Many County residents are in mourning after the remains of Grace, a 125-year-old snapping turtle who regularly frequented the Haliburton village area, were found at Koshlong Lake.

Leora Berman, founder of The Land Between conservation group and Turtle Guardians charity, confirmed July 29 a skeleton found near the dam on Koshlong belonged to Grace.

“We received an email with a picture of the remains in mid-July… I suspected it could be her because the ocular bones were a conspicuous match,” Berman told The Highlander. She requested the remains be brought to the Turtle Guardians home on Gelert Road for further testing.

“At first, they looked too small, so we checked measurements against our records and, compared to other skeletons of elders we had, it was clear this turtle was huge, despite the meager appearance of the bones remaining,” she added. “Grace also had deformed bumpy scutes at the back of her carapace, which were a match. Then, we had no doubt.”

Grace had been missing for well over a year, last spotted emerging from hibernation from a wetland near Haliburton Highlands Secondary School (HHSS) in spring 2021. Berman said she had been displaced when that wetland, located on private property, was filled by the owner in January 2022.

Many predicted Grace had been buried alive, leading to Turtle Guardians hosting an unofficial funeral service at HHSS in September 2022. That her remains were located in a different watershed approximately 15 kilometres away raises more questions for Berman.

“From decades of research, it is virtually unheard of for snapping turtles to travel those distances. Although they may adjust their territories [they would never do so] in one year. Territories are like their languages, and changing territorial boundaries means learning a new language, which tends to take time. Therefore, the only logical explanation is that she was moved to that location,” she said.

Being translocated to an unfamiliar area, Berman said, was a death sentence.

“When turtles are displaced, it is like being in a foreign country. They would not know where to find suitable hibernation sites. She was found in an open lake that is not a known choice for snapping turtles to overwinter in – the conditions in the lake may not have allowed her to survive the winter,” Berman said, noting it is “highly doubtful” Grace was killed by a predator, or suddenly died of old age.

“The exact cause is a mystery, but biologically and behaviourally, her passing relates to her being displaced,” she added.

Critical of Dysart et al

While saying she’s grateful Grace’s remains have been found, Berman said she feels no sense of closure. She criticized Dysart et al council for failing to implement what she describes as “a simple bylaw” that would go a long way towards protecting wetland sites, and species that inhabit them, in the future.

The township has been working on a new site alteration bylaw for several months. Karl Korpela, Dysart’s chief building official, tabled a draft document in May he said would work in tandem with the County’s tree preservation bylaw to establish clear restrictions on what property owners can and cannot do on land fronting water and in environmentally protected (EP) areas.

At a July 25 meeting, council discussed the bylaw, which mayor Murray Fearrey says should focus more on education than punishment. He proposed approving the bylaw in time for implementation Jan. 1, 2024. The item will be discussed again at the next scheduled council meeting on Aug. 22.

“This council keeps deferring their basic responsibilities,” Berman said. “I feel sad and shocked because, after one-and-a-half years, no change has ensued with our leaders… the municipality is the first line of defence for our disappearing wildlife and their habitats. If Dysart continues to deflect or drop the ball, it will be hard to reverse losses and it will cost this community, if not soon [then] in the long run.”

A memorial walk for Grace will be held in Haliburton Sept. 29. Berman said the turtle’s remains will stay with the Guardians likely until next year, when a burial ceremony can be held, led by Indigenous elders of the Turtle Clan.

To learn more about the Guardians’ efforts, visit turtleguardians.com/in-the-name-ofgrace.

A group of residents with homes overlooking the Wigamog Inn property say they are considering hiring legal representation as they try to force owner, Aurora Group, or Dysart et al township, to take immediate action to demolish derelict buildings at the site.

Fred Nurnberger, Jerry Stokes and Mike Bernard all own property in the Silver Beach subdivision. The trio say they’ve grown frustrated by the lack of action at the Wigamog, which has been slated for demolition for almost a year.

“If any of us need to sell our property right now, we have a problem. Who would buy here not knowing what’s happening next door? I’d just like to know when this is going to be resolved,” Nurnberger said.

Stokes estimated property values in the subdivision were down 15 to 20 per cent due to the uncertainty around the Wigamog. He believes the onus now falls on the township to take action with Aurora Group delaying the demolition process in recent months.

Township says Auroras still planning demo

Bylaw officer, Rob Mascia, told council at a recent meeting that tear down of some accessory buildings began at the site March 30, but work stopped in late May when crews reported multiple minor explosions at one of the cabins. Mascia said hydro hadn’t been fully disconnected at all outer buildings. Workers were on site June 15 to disconnect, with Mascia saying Aurora Group notified him they were planning to proceed with demolition June 26.

