Browning Island Cottagers' Association
Browning Island Bracebridge, ON, Canada

Update on Water Levels across Muskoka. Let me say that for the past few days I have been getting several phone calls and emails, and today with the added rain ...in the past 24 hours, I truly cannot keep up so I am posting on Social Media to hopefully get the word out. Firstly, council and the MNRF is well aware of the situation on Lake Muskoka and across our entire watershed. To highlight the situation, in the past roughly 10 days, Muskoka has received over 200 mm of rain which incidentally the same amount of rain that Muskoka typically gets over the entire months of June and July or to translate this into a daily average, we have had almost 5 times the amount of rain as typical in a two week period. At the end of June and prior to this rain, myself and fellow Mayors across Muskoka met with the MNRF to discuss the extreme drought this spring where the three month period from April 15 till June 15th we saw less than 40% of our traditional rainfall which resulted in extremely low water levels as of June 15th so much so that at that time, I was receiving countless calls and emails about the water being too low. As some background, our watershed is over 200 km long and unfortunately this spring/ summer we have now seen both extremes of weather. At the start of June, they were trying to slow the water from exiting lake Muskoka and had in fact restricted water flows through Bala down to 6 cms which is just a trickle over the falls. The hydro plant was not generating any hydro during this period. Fast forward to over a week ago now (to try and get ahead of the rain and forecast rain) and the hydro plant started to operate and spill water from Lake Muskoka into the Moon River. Though you don’t see water passing over the falls, rest assured, with both hydro doors open, over 100 cms will be spilling between Lake Muskoka and the Moon. In a conversation with MNRF a couple of days ago, they advised me that because of the extreme rain in the forecast that additional logs would be removed from the dam in Bala, thereby increasing the outflows and hopefully returning Lake Muskoka to normal operating levels. My understanding is that as of mid day today, these logs were removed from the south dam and as such, water levels should start to subside. We also have to acknowledge that our 200 km watershed has 42 control structures. When one dam is open wide, there is always the potential for downstream flooding as there are certain physical limitations in our watershed. To highlight this, In Bala, even with the hydro plant operating and either one of the north or the south dams (but not both) operating at capacity, Bala has the ability to completely flood properties on the Moon river. So to recap weather this spring and now, has significantly impacted both the low and the high water marks, however MNRF are attempting to remove as much water as they can safely to return our water levels to July normal. Assuming the significant rainfall is behind us now, you should see a change over the next few days and with a little luck and sunshine water will return to normal. As I get more information update. And thanks to all for reaching out.

A message from Muskoka’s Mayors and the District Chair to all our residents year round and seasonal: We are all in this together. Read full message: https...://muskoka.on.ca/en/message-to-muskoka-residents.aspx Town of Huntsville, Muskoka, Ontario Town of Bracebridge, Muskoka Town of Gravenhurst Township of Georgian Bay Township of Muskoka Lakes Township of Lake of Bays, Muskoka #muskokacares #allinthistogether

The ice is out and many of us cottagers would really like to transition to paradise however we need to support our community and stay home. Muskoka is not ready for an early influx of seasonal residents. The supply chain is unable to support this unexpected and sudden demand and the hospitals are certainly not prepared for the volume of Covid-19 cases that could arise. Any travel between properties is non essential and should be avoided. If we all stand together now and do the right thing we can still save summer 2020. #staystrong #stayhome

**IMPORTANT** Please review the comments below regarding waste management and fill out the survey ASAP! This will affect all of us islanders! Let your neighbours and other islanders know as well. Thanks, Michael

Total fire ban in effect! No fireworks!!!

For those that use Indianhead Marina, now known as Spirit Bay, here is a message from Gord who owns Allport Marina. We at Allport have decided that, should there be a closure at Spirit Bay on June 30th as advertised, we will operate a free boat shuttle for as long as that closure may continue this summer until Labour Day weekend. Specifics are as follow: - The free shuttle is for Spirit Bay slip customers only.... - We will shuttle from the Town of Bracebridge dock at St Elmo’s Point at the end of Beaumont Drive to Browning, Eilean Gowan, Chief, Wilson, Baxter and Birch islands only (and back again). Rationale is that there is free parking available there for cars, and people can tie their own boats up there for up to three hours at a time should they want to head to town at any point. - The shuttle will only operate Fridays and Sundays between 4-8pm. It won’t be available outside those times and we don’t operate a water taxi service at Allport Marina. - The shuttle boat will offer cover from weather, but is limited to 6 passengers per trip in accordance with insurance restrictions and Transport Canada regs. - People wanting to book a shuttle ride will need to call the marina at 705-645-5610 prior to 6pm on the day they want to travel. - All shuttle rides need to be prebooked that way by phone. - We will only be shuttling people, pets and normal luggage (no bulk items or building materials). We are hoping that this closure doesn’t occur. However, should it materialize, it is our expectation that people will probably rely on their friends and neighbours to pitch in with rides and, in typical islander form, be overwhelmed with their offers of support. Nonetheless, with the shortage of slips on the lake already, and fully recognizing that this free shuttle only offers, at best, an imperfect solution for some, we want to pitch in to help get people through until Spirit Bay reopens. Regards, Gordon Larock Allport Marina