The Township of Minden Hills said flooding is beginning to stabilize in the municipality – with the evacuation centre transitioning to a warming centre as of April 21.

It’s upstairs at the community centre at 55 Parkside St. with 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. hours for now, with shower facilities, refreshments, and spots for charging devices.

The recreation centre resumed scheduling April 22 with the fitness room, walking track, rink and drop-in programs all a go, while registered programming resumes April 27. The cultural centre also reopened April 22.

The township said this past Tuesday “water levels in the Minden watershed continue to fluctuate. The township will work with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Parks Canada in monitoring water levels and conditions over the next two weeks.”

The Sunnybrook bridge downtown and Loggers footbridge by Canadian Tire are still closed.

Minister of emergency preparedness and response, Jill Dunlop, visited the Minden fire hall and evacuation centre April 20.

The township said while conditions are stabilizing, they are still in a holding pattern and planning for the recovery is underway.

Dunlop said the province stepped in late last week when they were contacted through the community emergency management co-ordinator – responding with Global Medic volunteers -who had been sandbagging at the fire hall – and Ontario Corps volunteers through the Salvation Army Corps, who have been coordinating efforts at the evacuation centre this week.

Dunlop last visited the community when it declared a state of emergency following the 2025 ice storm.

She commented Monday on “how the community has really come together.

“Everyone is working together … the province and the municipality and our Ontario Corps volunteers and partners out here.” She mentioned mental health supports are also being provided.

When asked about provincial funding once floodwaters recede and the damage to infrastructure can be assessed.

State of emergency to last several more days

Dunlop said she spoke to the minister of municipal affairs and housing April 20 advising she was visiting Minden Hills. “It will be something that I will be speaking to him about and assessing the situation.” She noted 10 communities had declared states of emergency.

The township declared its on April 14. Minden Hills mayor Bob Carter expected it to continue for another five to eight days from this past Monday.

He said they’ve probably had as much water as previous floods, in 2019 and 2013, but it’s been managed better, mitigating risk as much as possible.

Carter said they have to wait for the water to go down to assess damage, although they were planning to do bridge inspections later this week. “That’s the real thing. What’s been deposited on these lands, wells may have been affected.”

The Sunnybrook bridge reopened April 22.

Volunteers

During National Volunteer Week, The Highlander caught up with helpers in Minden.

Francis D’Antimo began volunteering last Thursday when a beaver dam broke, sending water across County Road 121.

“There was a whole bunch of us going up 121 to save these people’s homes,” he said.

He was on Anson Street last Wednesday night in waist-high cold water helping to sandbag. He helped lay bags on Water Street. He said one of the hardest things was talking to seniors who had no insurance.

Elizabeth Mathew swapped her night job checking in people at the rec centre for shifts in the kitchen at the evacuation centre.

The Hal High student served food made by the Minden Community Food Centre. She said it had been fun, hanging out with Minden Hills full-time staffers she never sees, “and it’s also nice just to be able to serve people and have conversations.”

She said she was personally unaffected by the flooding but “I really feel for anybody who is being affected in that way. I also feel really positive for how much, as a community, we have rallied together.”

Highlands East

Highlands East said this week that Contau Lake Road remains closed at Irondale Road due to flooding. Access is available from Gooderham (County Road 507) only. The Community Centre Road and Gooderham Park have been reopened. Updates will be shared as conditions change.

Sandbags are available at the public works yard at 19897 Hwy. 118. This is a self-serve station. Residents are asked to bring their own shovel and lend a hand to neighbours where possible.

Algonquin Highlands council has grounded plans to spend up to $122,000 on a consultant for a revised development plan for Stanhope Municipal Airport, opting to complete some of the work gradually in-house instead.

The township committed to the six-figure sum during budget deliberations to help advance several projects at the facility, with council also seeking advice on what to do with 10 developable lots, currently vacant but ripe for commercial or industrial use.

An initial plan was completed in 2014, but council put out an RFP to update the document in 2024. After receiving little interest, public works manager, Adam Thorn, pitched the job to Kitchener-based Avia NG Airport Consultants, which was hired last year to assist with tree clearing at the airport.

Jordan McDonald, a project manager with the firm, presented a proposal to council April 16. His seven-step plan included an in-person visit of the airport to assess existing infrastructure; consult with municipal staff and airport users; review the existing document; and put together detailed drawings outlining potential upgrades.

“We work specifically with smaller municipal and regional airports… specializing in operational service, runways, airspace and planning, development and design and terminal works,” McDonald said.

