A recommendation to hire a contractor to cut the grass at cemeteries in the township proved contentious at a Minden Hills council meeting June 13.

Director of community services, Candace McGuigan, put forth the hiring of The Lawn Squad at a cost of $45,000 plus HST, bringing the total to more than $50,000 for the season.

McGuigan said staff felt it was the only option after reaching out to other townships for shared services and finding that wasn’t an option.

“The township requires an immediate solution for the remainder of the 2024 cemetery lawn care and maintenance season,” McGuigan said, with an intention to re-tender for 2025.

She said the work is needed at 12 Mile, Minden Hills, Bethel, Gelert and Milburn cemeteries. She estimated total lawn cutting of 47.5 hours every other week from June 24 until Nov. 30, as well as fall clean up. She added they received three quotes, with The Lawn Squad charging $75-80-an-hour.

The decision would have come in over budget by more than $28,000, with the director recommending it come from surplus or reserves.

This did not sit well with Coun. Ivan Ingram.

“I have some real concerns with the numbers I’m getting here. It’s time to hire our own staff and have them look after the cemeteries.” He said they did so for 30 years “and it worked fine, not a problem, not a complaint.” He added one person could work the cemeteries for eight months and then go to the roads department for the other four months to do snow removal.

“It’s just too much money as far as I’m concerned when we can hire a full-time person to do it and use them in other places.”

CAO Cynthia Fletcher said staff were prepared to look at the option, “but the challenge we have right now is we have an immediate need. The community services department isn’t resourced with the equipment or the staff to take on an immediate need so that was why we were recommending an external service to get us through 2024.” She said they would come back with a report in the fall about the township doing the work. However, to recruit and get equipment would take time, “given the importance of the service,” she said.

Ingram replied they had a current staff person who used to do cemetery maintenance. Coun. Tammy McKelvey added she thought there was a mower at the sewage treatment plant.

Fletcher said council can move staff around, but it takes them away from other work, such as parks and trails.

Deputy mayor Lisa Schell said she wasn’t impressed by the numbers either, “but that’s what’s before us.” She agreed that next year they should look at the possibility of bringing the service in-house.

She said they have had issues for several years about how the cemeteries look and, “it is a very sensitive subject with the public.” She was prepared to accept the staff recommendation for this year, but not to tender for next year, and look to bring it in-house.

McKelvey said any contract could end in October, not November. She said she could not support taking $45,000 out of reserves for operations. “Reserves are never supposed to be used to cut grass.” She added if contracting out, she needs more administrative details. She said other issues include monuments, and graves collapsing, and a full-time person could help with these issues. Ingram wanted to defer a decision until the June 27 meeting and the majority of council concurred. Fletcher said staff will continue to maintain cemeteries until then.

It wasn’t the Chinook salmon, or invasive carp, that got Haliburton County volunteers riled up about contamination in its water bodies, but an invasive snail species called the Chinese mystery snail.

The one millionth invasive snail was removed from a cottage in Minden Hills June 15.

Invasive snails damage fish populations, are harmful because of what they eat in lakes, and outcompete native species.

Paul MacInnes, the chair of The Coalition of Haliburton Property Owners’ Associations (CHA), said, “the growth rate is exponential. If you don’t keep them under control with a program like this, pretty soon you won’t be able to swim in your lakes, because they’ll just be so thick that the dead ones will surround you.”

The snails are originally from Asia, and have worked their way into County lakes by people not washing and drying their boats properly before they move them from one lake to another.

The celebration marked a significant environmental milestone, and volunteers and members of the Ontario Invading Species Awareness Program were present at South Lake for it. MacInnes and Brook Schryer, the assistant coordinator with the Ontario Invading Species Awareness Program, said community involvement was paramount to getting the one millionth snail removed. It represents a collective effort in removal and preservation of the lake ecosystem.

Volunteers properly collect and identify the invasive mystery snails, document and report their location, and properly dispose of the snails while following decontamination protocols.

The Ministry of Natural Resources partnered with the CHA to give them the license in order to get rid of the snails, while the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) collaborated with the CHA to come up with a plan to remove them.

