Lakes Study. “That’s good news I guess, some of my colleagues feel this is good, because it sounds as if they (IJC) are paying attention to our concerns, which would be nice,” said Therese Trainor, secretary of the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council (MASC), last ...

Experts suggest strategies for control, containment MANITOULIN––Forces are being marshaled and battle lines drawn in the latest alien invasion of Manitoulin’s shores. Patches of phragmites australis and heracleum mantegazzianum are swarming onto Island beaches and lurking about Manitoulin’s fields, ditches and wetlands, coming as hitchhikers on boats and campers and dropped unwittingly along our byways by t ...

MANITOULIN—Thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council (MASC) and Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) will be holding a public meeting on Manitoulin Island concerning the proposed Great Lakes Protection Act on August 23. As reported in last week’s edition of the Recorder, the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council had requested the MOE hold ...

LITTLE CURRENT—The Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council (MASC) has secured yet another Manitoulin meeting for the general public, this time in regards to the proposed provincial Great Lakes Protection Act. Next Thursday, August 23 at the Northeast Town Recreation Centre in Little Current, representatives from the Ministry of Environment will be hosting a ‘stakeholder engagement session.’ Besides an earlier s ...

Tom Sasvari The Recorder MANITOULIN—Representatives of the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council (MASC) are upset with Ministry of the Environment (MOE) officials for creating the Great Lakes Protection Act and forming a non-government guardian council to lead this project. MASC had been invited to hold a public meeting on Manitoulin to get input, but the MOE has now cancelled it. “We are talking about the Gr ...

Tom Sasvari The Recorder GEORGIAN BAY—An official with the Georgian Bay Forever (GBF) group agrees with a representative of the Manitoulin Area Stewardship Council (MASC) that with the pressure put on by area residents in opposition to a ‘do nothing’ approach to decreasing water levels in Lakes Huron and Michigan recommended by the International Upper Great Lakes Study Board (IUGLSB) will change and that so ...

Not everyone remained for all of the 30-plus presentations to the entire International Joint Commission (IJC) board on the Lake Huron water level issue, but for nearly all of the proceedings Sunday at the large hall at the Northeast Town Recreation Centre in Little Current, more than 300 people remained in their seats on a sunny weekend afternoon. It was also a clear indication that the Manitoulin Stewardsh ...

Tom Sasvari The Recorder MANITOULIN—This Sunday, July 15 (not Saturday, as was printed in The Expositor page 1 headline this week) at the Little Current Recreation Centre, members of the public will be given the opportunity to express their concerns about the continued water loss from Lake Huron to members of the International Joint Commission (IJC). “We want to get the word out that we need as many members ...

by Alicia McCutcheon AUNDECK OMNI KANING—A 20-year-old Aundeck Omni Kaning (AOK) man had an encounter with the invasive giant hogweed plant late last month, an encounter that’s left him with wounds, scars and a loss of tolerance to sunlight. Nick McGraw explained that he was hired to do some brush cutting in the community near the lake where he believes he encountered giant hogweed, inadvertently cutting th ...

by Alicia McCutcheon LITTLE CURRENT—This Sunday, July 15 marks the International Joint Commission’s (IJC) visit to Manitoulin and it is the last chance for Islanders to share with the six Canadian and American commissioners their thoughts regarding low water levels in Lake Huron. “We certainly need people to come out and voice their concerns,” said Therese Trainor of Kagawong, secretary of the Manitoulin Ar ...