It’s been a big year for the Haliburton Highlands chapter of the Canadian Federation of University Women, with the group recently celebrating its 20th anniversary and earning a provincial recruitment award.

Haliburton United Church hosted a birthday bash for the local chapter June 6, with dozens of women donning their Sunday best as they socialized and enjoyed treats provided by SIRCH Bistro. Presentations were made by Wendy Taylor, CFUW regional director, and Cheryl Grigg, looking back on two decades in the Highlands.

The Highlands group formed in 2004 as a way for like-minded women to come together, make new friends, and support the community. Cindy Vesey, incoming president, said its mandate is to encourage higher education for women and take an informed interest in public affairs.

“I’ve been involved for a couple of years now and this is a special group of ladies. CFUW is a community within the community committed wholly to improving the community,” Vesey said.

Susan Keith, a member since 2014, said CFUW helped give her a purpose after she relocated to Haliburton County from the city. Not knowing anyone locally, Keith saw an ad for a CFUW event being held at Haliburton School of Art + Design (HSAD) and decided to attend.

“I had so much fun that I’ve been coming back ever since,” Keith said.

Members meet for monthly meetings, while there’s always lots for people to do through the dozen-plus interest groups and committees that host events weekly. Focuses include reading, card games, cooking, health and wellness, academia, the environment, sports, gardening, hiking, and fitness. Most take place in-person, but people can attend virtually – Vesey said this helps keep snowbirds connected while they’re away.

Outgoing president Susan Tromanhauser said the Highlands chapter has seen a huge uptick in membership in recent years. Pre-pandemic, the group had around 40 members. As of press time, they had 92.

Taylor delivered a certificate on behalf of the CFUW Ontario council, recognizing the local group for recruiting more members than any other chapter in 2023.

“The word is getting out there – because we have so many committees and interest groups, people find something they’re passionate about, make connections, and it sticks,” Tromanhauser said. “During the pandemic especially, our Zoom meetings were a great way for people to find that social interaction. That’s how I got involved. I’m a COVID transplant from the city. I didn’t have anyone to talk to or hang out with before reaching out and joining CFUW.”

The Highlands group received $500 for its recruitment efforts, which will be used to bolster its annual bursaries. Each year, CFUW Haliburton Highlands awards a scholarship to graduating female Haliburton Highlands Secondary School and HSAD students pursuing further education. The bursaries have typically been $500, but this year will be $1,000. Tromanhauser said CFUW is a great way for women of any age to come together and make a difference in the community.

“The camaraderie is my favourite thing – we’re like one big support system for one another. If someone is going through a tough time, dealing with an injury or an illness, other members will step up to help out,” Tromanhauser said. “But we also do a lot for the area. If anyone wants to hang out with a bunch of great, sociable, non-judgmental women that try new things with a ‘can do’ attitude, CFUW might be for you.” To learn more, visit cfuwhh.ca.

The Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge district health unit (HKPR) launched its annual beach monitoring program this week.

Each year, the health unit provides regular E. coli test results for 56 public beaches during the summer. The program will run June 17 to Aug. 30 this year. Results are updated every Friday and are available online, at hkpr.on.ca/beachcheck, and on the health unit’s social media channels.

HKPR has adopted a three-colour system to report beach results. Green means low-risk, where a beach is open and considered safe for swimming; yellow is moderate-risk, which serves as a warning that high bacteria counts may be present and swimming is not advised; and red is high-risk, which indicates a beach is closed due to elevated levels of bacteria.

Bernie Mayer, HKPR health protection manager, said people should always check to make sure a beach is safe before visiting.

“Our 2022 resident survey showed that 69 per cent of respondents did not review the beach water test results before entering the water,” Mayer said. “Enjoy your summer, but please also prioritize your health by staying informed.”

As of press time, the health unit has not provided updates for any on the 19 public beaches in Haliburton County. They include the Dorset Parkette and Elvin Johnson Park in Algonquin Highlands; Eagle Lake Beach, Haliburton Lake Beach, Pine Lake Beach, Rotary Head Lake Beach, Sandy Cove Beach, Sandy Point Beach, and Slipper Beach in Dysart et al; Glamour Lake Beach, Gooderham Lake Beach, Paudash Lake Beach, and Wilbermere Lake Beach in Highlands East; and Bissett Beach, Forsters Beach, Horseshoe Beach, Rotary Park Lagoon, Rotary Park Main, and Twelve Mile Lake Beach in Minden Hills.

Swimming in water contaminated with E. coli can result in sickness, with symptoms usually beginning three or four days after exposure. The most common signs are diarrhea, which may range from mild and watery to severe and bloody, stomach cramping, pain or tenderness, and nausea and vomiting.

Exposure to E. coli can lead to kidney failure in young children and older adults, according to the Mayo Clinic.

HKPR encourages residents to contact a doctor and seek treatment if symptoms are severe, or last longer than a week.

Stay cool

With temperatures soaring, the health unit issued an extended heat warning alert for Haliburton County this week.

Environment Canada reported temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius June 17, with the warm weather continuing for much of the week.

HKPR issued a media release Monday, stating it issues heat warnings when daytime temperatures are expected to be 31 degrees Celsius or higher, with a minimum overnight low of 20 degrees Celsius or higher, for two consecutive days. A heat warning can also be issued when the humidex is forecast to be 40 or higher for two straight days. The health unit is warning people to be aware of heat-related illnesses, such as dehydration, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. Symptoms can include tiredness and weakness, dizziness and fainting, rash, nausea and vomiting, rapid breathing, headaches, extreme thirst, and decreased urination.

“To help reduce the risk of heat-related illnesses… ensure you drink lots of water, even if you don’t feel thirsty, and try to spend time in an air-conditioned home or public building, such as a shopping mall, library, or community centre,” HKPR spokesperson Ashley Beaulac said. Minden Hills set up a cooling centre at S.G. Nesbitt Memorial Arena.

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.