Schryer said it’s not just about the removal and management of the snails, it’s also about the education component and building community.

“We can put in hundreds of hours of work, and the goal here is not going to be eradication… In this circumstance, it wasn’t about eradication, it was creating a sense of community to combat a common goal, and also giving these people the agency to remove these things.”

One of the County’s most unique communities is set to expand at the West Guilford landfill.

Attendants Bill Waind and Craig Rose say they plan to continue a tradition started by a former colleague, Mason Gordon, where they will spare special items residents have thrown out from wasting away at the landfill. Instead, they will be given a new lease on life and featured in rolling displays – helping to greet people when they arrive at the dump.

It all started in September 2018, when a resident wanted to dispose of a large teddy bear they had won at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) in Toronto.

“I was actually working that day – someone came in with this huge monkey, they said it was too big and they didn’t want it taking up space at their house, so they were getting rid of it,” Waind said. “I thought we could do something with it, save it from going to waste. I kept it to one side for Mason, who was the main attendant.”

Gordon constructed a home for the monkey beside the attendant’s shed, naming the stuffed toy Wes Guilford. Since then, the monkey has served as the landfill’s official mascot.

Since becoming a full-time attendant in the fall, Waind has spent time adding to Wes’ surroundings. There’s a mannequin Waind saved a month ago, which he dresses up in different outfits using clothes that have been disposed of. There’s a bench and mini table and chair set surrounding a campfire, with a tent standing behind. Plastic flowers adorn the set.

“I wanted to brighten the place up a bit, doing my best to make it look like something more than a dump,” Waind said. “I’m here 44 hours a week – it’s fun seeing what I can come up with. I like putting smiles on people’s faces, and people definitely smile when they come through and see what we have.

“Mason started all of this, I just want to continue, maybe turn it into a fun tradition,” he added.

John Watson, the township’s environmental manager, said the display has been well received by the community. He credited Gordon, Waind, and Rose for the work they’ve done.

“It’s great to see them have such pride in the site. I love to see the landfill attendants rise to the occasion and repurpose different things in unique ways and just make the site more inviting to the public,” Watson said.

This week is waste and recycling workers appreciation week in Ontario. Watson said Dysart has 12 landfill attendants working across five sites during the summer.

“These guys in West Guilford set a great example – our mantra is to reuse and recycle as much as possible, and they’re embracing that every day,” Watson added.

Waind promised there will be a Canada Day-themed display debuting soon, while he has plans to spruce up other areas of the landfill. He’s already replanted flowers disposed of by Country Rose in wooden barrels that he’s placed along the path to the tipping face. There will also be decorations around the new area for light bulb and fixture drop-off.

“Someone’s trash is somebody else’s treasure and I think we’re showing that in the best way we can,” Waind said.

People can keep up with Wes’ movements and new displays at instagram.com/wes. guilford.

It’s the end of an era at the Haliburton Forest Wolf Centre after its alpha female, Luna, passed away June 9.

Tributes have poured in from the community paying respects to Luna, who lived at the sanctuary for 13 years. Marena Wigmore, wolf centre manager, said Luna wasn’t only the longest living member of the existing pack, she was the oldest wolf the centre has housed in its 28 years in operation.

She was born in the wolf enclosure at Haliburton Forest in May 2011, to parents Granite and Haida. She survived her litter with two brothers – Logan and Lonestar – and a sister, Layla.

The community may recall those names as Granite, Haida, Logan, and Lonestar were the four wolves who escaped, and eventually died, after someone cut holes in the enclosure’s fencing on New Year’s Eve in 2012. It was an especially tragic event, Wigmore said, given it left the pack without a male.

“Luna stepped up and led her four sisters through that difficult time. She basically took over as the leader of the pack, the one the other wolves looked to for figuring out what was next,” Wigmore said. She maintained that role for more than 11 years – impressive given a wolf’s life expectancy is five or six years, Wigmore said.

Needing to introduce a new male to the pack, Fang joined in August 2013. Wigmore said it was almost love at first sight for Luna.

