Kukagami Environment Watch Area News
kewatch.blogspot.ca Spring 2013
A snowdrift is a beautiful thing - if it doesn’t lie across the path you have to shovel or block the road that leads to your destination. Hal Borland
It is the first day of Spring!
And the snow just keeps coming. This is great news for traditionalists. Remember what winter used to be like? Lots of snow until the end of April? Might as well get out and enjoy it. The ski trails are still in good shape, but spring conditions allow skiing everywhere - so get out and explore! Don’t ski? No problem. Take the snow machine out for a cruise, or snowshoe through the bush, or just go for a hike on the lake one sunny day this weekend. The long days of spring are made for being outside.
Comet Watch
During March, comet PANSTARRS may be viewable if you have a totally unobstructed view of the western horizon for about 15 minutes after twilight. Any clear evening in the next few days, be sure to go out for a look. The comet will begin to fade away slowly over the next week, becoming difficult to view (even with binoculars or small telescopes) by month's end. The comet will appear as a bright point of light with its diffuse tail pointing nearly straight up from the horizon like an exclamation point.
Spring Road Clean-up
Once the snow finally melts away, KEW will host the annual spring Road Clean up! Between now and May 5th, you can sign up to clear the litter from a section of Kukagami and Fox Roads. To register for your section of the road, drop a line here at kewatch@gmail.com.
Bring a friend – it’s a fine way to spend a spring day while at camp.
**Please note! The City wants us to sort the roadside trash into separate bags of recyclables and garbage. We have clear bags for the recyclables, and black bags for the garbage. Please let us know if you need these supplies!**
You also need to sign a waiver. Please wear a bright orange vest while working…and keep yourself safe!
Water Watcher
www.watercooperation2013.org2013 is the International Year of Water Cooperation, and this Friday is World Water Day. If you are in Sudbury, there will be a lunch hour hike at the Lake Laurentian Conservation Area. Meet at the Nature Chalet at 2309 South Bay Rd at 12:15 for this 3 km hike.
Keeping our Lake Water Clean…tips from Earthcare Sudbury:
At the Shoreline
Priority: Protect natural habitat where plants, fish and other animals live, grow and help keep our lakes clean and healthy.
- Leave or create shoreline buffer strips.
- Keep most of your shoreline natural.
- Use dock designs that don't obstruct water circulation or disturb the lake or stream bed (eg. floating docks or docks constructed on stilts).
- Leave aquatic plants in the water.
- Avoid disrupting fish habitat during spawning and early rearing periods.
Our Stories
The KEW story teller begins another series of Kukagami tales about life on our shores. Expect references to our drives along our roads. Monique Taylor invites you to share in the fun of recreating special moments from your family's memories. If you don't want to write just give her some details (exaggerations welcomed). Your family can edit final copy, before printing.
Call or email Monique
705 853-4772
moniquetaylor@explornet.com
Our Camps on the Shores of Kukagami Lake
"When I bought my 'camp', I did not know what a bargain I had in the bluebirds, daffodils and thrushes; as little did I know what sublime mornings and sunsets I was buying." Adapted Ralph Waldo Emerson
The Road
Tales about wilderness surrounding Kukagami Lake suggest an interest about what trails lead to the shore. Any initial excursion to the North End guarantees discoveries about early 20th Century human activities .
Children return from their first adventures with wonder. "There's a really old mine, with parts of a rail, and you have to bend down to walk in, and it's really dark and when you shine your flashlight you can see lots of bats. So, how did miners get there?"
Teenagers - older, experienced adventurers - pipe up, "Did you find the broken-down logging camp? When we searched, we found some parts of a broken-down building. Grandpa said there once was a horse stable there. But nobody can see a trail through the forest. So how did the people get there?"
Around the fireplace, discoveries are shared. "We found what was left of a burned down place!"
"I jumped into the lake and saw a bunch of upright logs up against the shore, then I dove down and found a really ancient Pepsi bottle. Let's go look for more stuff."
