The Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association (HHOA) is conducting nightly walleye counts along the Drag River this month, with the species’ spawning season in full effect.

Organization president Dan Smith said it was “vital” to get a sense of how one of the County’s top spawning ground is performing after local anglers reported a marked decrease in fish population in recent years.

The HHOA resurrected the walleye count in 2021, following a six-year hiatus. The program was initially launched in 2000 and managed by local volunteers.

“The walleye in the Kashagawigamog system need our help,” Smith said. “The counts are down significantly since the early 2000s… back in the day, people would say there were so many fish in the river here that you could step in the water and almost walk across them. We’re not seeing those numbers anymore.”

Walleye were first introduced into the Kash chain of lakes in the 1950s, Smith said. HHOA, working in partnership with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF), stocked walleye in the Drag River from 2010 to 2015. Stocking was stopped after 2015 and the fishery is now totally dependent on natural reproduction.

Smith noted Drag River is the main walleye spawning site for the entire chain, with the primary spot by the Emmerson Dam. To monitor the progress, Smith said volunteers have been gathering along the bridge on Maple Avenue in Haliburton every night since April 10. They will continue meeting through April, manually counting the number of fish observed swimming down river.

In 2021, volunteers counted 1,334 fish, while last year that number grew to 2,100. Smith said it would be nice to see that number grow to around 3,000 this year.

“That would show that we’re seeing some progress.”

Smith said the effort takes place at night as it’s easier for volunteers to make accurate counts.

“When we shine our lights at the water, their eyes glow gold right back at us… it’s much more effective than trying to get out and do it during the day,” he said.

The most important factor for a strong spawning season is ensuring consistent flow rates of the river, with no dam closures. Smith said this must be maintained during the spawn and for at least two weeks postspawn to ensure the greatest success for egg incubation, hatching, and survival.

Eggs will latch onto rocks below the water line, but if levels drop and they end up above water they won’t hatch, Smith said.

Looking long-term, Smith said he’d like to see the MNRF complete a comprehensive study of the Kash chain of lakes to properly assess natural fish reproduction levels.

“We’re not equipped to do that kind of work… for now, our goal is simply to improve the fishery in Haliburton County, and we can do that through initiatives like the walleye count,” Smith said.

For more information, visit hhoa.on.ca. To assist with the count, Smith said volunteers typically gather in the parking lot by the bridge on Maple Avenue at approximately 9 p.m. each night.

Major changes are coming to several landfills across Haliburton County as all four lowertier municipalities prepare to make sizable investments to reconfigure their largest sites and change the way they process materials.

Algonquin Highlands is the furthest along, having committed around $1.5 million to improve operations at the Maple Lake landfill. The township’s environmental manager, Melissa Murray, said a new operations centre, located beside the existing landfill site, will come online this summer.

She said there will be new drop-off areas for garbage, recyclable materials, construction and demolition waste, brush, batteries and mattresses.

“We were constantly having to shift where our collection areas were before, because they were right on the landfill mound. It was very time consuming and expensive for the municipality, and confusing for residents,” Murray said, noting the project has been in the works since 2019.

Another key feature will be the installation of a weigh scale – the first in the County. Murray said this will allow the township to get a more accurate reading on the amount of waste collected. She expects it will be operational by late summer.

County landfills to finally get weigh scales

“We were seeing a huge disparity in the amount of materials we recorded coming into the site and the amount of materials being hauled away,” she said. “Because we charge materials by the cubic yard and pay by the metric ton, the numbers never added up.”

She couldn’t provide an estimated cost savings, but noted the transition would allow for several operational efficiencies, while also improving customer service.

Murray noted the landfill at Maple Lake has a remaining lifespan of 46 years.

Investment elsewhere

John Watson said Dysart et al was planning an approximate $1 million redevelopment of the Haliburton landfill, located on Industrial Park Road.

Dysart council signed off on a $300,000 project, to be completed this year, to cap the landfill and re-naturalize the space, which was deemed at-capacity in 2019. The facility was redesignated as a transfer station in January 2020.

A second phase is planned to reconfigure the site and install a weigh scale. Watson said this may necessitate moving the entrance. He’s been working with a consultant on conceptual designs and hopes to bring a plan to council later this spring, with a view to starting work late this year or early next.

He noted any changes would first need to be ratified by the Ministry of Environment.