“She was the first one to approach Fang. They quickly figured things out and it wasn’t too long before mating season rolled around and they did the job they needed to do,” Wigmore said. “Luna was the strip of light in the dark. She brought hope back after such a horrible thing happened. That first litter of puppies she had was such a bright spot for everybody.”

Four pups arrived in that initial batch in 2014, though only one survived. Wigmore said through her life, Luna had eight litters of puppies totalling 32 offspring. Her last litter came in 2022, when Luna was 11.

Fang died in 2014, and Luna’s next mate, Piper, passed away last fall. After losing Luna, the pack is down to five wolves – all Luna’s offspring.

Wigmore said there was no major decline of note – Luna was still interacting with the other wolves and showing signs of life right up to her death. It was a quiet Sunday morning when staff realized the rest of the pack had returned from a feed without Luna.

“We realized then her age had finally caught up with her,” Wigmore said.

It’s going to take time for the pack to recover, Wigmore noted.

“They’re trying to figure out who to look to now, who do they trust,” she said. “The oldest remaining member is Quest, who is eight. After her, the next oldest wolf is four… so we anticipate she’ll be the guiding light post-Luna, but it won’t happen overnight,” she said.

“For all of them, Luna has always been a part of their life. So, it’s going to be a major shift. We may not know the extent of that shift until we go through a full cycle, a full year. Mating season is always a good indicator of what’s going on in the pack, and that comes in late February,” Wigmore added.

There hasn’t been a new litter since 2022 none of the wolves stepped up to take Fang’s place after he died, so this will be a major transition for the pack. Wigmore said the alphas will come internally – trying to add a new wolf when there are others who can fill those roles will likely cause problems.

Work is underway on a small sculpture that will commemorate Luna. Wigmore said it will be exhibited at the wolf centre once it’s complete.

Having recently celebrated her 10th anniversary working at the wolf centre, Wigmore said she had developed a close bond with Luna. So too, did the community.

“Luna was always good at surprising us. When we thought we knew what she was going to do, or what was next for her, she always found a way to keep us guessing. She was an amazing example of a wolf – it’ll be a long time before another Luna comes along, if ever,” Wigmore said.

A new outdoor classroom has been unveiled at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School this week.

Students from the Grade 10 leadership and outdoor education classes have spent months transitioning the school’s courtyard into a dedicated space for outside learning. They held a grand opening June 17.

Christine Carr, who teaches the leadership class, said she brainstormed with students early in the new year to come up with a project that would make a difference in the school community. She said the courtyard had been neglected and unused for several years and the students saw an opportunity to give it a new life.

Aurora Wesley, Jordanna Jennings, Hazel Jones, Freyja Neimann-Rowe, and Rosie Lafleur launched a committee to engage with other students to see what they wanted in the new space.

“They’ve been working basically since the snow melted, cleaning it up and turning it into something that can be utilized by students throughout the school day,” Carr said, noting the classroom can host up to 30 students and be booked by teachers.

Wesley said there are three primary components to the space – a learning circle complete with tree stumps for classes to gather, a garden overflowing with perennials and other colourful flowers, and three picnic tables where students can complete classwork.

Jones said the quintet wanted to establish an outdoor classroom after spending time outside during their Grade 9 English class last year.

“Our teacher, Mr. Collins, had us read A Midsummer Night’s Dream and we got to do it out in the forest. We all had so much fun and being outside helped us to think more clearly and be more engaged,” Jones said. “It made us think ‘what if we have a space to be able to do this more, and for other classes to be able to do it too’.”

The project cost the students nothing but time – the picnic tables were donated by Emmerson Lumber and Haliburton Timbermart, decorative stones by Algonquin Highlands township, wood chips by Boshkung Lake Tree Service, and other materials from Hawk River Construction. Abbey Gardens helped students analyze soil conditions and select plants for the garden.

Principal Jenn Mills said she was blown away by the courtyard’s transformation, noting it had been largely unused since the 1990s.