More than one month on and that work is still yet to commence. Mascia told The Highlander he had a discussion with Aurora Group representatives last week, who told him work should start up again Aug. 9 or 10

Attempts by The Highlander to reach Aurora Group for comment have been unsuccessful.

Story to date

Aurora Group purchased the Wigamog in March 2016, announcing big plans for the site. A proposal posted to the company’s website included reopening the inn and the Moose Bar and Grill. There was also talk of a new residential development, with 180-plus units of condos, townhouses, and detached homes.

Years went by without any action. Mascia, in a previous interview with The Highlander, said he has completed multiple inspections of the property dating back to 2019. In May 2022, he issued a remedial action notice to Aurora Group outlining 47 infractions of the township’s property standards bylaw, with issues varying from downed power lines to smashed windows, damaged doors, and collapsed decks.

At a property standards committee meeting last fall, Aurora Group signalled their intent to demolish the 37 buildings that make up the Wigamog site. They then missed a deadline to submit a demolition permit, which led to the committee directing Dysart’s chief building official, Karl Korpela, to issue an RFP to have the site torn down. That was in October 2022.

Staff were still working on the RFP come March when Aurora Group started the demolition process.

Mayor frustrated

Dysart mayor Murray Fearrey said he’s bringing the issue back to council Aug. 22, where he’ll be recommending the township restart the RFP process.

“We’ve diddled around with this all summer… we’re going to have no choice [but to act] ourselves,” Fearrey said. Fellow members of council Carm Sawyer, Barry Boice and Pat Casey expressed concern when the Wigamog property was last discussed in council chambers July 25. They each said they’d like to see the township issue ultimatums to Aurora Group, giving them a set deadline to complete work and fining them if they didn’t follow through.

Korpela said the township cannot impose timelines on demolition permits, and since Aurora Group had already exceeded the timelines outlined in the property standards order issued last year, there wasn’t much more the town could do, outside of issuing its own RFP. He warned there were potential drawbacks to doing that, though.

“It’s going to take a couple of months minimum to complete an RFP process and get a tender in place. There’s a lot of unknowns with how we can facilitate this quicker when the applicant is doing something to continue demolition. It might not be to a timeline of our satisfaction, but [our] process would take a lot longer,” he said. “Construction companies are busy at this time of year. It’s going to be hard to find a company to come in and start right away.”

Waiting is over

Stokes said he feels just as much frustration towards the township as he does Aurora Group. He feels council dropped the ball by electing not to follow through with an RFP earlier this year.

“The township has to take control of this situation. Right now, nobody is making any decisions. Nobody has a timeline,” Stokes said. “There’s been very little movement on this for years. The Dysart building department is responsible for following through with the actions they set in place, and they haven’t. Right now, the town is not doing its job.”

Every time Mike Bernard steps outside his front door he’s greeted with a visual of three downed cabins being left to rot. While he’s annoyed by the less-than-ideal aesthetics, he’s also worried about the risk of fire, especially given the current climate.

“That whole place has the potential to go up like a camp fire. If we get dry again, all it takes is a spark. I’m worried about how quickly that could spread, and then things like asbestos and other chemicals that are probably in there,” he said.

Nurnberger said he’s afraid to let his grandchildren play outdoors, given his home is the last in the row along William James Court, with only a few trees separating him from the Wigamog property.

“We just don’t want to see someone get hurt. There’s a lot of people here that are grandparents – all it takes is one kid going somewhere they shouldn’t for something really bad to happen. There’s all sorts of mess over there. It wouldn’t take much for someone to get hurt.”

County council, at its last meeting, voted to send its short-term rental bylaw to the four lower-tier municipalities for possible adoption.

It’s now up to Algonquin Highlands, Dysart et al, Highlands East and Minden Hills to pass it.

Further, council has directed County staff to work with employees from the four townships to prepare a request for proposals (RFP) for a third-party provider to administer the new rules and regulations, if adopted. It’s hoped municipalities can report on what they think will be required of them when it comes to inspection and enforcement. After all of that, local government will be looking towards setting an implementation date.

The decision came after a lengthy debate in which warden, Liz Danielsen, expressed frustration that it, “looks like we can’t make a decision if our life depends on it.”

Coun. Murray Fearrey also commented, “how come all these other municipalities have done this and we’re so complicated?”

Director of planning, Steve Stone, brought clarified definitions and further refinements of the bylaw to the July 26 meeting. However, he said, “the most critical piece of the bylaw that was changed really reflects council’s interest in allowing for operators to sign up, and basically swear that their establishment is operating in accordance with all of the rules and regulations, so building code, fire code and so on and so forth.

“But there is a notwithstanding clause in the bylaw that allows municipal departments to do their own deep dive… so hold back from issuing a license if they have a concern that they may have heard about or may have seen in their own records as they’re processing applications.”

Stone said the City of Kawartha Lakes had approved a short-term rental bylaw.