Janine Mitchell, another firm representative, said Avia NG recently partnered with the Town of Midland on a new plan for Huronia Airport.

“Very similar exercise to what you guys are looking for. We reviewed their property, figured out what land could be developed, what could be sold off,” Mitchell said.

Mayor Liz Danielsen felt the township already knew much of that information – asking Thorn if staff could handle tweaking the previous plan without any additional spending. The public works manager said he could, while also advocating for greater involvement from the airport committee.

Thorn said the first thing council has to decide on is what to do with the vacant lots.

“Does the township want to be landlords, or just sell the property?” he asked, suggesting council hire a commercial real estate agent to gauge interest.

Attracting new commerce and industry to the airport lands is key to balancing its books, Thorn said. The facility operates at a loss, though expenses were scaled back in 2026 – anticipated at $57,900 from over $107,000 last year.

“I think we have a lot of opportunities within the airport property, as well as the developable area, to sell lots to help offset costs to develop other lots for businesses,” Thorn said. “If we can sell-off, say, six lots and that covers us developing two lots [to manage ourselves], that would be very beneficial and efficient for us as a municipality and for our taxpayers.”

Several of the airport’s hangars are damaged, meaning they’re closed and not bringing in any revenue, Thorn said. The township has been told it will need to invest around $2.3 million to fix the roofs of five buildings.

Land is still set aside, too, for a longer runway – which could, one day, open the door for larger planes to utilize the airport. Last year, council also approved a spend of up to $100,000 to help bring a new food vendor to the site.

Land is still set aside, too, for a longer runway – which could, one day, open the door for larger planes to utilize the airport. Last year, council also approved a spend of up to $100,000 to help bring a new food vendor to the site.

As of Dec. 31, the township had just under $1.05 million in its airport reserves.

Danielsen liked the idea of breaking the airport plan into “bitesize pieces” and doing the work in-house. The $125,000 set aside for that would be added to the reserve fund.

Deputy mayor Jennifer Dailloux worried that completing things step-by-step could prove more costly, but coun. Sabrina Richards felt it was more prudent.

“This is about trying to save costs and move the needle forward at the airport without spending money unless we have a firm return on it… we don’t want to build something unless we have somebody willing to move in and know it will be rented out,” Richards said.

Thorn said he would return to council’s next meeting May 7 with a breakdown of the property and its existing assets.

“I’m looking more basic – it doesn’t need to be an elaborate plan right now. We need to determine what council wants. Once we establish what properties we have and what we want to do, then we can move onto the next step… of developing it or leaving it and selling as-is,” Thorn said.

The Ministry on Natural Resources said last week that Katy-Lynn Meloche of Haliburton pleaded guilty to trespassing for the purpose of hunting, unlawfully possessing a firearm at night, using a firearm carelessly to hunt, and possessing illegally killed wildlife.

She was fined $5,000 and is prohibited from possessing an Ontario hunting licence and engaging in any hunting activities in the province for four years. She must also successfully retake the Ontario Hunter Education Course before applying for a hunting licence.

The Ontario Court of Justice heard that on Nov. 13, 2024, conservation officers responded to a public complaint of trespassing for the purpose of hunting a deer at night after a blood trail and a crossbow bolt were discovered in the complainant’s backyard within the Village of Haliburton.

They said an investigation determined Meloche shot at an antlered deer twice with a crossbow on Nov. 12, 2024. The deer was wounded after the initial shot and Meloche tracked the deer to a neighbouring property, taking a second shot at the deer after legal hunting hours. The bolt from the second shot was recovered stuck in the ground within close proximity to a home. It was found Meloche discharged the crossbow without reasonable consideration for people or property.

The wounded deer continued to travel through multiple properties within the Village of Haliburton before dying. The deer was recovered on the morning of Nov. 13 and unlawfully possessed by Meloche. Permission to recover the deer was not granted from all property owners where Meloche had tracked the deer.

Justice of the Peace Jennifer A. Mumby heard the case in the Ontario Court of Justice, Lindsay, on Dec. 17, 2025.

To report a natural resource problem or provide information about an unsolved case, members of the public can call the ministry TIPS line toll free at 1-877-847-7667. You can also call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS. For more information about unsolved cases, please visit ontario. ca/MNRTips.

Rick Whitteker got the call April 16 that 500 copies of his self-published book, Nature Nuggets, had arrived from a Markham printer to Parker Pad and Printing.