“Everyone I talk to says things like ‘when I went to school, fixing up the courtyard is what I wanted to do too’, and it’s the same with me when I was a student here. We’ve all wanted to see that space being used,” Mills said. “With the vision of these ladies and help of teachers in the classroom, it’s all come together into an amazing space that we’re really excited about.”

A second phase of the project will be completed later this year, Mills said. A ramp is being reconstructed to make the courtyard wheelchair accessible. Paved pathways will also be installed, along with a land acknowledgement plaque that will be supplied by HHSS’ tech class.

Wesley said the students hope to work with school staff to come up with a fitting name, “We’re flip-flopping between a lot of names right now. We want to come up with something iconic, that best represents the space,” Wesley said.

The spirit of philanthropy and service above self was front and centre as Minden Rotary hosted its annual dinner gala June 1.

It marked a celebration of local community bettering itself, said president Dave Woodcroft.

“Rotary is kind of like its own family. It’s being part of something. The reason I joined is because I wanted to give back to the community,” Woodcroft said.

It was a full house at the Minden Community Centre, with special guests including Minden mayor Bob Carter and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Jamie Schmale. Guests greeted and talked to one another, exchanging stories before dinner began. Minden Rotary’s ‘celebrity clowns’ were in the house, taking photos with people and handing out red noses. Woodcroft said the group was still looking for new members.

The event serves as Minden Rotary’s primary fundraiser, with money from tickets, a silent auction, and 50/50 raffle.

Woodcroft said he expects the final tally to be around $8,000, which will be reinvested into the community.

This year, the group has committed to building a new shelter at the Minden community garden and will continue to fund initiatives for young people.

“We really concentrate on the youth,” Woodcroft said, citing the Highland Storm and an annual trip the club organizes giving one youth the opportunity to travel to Ottawa with Schmale for a ‘capital experience’ on Parliament Hill.

Woodcroft said money would also be set aside for various Rotary events and programs throughout the year – including the float for the Canada Day parade, contributions to Fuel for Warmth, the Minden Community Food Centre, and Children’s Water Festival.

Minden Rotary also assists with Interact club initiatives at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School, which Woodcroft said will be a continued focus. Wanting to expand on its ‘capital experience’ program, Rotary also hosts an ‘adventure in citizenship’ course where students learn about what it’s like to be a parliamentarian in Ottawa. It concludes with a ceremony in Minden where participants earn their citizenship, Woodcroft said.

Rotary also provides an annual scholarship to a graduating high school student pursuing post-secondary education. The club attracts volunteers from all walks of life, Woodcroft said – the common denominator being a commitment to bettering and helping those in need in the community.

“I think the good thing about Rotary is it’s exactly what you make it; you can make it big, you can make it small,” Woodcroft said, referring to involvement in the club.

Puppy yoga isn’t just another fad. It’s a unique blend of relaxation and cuteness overload, and it took over the Haliburton Legion recently.

The event drew in yoga enthusiasts from around the County, as well as puppies from Snowflake Meadows, a rescue organization based in Minden. The event was by donation.

Amanda Rico, of Harmony Yoga in Haliburton, and the instructor for the class, led the group in downward dog, warrior and cat-cow poses for an hour while puppies chewed on attendees’ hair, curled up for some snuggles, and even slept in the laps of some attendees.

Kristyn Elyse, the owner of Snowflake Meadows, said that the money raised, $475, will be going towards a kennel on the rescue’s property so that they can house more dogs.

Bringing puppies into the mix for yoga sessions offers a whole new level of mental and physical wellbeing. Rico said when you’re with animals or in nature, your nervous system down regulates. She also added it’s important for the puppies to get exposure to people, other environments, movement and things that are going on around them.

“I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from all of the people that participated. No complaints. Amanda says it was a lot of fun,” said Elyse.

Puppies roamed freely around the room as people did various yoga poses. During the relaxation part at the end of the session, people welcomed the puppies to snuggle up beside them while they were in shavasana pose.

Snowflake Meadows has also attended Highland Wood long-term care home in Haliburton twice, and Extendicare Haliburton – enabling seniors to interact with puppies,