MARCH is finally here!
March! Already! Everything seems calm here, but not for everyone. Your Vice Presidents Éric, Ronald, David and also Pierre are discussing your concerns with the various municipalities since January. There is not much that we can officially tell you, but we should have some interesting news to share at our next AGM meeting June 16 or in our April newsletter.
Here are some details of Pierre’s work since January:
- Discussions about the new Montée Jean-Marc with the municipality of Lac Sainte Marie;
- Meeting with COBALI representatives in Mont Laurier;
- Exchange of correspondence with the Quebec Ministry of the Environment regarding a possible seeding of our lake and Lake Newton;
- Exchange of correspondance with the municipality of Notre Dame de Laus in connection with the expansion of our association towards the north;
- Networking implementation with Lac Sainte Marie, Denholm, Bowman, Notre Dame de Laus, COBALI, the Regional Park and «Base de plein-air Air-Eau-Bois» before the summer;
- Sharing of historical photos of our region, with the help of our members, on our Facebook page;
- Review of our minutes of 2017;
- Review of our website et membership payment procedures;
- Discussion and survey with the Board of Directors and our members for our 2018 activities;
- Booking of some resource persons in connection with our summer activities;
- Preparation of our advertising material (stickers, t-shirt and posters) as well as our environmental material (buoys and various awareness posters);
- Consultations to add 2 new social activities for our members (bike tour and campfire with animation);
- Preparation for our executive meeting in May.
This month, Pierre should advertized about our upcoming fishing tournament in July and also book our musical band for our upcoming Corn & Roast.
Your newsletter is in preparation for this spring and YES you will be able to renew your membership as of mid March.
Next month, we will publish the minutes of our last AGM.
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:
JUNE 16: General Assembly of our members (AGM) at the municipal hall of Lac Sainte Marie from 10am to noon;
AUGUST 4: Community dinner (Corn & Roast) on Carla’s property at 486 Grand Poisson Blanc, Lac Sainte Marie.
Activities to be proposed this year (details to come):
- Fishing tournament with a renewed formula in July;
- A day field trip by bike. A weekend in July;
- Guided tour on our lake by boat;
- Campfire with animation (storytelling, music and marshmallows). Date to be determined. Organisers: Luc, Lori and Pierre
YOUR FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION WILL SOON BE SOLICITED IN ORDER TO REGARNISH OUR FUNDS.
Your $ 25 contribution is a small fee if we compare ourselves to other associations in our region. With your membership we organize all our community and environmental activities.
NEWTON BAY:
Ronald Thomas, our vice-president for Newton Bay and also a founding member of the Newton Bay Owners Association, has sent us an official document for the follow-up on the Montée Jean-Marc / ch de la Solitude. The LSM municipality is ready but we are waiting the final verdict from the MRC (coming on February 23) regarding the future development of this sector. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a positive answer.
To read the document that Ronald received from LSM please go to the February 2018 section in section # 2 … click here: https://lacpoissonblanc.ca/our-projects/
We have received our «welcome sign» from the printer and we thank, SINCERELY, the municipality of Lac Sainte Marie for its contribution of $ 250 and also a member, Anton Sagh, for his $ 75. The total cost will be approximately $ 500 after installation.
BOWMAN:
There will be construction on chemin Poisson Blanc during 2018 according to Sylvie Dejouy …
As the Mayor of Denholm explains: “…There is the bridge that must be built in the area of Poisson-Blanc and Verge-d’or. Since the plans and specifications have already been done, we are just waiting for the confirmation for a grant, but we will have to put between $ 30,000 and $ 35,000. It must be done, we have no choice, otherwise we risk cutting a large number of people in the corner of Lake Rond, Lake Sam, Camp Air-Eau-Bois and part of the Bowman area … »
Last year, as requested, we sent Bowman Municipality a list of findings about the boat descent, which had been prepared with the help of Louise and Ron.
To read this document prepared by Louise and Ron please go to section # 9 by clicking here: https://lacpoissonblanc.ca/our-projects/
The municipality of Bowman has been receptive to the grievances of our vice president, Éric Légaré.
The municipality installed a new landing dock to help with the congestion on the descent. Ron told us that he noticed some improvement. In addition, we received a direct phone number for the SQ if there was a lack of tranquility in the area.
In March 2017, Eric had received these comments from the Municipality of Bowman:
«The Municipality is well aware that our area is important and are ready to work with us. Our file is a regular topic of council discussion. Some members of the board are users of our lake so are well aware of our situation and understand us in our steps. Still, according to the Bowman Municipality, it will help us to define the situation and try to develop a plan to make changes / solutions. Mr. Bergeron informed Eric that they had a plan in place and we were part of it. We were also told that the Municipality would have grants and that it intended to use a part of it for our area. The first step is the revision of the memorandum of understanding with the « Base de plein-air Air Eau Bois. »
The Municipality was planning to meet AEB during the month of March 2017 and we would then arrange for a meeting. However, because of the municipal elections, everything was put on hold.