County to prepare MAT bylaw

He said they have set a license application date of April 1, 2024. After that date, CKL is capping the number of STRs and putting STR owners on a wait list.

He added the County had received correspondence from two, third party contractors who do short-term rental work on behalf of municipalities in Ontario. They’ve indicated there could be anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 of them being advertised in the Highlands.

After Coun. Lisa Schell expressed concern with Minden Hills not having enough planning and building department staff, specifically bylaw enforcement, to manage the portfolio, Stone said the third-party providers “can do pretty much everything up until the enforcement – inspection side of things. They can run the permitting side of things. For their fee, they can pretty much do everything, taking the major administration burden away from the municipalities.”

He indicated with a self attestation form, municipalities would not have to inspect all of STRs, perhaps auditing just five per cent every year.

Fearrey said he understood the contractor would do much of the work. “What we’re going to do is what we have to do at the local tier because that’s where the bodies are, if we have to do a fire or building inspection. So, there will be some work there, there’s no question about it, but it’s minimal.” He added, “we’re never going to get this perfect. We’re going to have to amend it as we go along…”

Coun. Walt McKechnie noted third-party providers also monitor compliance issues. They can levy fines, issue demerits and suspend licenses. They are on call for complaints. CAO Mike Rutter noted the contractor can take and upload videos for municipal bylaw staff to review if they cannot attend on a weekend, for example.

Will generate revenue

Rutter, while arguing the townships have to take on the bylaw due to them having paper copies of all relevant documentation, said the licensing fee, “will generate a fairly significant source of income to help you get more staff to do all of the things.”

Coun. Bob Carter reiterated he did not want any tax dollars to go into the program.

During his presentation on a possible municipal accommodation tax, director of economic development, Scott Ovell, said local governments can keep 50 per cent of revenue and apply it anywhere, including to short-term rental program costs.

Carter said one of the most difficult things is “we have no idea how many there are. This is the real crap shoot in all of this.” Fearrey suggested some rentals won’t make the cut.

Carter agreed the County, “can’t make this perfect, it’s a leap of faith, but we all know we need to do this. It’s an issue on so many levels. We’re going to have to figure it out.”

Fearrey said he was prepared to take the bylaw to his council. “We’ve been diddling around with this thing for six months.”

With the MAT tax, council authorized staff to prepare a bylaw for consideration by lower-tier municipalities and put the wheels in motion to set up a municipal accommodation tax association.

Nomi Resort hosted an open house July 22.

The day featured food, live music and raffles.

Development Lead and COO Elise Blouin said, “this is a great opportunity for cottagers and community members to learn more about what we do here at Nomi and the different developments at the resort located along Elephant Lake.”

There were resort tours offering visitors a look at the spa, pools and sauna treatment rooms.

For more information on Nomi Resort go to nomiresort.com.

Gooderham is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, and the hamlet’s music festival July 28 is keeping the celebrations going.

Valerie Dugale, chair of the Gooderham Community Action Group, said making a few changes to the timing of the festival has allowed them to bring a tribute band to headline. “We have shortened the time from 1-7 p.m. instead of the whole day. We found shortening it up allowed us more money for bands.”

The music festival has four bands slotted to play throughout the day starting with the B&B Blues Band at 1 p.m. Rockin’ Bob’s at 3 p.m., the Salt Cellars at 5 p.m., and Ed’s Garage at 7 p.m.

Along with great music will be a BBQ, homemade baked goods, and other refreshments. “We also have T-shirts and calendars for sale celebrating the Gooderham spirit,” Dugale said.

One of the things that has made a difference this year is a grant from the Haliburton County Development Corporation (HCDC). Dugale said they were able to put road signs up further afield. “This has really allowed us to go bigger, get it on the map, so to speak.”

The festival ran for two years before COVID and then last year and this year. Dugale said the two years that things were in hiatus has actually been good for the community action group. “When we couldn’t do much, a lot of new members came into the group. People who had cottages up here moved up permanently, so we came out of COVID with a much bigger and stronger Gooderham Community Action Group.”

The goal of the group is to bring people together, to celebrate and help one another out.

The group was formed in 2001 and has been planning events and promoting the area ever since.

“We still have a number of events coming up,” said Dugale. “We have the 503 street sale in August, a trunk and treat Halloween event where people come, open their trunks and hand out candy. We had more than 50 children last year.”

The group is able to fund their events through a bottle return. Gooderham Timber Mart built a bottle shed a number of years ago on their property, and the community drops off their empty bottles, (beer and other spirits).

“We really thank our community because they drop off their empties to keep us funded,” Dugale said. “It is such a fabulous community. We have also been able to provide a bursary for a student going on to post-secondary studies.”

For more information about the Gooderham Music Festival, and other events in the area, log onto their website at gooderhamontario. ca.

