Clear Lake Regatta

Invasive Species Alert

At this year’s Annual General Meeting, we had a very informative presentation from Marilee Koenderin, from the Phragmites Working Group of Lake Bernard and her team.  They were gracious enough to share their time to educate us about the dangers of invasive species to our water and our land. As cottage owners, it is everyone’s responsibility to identify and report them before they infest Clear Lake. Please see the group’s presentation by clicking here and download one of the 2 suggested apps to help you identify invasive species. Share this information with your neighbours, check your shorelines, your driveways and road frontages.

KEY MESSAGES FOR ALL CLEAR LAKE PROPERTY OWNERS

1. Invasive species of plants, crustaceans (spiny water flees) and animals (Chinese mystery snails in Jacks Lake) are here in Ontario.
2. Clean Drain Dry is the law in Ontario for boaters.
3. If you find invasive species on your property or in your lake – identify and report them.
4. Funding is available to resolve issues but ignoring the threats is not sensible, can cost the municipality and even private property owners if not addressed.
5. Property values can decrease when not resolved.
6. Both Phragmites and Japanese knotweed can contribute to flooding, fires and road infrastructure failure.

To understand what other lakes in Almaguin are doing to resolve their invasive issues, visit the Invasive Species Lake Bernard Working Group site. https://www.nneec.ca/phragmites

Resource links for additional information, 2 app options to help identify and report invasive species and future updates from these resources:

iNaturalist App for download www.inaturalist.org
EDDMapsS App for download www.EDDMapS.org.
Invasive Species Centre Canada www.invasivespeciescentre.ca/
Invasive Species Ontario www.ontario.ca/page/invasive-species-ontario
Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative www.greatlakesphragmites.net/pamf/
Clean Equipment Protocol www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Clean-Equipment-Protocol_June2016_D3_WEB-1.pdf

Don’t let your lake and shore and property be taken over – Grow native plants instead. Here is a link for more native plants information https://www.ontarioinvasiveplants.ca/resources/grow-me-instead/

Remember we are in this together and it’s important that we remain diligent or it can affect all of us.

Your CLPOA Board

Clear Lake Calendars now available

Important Dates for the Upcoming Season

Furry Friends

A Septic Company Application Near Our Lake

Email Letter sent to the Mayor, Town Cleark and all Council members on Tuesday October 14th, 2025 at 9:26 AM by Ken Core, President Clear Lake Property Owners Association

“First of all, I would like to thank Council for deferring the Holding provision vote at last meeting for further thought. I wanted to give you a little history about the Clear Lake Property Owners Association for those who don’t really know what we accomplish or what we have concerns for. Our main goal is to preserve the waters of Clear Lake for many generations to come. We have a very active board that works very diligently on this very topic starting with water testing that is completed four times a year in different areas of the lake. If we feel we have a problem starting, we test further and try and get to the root of the problem. We also test for clarity and compare these year after year. We have an ongoing septic testing initiative that has been running for the past 6 years this has led to new septics around the Lake that had been leaching into the waters that are now not.  We also monitor the level to maintain a good wake buffer at shoreline to prevent erosion and phosphorus and/or nitrogen from washing into the waters.  We do this naturally with the control of beaver activity. Town Council should be proud of our Association as we have the best water quality ever in many decades making Clear Lake second to none in Perry Township and the place people come to for water quality. As a board we took on the Ministry to overturn permitting for septic trenches on this very property which should have never been approved in the first place with back door initiatives. We feel the very same about the current vote in that this will lead to illegal practices down the road and become a detriment to the quality of life for Clear Lake and surrounding residents. Who will monitor this? Who will take responsibility? This is no place for Industrial use with the additional truck traffic, washing of Septic equipment and who knows what else down the road. We ask you to give this much consideration about the implications that may arise. This is NOT a simple normal rezoning like several residential properties around the Lake have had.  Please vote NO for 5.1 and 5.2 on the agenda October 15th.”

Members of the Lake Association and the Board met with Council on October 2 to present their concerns about the application to develop lands at the corner of Bay Lake Road and Highway 592 across from Winning Techniques. The application  in question can be found here.

If you wish to attend the vote, the meeting will be held Oct 15th at 7:00 PM in the Perry Township Building. Optionally you can join the council’s zoom call at;

To join a meeting electronically, click here or call 1-647-374-4685 (Meeting ID: 842 0364 6523 / Passcode: 044953)

Clear Lake Regatta

Posting Category Redefined

At our AGM last year, we committed to share more local information deemed important for Owners and Residents of Clear Lake. To broaden our current communications platform, we have renamed the Fire Rating category to Community Information and will now include additional posts on any news deemed critical within our area. You can still access open air burning rules, rating explanations and current fire ratings within this category or alternately through direct links provided on our Resource Page.

Fire Rating

The Perry Township Open Air Burning By-law establishes the guidelines surrounding Open Air Burning (campfires and non-recreational burns).

Campfires are to be no larger than 2 feet x 2 feet and are permitted unless the Township is under a Total Fire Ban/Extreme Fire Rating. No Daytime Burning (between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.) is permitted from April 1 to October 31. Visit our Fire Services Page for additional information and Current Perry Township Fire Rating.