Stories about early decades of 20th century, folk tales and maybe legends about hardy trappers, hunters, and prospectors are part of our Kukagami heritage.
By mid 20th Century, we know that three lodges brought eager hunters and fishermen to our shores and guided the men seeking the thrill of a wilderness adventure to areas where moose, bears and lake trout were plentiful. The building of hunt camps began. The next half century saw rough hewn camps being built around the bays. Each summer, the sounds of men hard at work and joyful children hard at play broke the wilderness silence. By 1970's, at least one hundred families had become summer residents and they filled their homes with relatives and friends.
Those early pioneers had hacked out a dusty, bumpy, winding, hilly, rough, narrow road to parts of our shores.
An earlier Kukagami story reminds us of the journeys. "Kukagami Lake irresistibly draws us to its forests, to its shores, to our friends and neighbours, even though travelling along the narrow winding 'road' was mostly an unpleasant adventure."
The unpleasant adventures repeated week after week, after week, always ended with a greeting. "How's the road?”
Visitors usually responded, "You call that cow trail, a road?"
"At least, we have a road to our driveway", responded some lucky campers.
In the late 70's campers further down the lake hired Leo McGillis to bulldoze a road from Rivais' driveway to Bellevilles. Leo created the infamous chainsaw hill where cars grinded their way up.
The neighbourly Kukagami greeting, "How's the road?" received bitter responses.
"Lost my muffler!" "Got a flat." "You call that a road?"
The last decades of the 20th Century brought rapid changes - hydro arrived by overhead lines and underwater cables, telephones replaced C.B.radios- with the changes came modernization. Camps were turned into cozy cottages, some well-loved camps were replaced by brand new houses built by experienced contractors using brand new materials.
During 1st decade of 21st century, more and more retirees chose to enjoy our wilderness year round. Perhaps, they chose to "live life to the fullest". Long time residents, the Robinsons, the Spyrkas and the lodge owners welcomed new year-round neighbours.
And now, no matter the season, Kukagami conversations begin with some version of the early "Where's the trail?" First words - in person, by phone or e-mail - "How's the road?"
The road has changed dramatically, but the question, and answers, echo the past.
Where is that?
KEW is creating a map with our local place names. Here’s the first place…as mentioned in the story above. Chainsaw Hill is now a lovely walking trail, located just past #450 on Fox Road.

In Memory:
On January 2nd our lakeside community lost one of its own, Sylvia (Cyr) Malette.
Sylvie was a loving wife, mother & grandmother looking forward to the birth of her first great grandchild. Proud of her children, she was pleased as punch with the antics of her very busy young grandsons, Kevin & Keith, (better known as "Kiki"). They could do no wrong in her eyes & sure kept Sylvia on her toes. Then after a long wait, finally a granddaughter...her beloved Magalie.
I remember card games with Remi & his Sylvie, sitting around the table, comfy in the warmth of the woodstove she was so proud to own. So many laughs & good times. The others at the table all spoke French, so sometimes an expression had to be translated into English for me & we'd laugh all over again as they attempted to have it make sense to me. We'd munch on snacks, while Sylvia would talk about the latest project she had lined up for Remi. She would deliver him to a job site to do some drywalling & inspect the work he had done to date.
There were numerous bus trips to the casino or to see a concert, and she met many new friends on these excursions.
She pitched in at the annual Campers' Picnic doing everything from running the kiddie fish pond to working at the bake table.
We hadn't had much contact the last few years, but the memories of good times linger.
No two snowflakes are ever the same, so they say, and no two people are ever exactly identical. Sylvia, there will never be another one quite like you.
Remi, Sue, Michael and families know that she will be missed by all those whose path she crossed.
"You can remember her and only that she has passed on or,
Do as she would want, smile, love each other and go on."
Website and Newsletter
The KEW newsletter is published quarterly, and sent by email to any interested person. The Website is updated randomly through the year – so check for new information and photos! Submit photos and news items to our email – listed below.
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