No environmental topic brings France and I more questions that aquatic plants. There is a reason for that. There are all kinds of plants in our lakes and they move constantly. They show up one year, disappear the next and…

The data collected last summer in our lakes show that three of them are clasified as oligotrophic, that is to say in very good condition. They are Black, Clear and Curran. However, the data from Boyd Lake raises some concerns…

Last year, during the derecho on May 21st, a cottage at Clear Lake was completely demolished by the fall of a large tree, swept away by violent winds. The two people inside were only slightly injured. Fortunately. But they had…

France and I participated in the Forum national sur les lacs on June 7th and 8th, held at Mont-Tremblant. In the following lines, I will share with you the main challenges and initiatives undertaken during this summit to better protect…

Our planet was born 4.55 billion years ago. The Laurentians appeared about 1,2 billion * years ago . Our lakes, about 10,000 years ago. Our association celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. And our lakes are all still very healthy.…

Most of you have probably heard about artificial intelligence AI. The most talked about product these days is called ChatGPT. It is a large language model that can generate human-like text, trained on a massive dataset of written works from…

As the guy in charge of lake management in Dunany I was asked the other day: is there anything that keeps you awake at night? I said yes. Definitely. Its Eurasian Watermilfoil. Why is that? Simply because once a lake…

The title of this play from Shakespeare (circa 1623) summarizes well the conclusion of the zoning by-law debates around the huge Recreational Development Project ( WITRI) announced at a municipal meeting in Wentworth on February 24, 2019. Earlier this year,…

As you know, there was no water sampling program on account of the pandemic. But your group of lake volunteers were still collecting transparency data so that we now have charts of our four lakes with 14 years of data…

A few days ago I received the latest Newsletter from Abrinord, the organization responsible for the management of the North River Watershed. I was also asked to respond to a survey by filling a long questionnaire – which I did…

Canadian beavers* are herbivores. Strict vegetarians! The eat bark, leaves and plants. They are active after dusk and stay away from humans. If you go swimming in the evening and get close to one it will flap its tail on…

Two years ago, my report on the state of our lakes bore this title Our 2017 lake results: are they too good to be believed? I now have the definite answer to my question. The answer is yes, they were!…

This is the official map of our watershed as produced by the MRC of Argenteuil. It is important for us as Dunany is defined by its watershed. Some residents here tried a couple of times to make Dunany a municipality.…

No, these numbers are not the results of a competition! They are the average amount of phosphorus that was measured last summer in each of our lakes. We are talking here of micrograms per litre. Phosphorus is the main indicator…

This is the new edition of our charter: Living in Dunany. Please read it. Share it. It’s a one pager! The first edition was produced in 2011 and widely distributed. Was time for an update. The document is based on…

As you might expect, this lovely video was shot by my favourite video artist, John Parsons. He photographed these beautiful Water-Shields (also called Dollar Bonnets) on Black lake in late August of this year. The plant’s real name is Brasenia…

Early last May a new loon platform was installed on Curran Lake. The old one was sinking fast and it was hoped that the loons would like their new nesting place. Well, they did. The 5 minute video that follows…

The phosphorus results are. They are abnormally low: between 2 and 3 mg/litre. The Quebec Department of Environment recognizes this but has incomplete explanations as to why this is so. They are conducting numerous studies internally and with external organizations…

Since most of you are away when our lakes get rid of their ice I thought you might like to know how this happens. So, this year I observed the phenomenon from the comfort of my solarium and took a…

February is the beginning of the beaver’s life cycle. The mating season. So, it’s as good a time as any to report on beaver activity in our part of the word. Last summer was the worst. Beavers had a real…

This exotic and very invasive plant –   Eurasian Watermilfoil – has already spoiled more than 40 lakes in the Laurentians alone. Fortunately, there is none in Argenteuil. None in our lakes. We absolutely want to keep it that way because…

This is my spring beaver report. I will answer the question at the end of this Post. As of last weekend, there were beavers on every lake except Boyd, usually the beavers favourite lake. A miracle of sort. Touch wood!…

We all love the common loons and their very unique cry on our lakes even when it is heard in the middle of the night! Listen if you wish! As far as I know, there is only one nest in…

When the MRC launched its program to identify invasive and indigenous plants in the lakes of  Argenteuil, I raised my hand and proposed to include Clear lake. The 56 page interesting report drafted by the CRE Laurentides (Environment Council)  has…