A huge increase in the amount of construction and demolition (C&D) waste, up 38 per cent over the past year, has meant Watson has had to change his thinking for the site. He’s proposing a larger drop-off and storage area for all C&D waste and said there could be a case for routing all C&D materials to the Haliburton site in future. Currently, the township accepts C&D waste at its Harcourt and West Guilford locations.

“Once the weigh scale is installed there, there will be some big questions asked, because having use of a scale will definitely benefit us when it comes to hauling out C&D waste,” Watson said.

Mike Timmins, director of public works at Minden Hills, said there have been tentative discussions between staff and council about enhancements at the Scotch Line landfill. The installation of a scale is a major one, while Timmins said he also wants to see some separation between work areas and publicly accessible space.

“We’re looking at the future and how we can improve and make the best use of the landfill that’s available. We’re trying to be as prudent as we can because we realize the value of these landfills. Once they’re full, that’s it,” Timmins said.

He said staff are working to come up with a schedule and system that addresses the needs of the community during the peak summer months, without being “overkill” and a cost burden during winter.

Timmins said he doubts there will be much movement on any work this year, with council pushing the project off during 2023 budget deliberations. An RFP put out last August, looking for bids to construct a new transfer station, garnered one response, with WSP saying it would complete the project for $8 million.

In Highlands East, council set money aside in its 2023 budget to clear a four-acre area at the Tory Hill landfill to be used for future expansion. Deputy CAO Brittany McCaw said there is no timeline in place for that development.

Looking to the future

Watson said there has been greater collaboration between the four townships over waste services in recent years and expressed his excitement over the single-tier waste management plan process the County initiated in March. That could see the upper-tier government establish a single program encompassing all four municipalities, which Watson said would bring efficiencies and cost-savings. A report is due back at County council later this year.

Addressing the idea of incineration, Watson said it would be far too expensive to bring a system to the Highlands and that the four municipalities combined don’t generate enough waste to make it worthwhile to ship to the new incinerator plant in Durham Region. He said that could be a possibility long-term if the County partnered with neighbouring municipalities.

“We have watersheds to manage our lakes and ecosystems, but what if we think about something like a ‘wasteshed’. Where the County partners with areas like Kawartha Lakes and Peterborough County – that would allow us to be more creative with our waste strategies, and would make us more appealing to service providers,” he said.

Abbey Gardens was hopping April 8 as hundreds of Highlanders enjoyed the warm weather by attending the annual ‘Easter at the Gardens’ event.

There was an easter egg hunt for children, which sold out with 200 participants, and other activities including cookie decorating, springtime crafts, and a pony petting zoo.

There was also a photo booth where people could take pictures with the Easter Bunny.

Ashley McAllister, director of operations at Abbey Gardens, said the event was a huge success.

“It’s amazing seeing so many people here having a great time – this is why we hold events like this, to see smiles on people’s faces,” she said.

From the back seat, listening in to conversation between Brenda Bain and Cathy Hunt, it’s clear to see the pair enjoy a special relationship borne out of familiarity, camaraderie, and trust.

The two spend a few hours together on the road every week. Bain is a volunteer driver with Haliburton Highlands Health Services’ door-to-door transportation program, with Hunt one of the 876 registered clients that rely on the service to get them to and from various health-related appointments and programs within the County’s borders and beyond.

While Bain has been driving for HHHS Community Support Services for the past 13 months, her history with the organization goes back more than a decade. She was the administrative assistant for the branch, located on the grounds beside the Haliburton hospital, for 14 years before retiring in early 2020.

Rewarding from door to door

She had intended to start driving right away, but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed things. Now, Bain seems like she’s making up for lost time. She runs regular routes within the County twice per week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and takes on one or two longrange journeys each month.

She estimates driving 17,000 kilometres since March 2022, with trips to Peterborough, Huntsville, Bracebridge, Lindsay, Ottawa, Pickering, and Kingston on her resume.

“I just love everything about it,” Bain told The Highlander. “I love being able to give back and support people. When you’re traveling, it’s mostly one-on-one, so you really get to know people.”

Transportation coordinator Janet Burley said the program has been running for over 30 years. She schedules approximately 20 trips each day. While she has 46 registered drivers on her roster, only 12 are considered active. New recruits are always welcome.