“It’s very exciting,” the newspaper columnist told The Highlander in an interview.

He said he had never envisaged writing a book, so the fact it has come together “is almost hard to comprehend. I’m super happy.”

Nature Nuggets is a compilation of 30 articles Whitteker has submitted to County Life over the past two years via his bi-weekly column Naturally Yours. He said the book idea came from feedback on those columns.

“People would go out of their way to talk to me, in a restaurant or on the street, not people I would normally socialize with. They would tell me they really enjoyed my last article. And I started to think, ‘maybe, there’s something here’. I dipped my toe into the idea of whether a compilation would work.” He talked to some folks and thought he could self-publish if he kept the project modest.

Nature Nuggets includes 20 articles on day hiking and paddling destinations and 10 articles on a range of ecological topics connected to the environs of Haliburton County.

A made-in-Haliburton product, Whitteker said all contributions to the book, including the writing, editing, publishing, and almost all the photos, were sourced locally. “I just felt there were enough resources within the community to get this done. It’s all about the Haliburton Highlands, so it made sense to try to keep everything in that envelope. It’s kind of unique that way.”

Whitteker said that to write columns, he needs to have “some real contact with my content beforehand. The articles I enjoy the most are the ones that I go out and experience something that’s really impressive; whether it be going for a hike and experiencing wildlife, or just something that’s impressive environmentally.”

He said this time of year, it can be harder to find topics, especially under current flood conditions. Last week, however, he started writing a column about the mental health benefits of bird song. “It’s something I felt when I went outside.”

Whitteker moved to the Highlands in 1997. He was the editor of a wolf magazine when he worked at Haliburton Forest. He has worked in outdoor adventure, including at Fleming College for 15 years. He still works part-time at the Haliburton Highlands Land Trust. It was through that work that he decided to write again with Darren Lum giving him the opportunity with County Life.

At the Land Trust, they talk about climate change resiliency and biodiversity, themes represented in his writing; about having a long-term vision for the land and water.

“As an older adult, this gives me purpose and joy, and is the main reason why I’m doing it. And the whole idea of getting people out into nature is important to me. too. You can’t protect what you don’t love, or you can’t take care of something you don’t know. The more people are outdoors, the more likely they are to say ‘I believe in conservation, or I believe we need to take care of what’s around us better,’ because we can see the results of not doing that.”

He’s already sold 100 books sight unseen. There will be a book launch May 8, 10 a.m. to noon at Castle Antiques in Haliburton. The book is, or will soon be, available at the Agnes Jamieson Gallery, UpRiver in Minden and Haliburton, and Masters Bookstore in Haliburton.

“It’s a project. You take it on and you see it through to fruition. You have some self doubts along the way. And then it ends up coming in 50 boxes and you reflect on that and you feel pretty good about it.” Whitteker said.

When Minden Hills flooded in 2013 and 2019, Tiffany English volunteered to help fill and deliver sandbags. So, when the Gull River, along with the Burnt and Irondale rivers began to rise this spring, she headed down to the sand piles outside the Minden Curling Club once again.

“We’re on high ground, so just here to help,” she told The Highlander. A tiler by trade, she was taking time off to pitch in for the community. Her fiancé was out with the truck delivering sandbags, making runs to Carnarvon, Minden and Kinmount. She said some elderly folks had come to get sandbags to load into SUVs and volunteers just wanted to give them some extra help.

Asked about the spirit of volunteerism in Haliburton County, English said, “It always does amaze me, but I am honestly never shocked because we always come together whether it’s a state of emergency or a tragic incident.”

She referenced how the community answered a GoFundMe call to action for the family of Curtis Barker, who is battling a rare cancer – raising more than $100,000 in a short period of time.

English was working beside Faye Mortell, who’d come on her own to help. She said she was helping a resident who asked her what organization she was with. She answered, “myself, no organization. I was at my office watching the river and not being productive.”

Highland Hills United Church minister, Max Ward swapped his cassock for army attire, answering a shoutout for cadets to help out. He brought his mother, Sue Ward.

“Just doing some volunteering for the community,” Ward said. His mom added, “I’ve always done this type of thing.”

Nathalie Chartrand took her boys, Kyle and Ethan Chartrand, out of school for the volunteer gig. Kyle said he was there “because I can help people that are struggling with the flooding.”

Nathalie added, “we’re very fortunate. We don’t have water at our house so, really, this is the least we can come and do I think.”