At last news, Antoine, administrative director of the «Base de plein-air Air-Eau-Bois» should install, the new artistic signs, for the boaters and another to encourage the prewashing of boats for our visitors.
Unfortunately, we have learned of Eric’s resignation as vice-president of the Bowman sector for personal reasons.
The Executive team would like to thank him very much for all the free hours of work he has done for our members over the past two years. Because of him, our members can today enjoy a new dock and better waste management in their area.
Our president thinks he has found a member interested in representing you as vice-president starting in May or before.
We were preparing a letter to put the process in motion again with the new council and to explain the current situation to the new mayor, Pierre Labonté and the new councilors.
More information about our actions in 2018, in our next newsletter to our members.
THANK YOU ÉRIC !
Last item, Pierre will contact the «Sécurité du Québec» concerning 2018 procedures for boat security in the southern portion of our lake.
NEWTON LAKE:
David Orfald, our vice-president for Lake Newton, consulted with his members about a possible seeding of their lake. The vast majority of people in their sector were not interested so we communicated the result of this consultation to Yvon Blanchard G. D. of Lac Sainte Marie who took it into consideration.
Other news:
Fishing tournament:
This year, we want to better our second annual fishing tournament with more participants and hopefully great weather! We need a team to organize it – please consider it and let us know as soon as possible if you’re interested. This is a wonderful opportunity to shape our new tradition!
Any group of members interested in taking the leadership of this tournament PLEASE CONTACT US BEFORE APRIL!
Seeding at Lac Poisson Blanc:
In regards to a possible seeding of our lake here are our demand and the response we received from the government:
Considering also, the comments of some long-term fishermen who mention the decrease in stocks, the increase in the number of sport fishermen in recent years and finally, that no request for study by the Quebec government has been made by municipalities of Notre-Dame de Laus, Bowman or Lac Sainte-Marie on the viability of seeding Lac Poisson Blanc except for one that is more than thirty years old. According to COBALI, it seems that the MFFF started last year or this year the sowing of whitefish lake trout, from broodstock of Lake Pope. Is this the case? We had in mind the landlocked salmon in addition to the lake trout.
Ministry Response:
Yes we sowed with the fertilization of the eggs of the broodstock of Lake Pope. However in 2017 we proceeded with harvesting and artificial fertilization in kind with the stock of lake trout in the Poisson Blanc reservoir.
For the next few years, we plan to stock the lake trout with Whitefish in order to maintain the stock in a better condition, given the difficulties of the population associated with the marlin. However, the size limit remains the same: it is necessary to return to the water lake trout of less than 55 centimeters.
With respect to landlocked salmon, it is quite inappropriate to introduce this species because of the negative interactions with lake trout, which is an indigenous population in the water body. In addition, the project is doomed to failure given the presence of walleye that uses substantially the same spawning habitats as the landlocked salmon. Also, it is forbidden to do this type of seeding according to section 14 of the Regulation respecting aquaculture and the sale of fish of the Act respecting the conservation and development of wildlife: “The species of fish that one would like to sow must already be present in the target water, …. “
We continuing our discussions …
A study on the possibility of a grouping of Denholm and Lac Sainte-Marie:
Article published February 21th, 2018 of the «La Gatineau» newspaper by Sylvie Dejouy:
During the February meeting of the City Council, a resolution was passed asking for technical assistance from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Land Occupancy (MAMOT) to conduct a study on the desirability of a grouping of the municipalities of Denholm and Lac Sainte-Marie. The latter have reached an agreement to carry out a study on the expediency of grouping their territories and MAMOT offers technical assistance for carrying out such a study. This technical assistance is free and is not conditional on a commitment by the municipalities to follow up on the consolidation.
We have been talking with Lac Sainte-Marie for several months, explains Gaétan Guindon. We often work together in a lot of cases and we wanted to see if we would not be able to push that further. The study will see if it would be interesting to regroup.
A working committee on the regrouping has been formed, which will be mandated to carry out the study, with the assistance of the MAMOT, to inform the municipal councils of the progress of work and to consult them if necessary. It is composed of Councilors Marc Gratton and Richard Poirier as well as Mayor Gaétan Guindon and Director General Stéphane Hamel
To read our most recent news, please consult our FACEBOOK page: Lac Poisson Blanc (under the responsibility of Carla Monette THANK YOU)