While designated as volunteers, drivers don’t make trips completely out of pocket. They’re reimbursed 48 cents for every kilometre driven, with 30 cents of that covered by the patient and the rest of the tab picked up by HHHS. There’s a meal allowance included, while expenses such as parking are also covered.

Hunt said she’s always made a point of taking care of her drivers, paying for breakfast during early morning runs to Toronto, and coffee and donuts for shorter-range trips. She’s been enrolled in the program since 2003, noting she hasn’t had a negative experience in the 20 years since. “We needed someone who would drive us to the city so my husband, Bev, could get hip replacement surgery,” Hunt said of how she started. “I can’t do long trips driving, and I can’t drive in Toronto. If it wasn’t for HHHS and the volunteer drivers, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.”

Since then, Hunt has been driven south around a dozen times for surgeries and follow-up appointments of her own, having had extensive work done on both her hips and knees. Recently, due to a lingering eye problem, she’s had to give up driving altogether. That made it impossible for her to get out to the adult day program HHHS runs in Minden – until she made a call.

Now, Bain picks her up twice a week at her home in West Guilford and drives her to Minden, making the return trip in the afternoon.

“I’d just be sitting at home, not getting out and socializing if I didn’t have this,” Hunt said. “This is a vital service. For people like me who can’t drive, it’s a genuine lifesaver.” And there are benefits for the drivers too.

“I’ve made so many new friends since I started to do this. I look forward to these drives all week,” Bain said. “It’s just so rewarding. I like to think I’m making a difference.”

To learn more, visit hhhs.ca/community-programs/ transportation. Anyone interested in becoming a volunteer driver can contact Brigitte Gebauer at bgebauer@hhhs.ca.

Some say music is the elixir of life and Haliburton Highlands Health Services (HHHS) volunteers Mickey Bonham and Pat Bradley have been able to see that firsthand through their work at Hyland Crest long-term care home.

The duo run a weekly music program at the Minden site, bringing residents together for group sing-a-longs featuring hits from industry icons such as Elvis Presley, Frankie Avalon, and Bill Haley and the Comets.

“Pat and I really enjoy it, we both choir in Haliburton, so we love bringing the spirit of music to the residents, getting them singing and listening to some of their favourite songs. It’s very therapeutic,” Bonham said, noting she launched the program around 20 years ago.

Back then, she would bring a CD in from her extensive home collection. Now, she’s gone digital – making use of a smart TV and YouTube to take turns playing classics from the residents’ favourite acts.

“You can always see them moving a little bit and singing along. They all know the words, it’s incredible. Music has a funny way of bringing things back – it stays with you even when you’re old and grey,” Bonham said with a chuckle.

The program paused during the pandemic, with Bonham and Bradley taking an enforced two-year hiatus. They both say that was hard, especially knowing they wouldn’t have a chance to say goodbye to some of their friends.

Bonham started volunteering in the early 2000s after a friend moved into Hyland Crest. Bradley did likewise in 2011, after her mom became a resident.

They continued going even after their loved ones passed.

“It’s important to give back, because a lot of these people don’t have people coming to visit them. It’s easy for them to feel abandoned,” Bradley said. “These are people who shaped our community and society for years and years… I love coming here – I come out of every session with a smile on my face, because it’s so much fun.”

Bonham added, “They all have such wonderful stories. Some of them are so funny, and so sweet. You do get really close to them. They become your friends in a lot of cases.”

The pair spend a few hours on-site every Wednesday, with Bonham saying she goes in twice a week during the summer. They also assist with parties, luncheons, and various other activities.

Volunteers have been allowed back for over a year now, but Bradley said numbers are heavily depleted. This is true across many groups affiliated with the hospital, including the Minden Health Care Auxiliary.

“There’s only a handful of us left, which is really sad because the Auxiliary plays an important role in helping fund much-needed equipment that the government doesn’t provide,” Bradley said, noting she’s been a member for 10 years.

“Last year we raised $15,000, and we just gave the hospital another $35,000. It’s an extremely important calling,” she added.

That money was used to purchase four new air beds at Hyland Crest, a new water softener system, and ceiling lifts for the emergency department.

“We desperately need more members if we’re going to continue,” Bradley said.

Anyone interested in volunteering with HHHS can contact Brigitte Gebauer at bgebauer@hhhs.on.ca.