It looks like dredging efforts at Puslinch Lake are coming into the final stretch.
Puslinch Lake Conservation Association past president Art Zymerman provided councillors with a 2016 dredging review.
Zymerman provided an update on activities over the past several years, in addition to a sense of the plans moving forward.
Equipment on a floating barge allows excavation of lake sediment up to a depth of 20 feet, he explained.
On the top of the barge is a steel bin where the excavated material is kept until it can be unloaded in a stockpiling area, Zymerman said. Once there, the material is left to dry.
He described the holding area near McCormick’s Point as fairly expansive, at its six to eight foot depth. But because of wet weather in the spring, Zymerman said there were challenges moving the materials away in a timely fashion.
He said the magnitude of the holding area speaks to the success of the dredging operations over the past few years.
One of the challenges faced is what to do with the dredged material. Zymerman said there have been numerous discussions with local landscapers and farmers. There is now screening machinery on site used in efforts to make the material more appealing for landscapers and farmers to move it away on the association’s behalf, he said.
He provided councillors with a map to illustrate areas dredged in the past, along with proposed future dredging areas.
“Our efforts have been very successful in getting a lot of material out of there,” he said. He stated that between 2014 and 2015 about 314 tons of mud and sediment were removed from the lake.
“We’ve been managing this on a very tight budget … sometimes we’ve had to go knock on a few extra doors around the lake to get extra support to pay for some of the more major expenses,” he said.
Zymerman added, “We’ve been able to do this with both your support, the residents and fundraising around the lake itself.”
He said the $25,000 the township has provided annually is very important to the group’s efforts to restore the lake.
Councillor Susan Fielding stated, “It is great to see citizens in action, who are very proactive.” She added, “it is obvious it is working because the lake looks really good.”
Fielding then asked when the group hoped the work would be finished.
Zymerman said work is about one year behind, so the area mapped for 2016 will now happen in 2017.
“However, within three years, our ask of council will disappear,” Zymerman said.
He anticipated any further dredging would be smaller scale around docks.
“I’m not definitely saying our work would stop 100%, but our ask of council would,” he said.
Fielding said, “It is good to remember there is an end in sight, and things have gone really well.”
Zymerman said, “we’re basically doing this at no profit at all. To my knowledge we are the only group in Ontario that has taken on a project of this scale and tried to do this as a local community.”
He stated this project had been underway for the past 15 years and there were many challenges.
“But it is too much of a gem for the community to give up on,” he said.
Zymerman observed the change to the lake over the past several years has been dramatic.
Councillor Ken Roth indicated he appreciated the work being done and asked if the improved areas had degraded.
Zymerman responded there is loose sediment which will deposit in the deeper holes – as planned.
He said the point of dredging to 20 to 25 feet is that the movement of the loose sediment into the holes would lower the overall lake depth – which makes it more habitable for fish, for vegetation and for recreation.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer said “it would be a tragedy not to carry on.”
However he added as much as council has supported the dredging, public access to Puslinch Lake is limited.
While the lake backs onto Grand River Conservation Authority lands, there is no interest in extending trails or roads to the shoreline.
At the same time, there have been no fees charged to launch canoes from one location on the lake for the past several years.
“In a sense, that is public access,” Bulmer said.
He asked, “Is there any way your organization could help spread the word … or do you not want people to know?”
Zymerman contended there are far more people using the lake now and not just residents. He said there are people traversing the GRCA lands to the lake.
“We see fishermen, kayakers, canoeists, windsurfers and some sailboats.”
He said, “We have no objections whatsoever if the GRCA wants to put in something to access the lake. The challenge would be the cost to provide road access and parking.
“It’s not the lake residents who are saying ‘don’t come out.’ We are doing this for many generations past us.”
Bulmer said it is important to understand this may not be public land, but there is some public access and people are getting use of the lake.
Councillors subsequently endorsed the $25,000 grant request.