Haliburton’s Matt Duchene will be joining the Dallas Stars this coming National Hockey League season.

He’s committed to a one-year deal after the Nashvlle Predators bought out the remainder of his contract June 30.

“It was a shock to be leaving Nashville, because Nashville is home for my family,” Duchene said during his namesake charity golf tournament at Blairhampton Golf Course July 21.

Duchene had three years left on a sevenyear, $56 million, contract he signed with the Preds in July 2019. The rest of his contract will be paid out within the next three years

“Dallas was my first choice coming out of this, and fortunately, I was able to sign this deal with them,” Duchene said. His one-year deal is worth $3 million.

Duchene said he is “very optimistic” about the 2023-24 season with the Stars. Last season, Dallas lost to the Las Vegas Golden Knights in the western conference finals and the Knights went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Duchene, 32, started his NHL career with the Colorado Avalanche, before moving on to the Ottawa Senators, Columbus Blue Jackets and then Nashville. Last year, he played 71 games with the Predators, notching 22 goals and 34 assists for 56 points.

He is approaching the 1,000 game milestone, with 976 under his belt. In that time, he has scored 316 goals, and 428 assists for 744 points..

The Eagle Lake Church and Community Centre celebrated its 85th year this past weekend.

Volunteers hosted a BBQ for the community. They also had 114 homemade pies for sale along with crafts and quilts.

A historical display was set up for trips down memory lane.

Most of the sale proceeds are headed back to the church.

Congregation member Russell Whetstone said, “this anniversary means a lot to me and a lot to all of the members of the church.

The church members are my family and I’m really happy we had this event for the community.”

For more information on The Eagle Lake Church, go to eaglelakecc.com.

One-hundred-and-fifty golfers raised more than $209,000 July 21 to help the Haliburton Highlands Health Services Foundation (HHHSF) with money to put towards diagnostic equipment.

HHHSF executive director, Melanie Klodt Wong, said that includes the recently approved CT scanner and mammography unit for Haliburton Highlands Health Services.

“We’re so happy to have all of this support from so many local businesses, sponsors, and Matt Duchene and his family,” she said.

Duchene added, “I’m very proud to be from this community. It’s always an honour to have this tournament in my name and this is going to be our biggest year yet.”

The Blairhampton Golf Club hosted the event this year. The full day of golfing included lunch, an opening ceremony at 12:15 p.m., auctions and prizes and a dinner.

Prior to the event, the tournament organizing committee said it had been working hard over the past few months to engage with previous sponsors and local businesses. Troy Austen, co-chair of the organizing committee and a HHHS Foundation board member, said he was pleased to announce that “over $1 million has now been raised by this long-standing tournament thanks to our friends, family and countywide community. We are beyond thrilled to bring this event to a new level, and to continue to invest in making health care better for all of us.”

This year’s charity event was presented by Ridgewood Ford Sales.

For more information on the HHHS Foundation and the Matt Duchene Charity Golf Classic: hhhs.ca/foundation/eventscampaigns/charity-golf-classic.

No strangers to the Haliburton Highlands, internationally-renowned Annette Blady and Al Van Mil’s collaboration, 2 Part Harmony, is residing in the Corner Gallery until Aug. 10.

Gallery manager, Val Wallin, said she is excited to have Blady and Van Mil showing their work in Haliburton.

“It is an amazing show, the collaboration between the two has produced something completely new.”

Both have been individually creating their own styles of art for a very long time, but for their 40th anniversary decided to do something together. “We didn’t know what it was going to be, so we decided to play and experiment and have fun,” said Blady. “We had some parameters, we wanted something that would be different, something we’ve never seen before.”

That was in 2020, and Blady explained that with so much craziness going on, politically, environmentally, and with COVID, that she and Van Mil thought people had to start, “looking at things in different ways, different angles, different viewpoints.”

Moulding and manipulating fabric, combined with collage work, they co-invented the moulage technique and created 40 pieces for the 40 years they’d been together.

Van Mil said when they decided on the collaboration, they had to think about who they were. “Which led to, we are our paintings. So, we decided, as an experiment, to take a couple of our paintings and cut them up.” Both agreed it was a bit scary, and panicky to begin with, but once they got started and it was going well, “it became somewhat cathartic.”

Blady is known for her style of using texture, fabrics, cut glass and metallic acrylic, as well as her 3D encaustic work that incorporates paper, fabric, and wax. Van Mil leans towards landscapes and portraits as abstracted expressions in acrylics and oils. The combination of such diverse mediums comes together in 2 Part Harmony.

The gallery is at 123 Maple Ave. in Haliburton. It showcases works that provide a new, modern and abstract way of looking at the world around us. Provocative and innovative, part of their mission is to lead the growing recognition of Haliburton village as a destination for fine art.