Happy New Year and Welcome to Canada's 150th Birthday Let's Celebrate

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1 Edition #010, 7 January, 2017 View this in your browser Happy New Year and Welcome to Canada's 150th Birthday Let's Celebrate How would you like to celebrate the 150th Birthday of Canada on Mississippi Lake? The MLA Board of Directors is looking for your ideas and participation. What should we do to help Canada Celebrate her 150th birthday? Some ideas that have been submitted:

2 Organize a flotilla of boats from Innisville to Carleton Place. Honours to the best decorated boat for example. Hold a Mississippi Lake Golf Tournament at one on our local clubs. Host a "Bio-blitz" to discover hidden secrets in our environment. Please contact us if: You like any of these ideas and want to get involved in making them happen; or You have other ideas you would like to bring forward. Check out the web site from time to time and we well keep you informed on activities being organized to celebrate Canada's 150th on Mississippi Lake LANARK COUNTY LEGACY COTTAGE PROGRAM CELEBRATING CANADA S 150TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2017 Has you cottage or lakeside home been in the family for at least 50 years? If so you could be eligible recognition through the Legacy Cottage Program Designation Criteria Direct descendant of the same family should have owned the cottage for 50, 75, 100, or 125 consecutive years. A family member should still own the cottage property. Cottages that have been rebuilt or converted into permanent homes are eligible. The cottage can be on a lake, river or creek in Lanark County. Legacy Cottage Plaque The Legacy Cottage plaque features an etching courtesy of Tay Valley artist, Franc van Oort The plaque measures 8.5 x 11 inches and is suitable to hang in your cottage year-round.

3 As you will appreciate, government funding is not available for this program. Hence, recipients will be asked to pay $50 to cover the cost of their plaque. Each plaque will be personalized with the family name or cottage name as requested by each family. Legacy Cottage plaques will be presented in the summer of As this program rolls out the MLA website will provide presentation details for our lake dwellers. For those whose cottage is on a river or creek, the presentation will take place at another suitable occasion. Look for more details in your spring tax bill or use this PDF to apply. LYL - Property Surveys Information on how to obtain your individual property survey developed through last summer's Love Your Lake program will be mailed out in late March. This correspondence will provide property owners with a unique code that will allow you to access your report. If you are a new owner for your property or for some reason you do not receive the information by mail you may contact Heather Murrphy the LYL coordinator at Watersheds Canada. ( ) to obtain your code. You will need to

4 provide her with your tax roll number so she can provide the correct code. Become a Water Ranger Water Rangers is a free platform for Citizen Scientists to record observations about water. Download the app to your phone and start participating. It is a fun interactive way to help protect our waterways. MLA 2017 AGM Mark your calendar for the 2017 AGM. Note change in day and time from previous years. Date and Time: May 18 at 7PM Location: Brunton Community Hall, th Line Road, Beckwith Township

5 Its Ice Fishing Time Again As we see the ice huts begin to pop up on the lake you might be wondering about any regulations surrounding this sport. To ice fish in Ontario, and on Mississippi Lake in particular, you need to: have a valid fishing licence follow the rules when using fishing lines register your ice hut (FMZ 18) clearly display your registration number on the outside of your ice hut; and remove your ice hut by the 15th of March. Registering ice huts You only need to register once. You can use the same ice hut number on all the ice huts you own. If you have an existing ice hut number, you do not need to re-register previously issued ice hut numbers continue to be valid. There are no costs to register. For a complete coverage of the Ontario Ice Fishing Regulations, including methods of registering read more.

6 And be safe when you are out on the ice...the ice does move and the weather can change conditions rapidly. Three Useful Tips for Winter Birding Thanks to Louise and Bob of Gillygallou Bird Inc When speaking of winter birds, we all are aware that they definitely require a bit more care this time of year, especially with inclement weather and snow storms, making it difficult for them to forage for food and stay warm. In addition to keeping your feeders full and providing your birds with a reliable winter watering hole, we have three more tips to make your winter birding just that much more comfortable and safe for the birds. Keeping Feeders & Feeding Areas Tidy We should most definitely be keeping our feeders squeaky clean throughout the year, but with large amounts of accumulated snow fall, we can also help out our ground-feeding birds. Many birds that perch upon our feeders are quite good at knocking a good portion of our seed to the ground. What lie beneath the feeder is our ground-feeders such as cardinals and juncos. What many folks like to do is use a shovel or other flat object to stamp out the area surrounding the base of your feeder. This easily allows small ground-feeding birds access to fallen seed after major snowfalls. Predator Prevention Just the same as our birds are in need of nutrition so true is the same for many other animals, including those with birds on their menu. Neighborhood cats and other wildlife prey upon feeders during the winter months as the cold and snowy conditions often allow them to sneak up rather quietly. Be sure that your feeders are placed close to natural cover for your birds, but not so close that a predator could easily utilize that same cover. Some folks even go so far as to place small cages, fencing or mesh around their feeding stations to prevent predation.

7 Roosting Sites While many of us choose to remove nesting boxes from our yard in the fall, they can actually be quite helpful to overwintering birds. Many species such as chickadees and some woodpeckers will use these sites to roost during the cold months and are often a place of refuge for birds during terrible weather. Lake Stories The Mississippi Belle Online has been launched. The intention of this section of the MLA web site is to provide a place where we can share stories in information about our lake community. To this end if you have stories of experiences you have had, history you want to share or information you feel is worthwhile to all we would love to hear from you. Please contact Dave Hands our MBOL editor with your contributions. RECYCLE YOUR CHRISTMAS TREE FOR WILDLIFE CREATE A BRUSH PILE WITH YOUR TREE AS THE BASE A brush pile often consists of leaves, logs, and twigs so an old Christmas tree can make a great base. This is the easiest thing you can do with your tree if you have a yard. It directly benefits the wildlife in your backyard during winter months because brush piles and dead trees offer food and needed protection from the chill. USE IT IN THE GARDEN There are a number of ways you can use your recycled Christmas tree to enrich your soil by composting it or using the pine needles and boughs to cover your garden bed. Chop the trunk and branches and break your tree down, this will allow you to add some nice insulation to your garden. DECORATE YOUR TREE FOR WILDLIFE If you love to watch birds or want a fun project, you can decorate your tree with edible ornaments or popcorn strings so that you feed wildlife like birds and squirrels. This is a enjoyable activity to do with kids or the young at heart and can help wildlife at a time when food is scarce. Most of the recipes call

8 for peanut butter, fresh fruit (like grapes, berries, or apples), suet and bird seed. Check out these KID- FRIENDLY NATURE CRAFTS FOR VALENTINE S DAY. Fun for all. Facebook Website Share Forward Copyright 2017 Mississippi Lakes Association, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these s? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list