A Haliburton summer camp is making waves on Kashagawigamog Lake (also known as Kash Lake) and drawing the ire of a lake association.
Hockey Haven Camp—known for its hockey and water sports—is being criticized by the local lake association for disturbances caused by the wakeboats they use. Waterfront property owners say that during July and August, the camp runs two wakeboats continuously throughout the weekdays, creating strong wakes and noise that make it difficult for others to enjoy the lake.
“You can’t stand on the dock, you can’t swim, and you can’t paddleboard,” says Lance Payne, a member of the Lake Kashagawigamog Organization (LKO).
But Troy Binnie, who owns Hockey Haven, says this isn’t the case.
“To say we’re going up and down the lake constantly, it’s just not true,” says Binnie.
The majority of kids who attend the camp are just learning to wakeboard for the first time, meaning the boats are running off and on.
“By the end of the week, they might be able to get up for thirty seconds to a minute,” he says. “The rest of the time we spend teaching them—and the boat isn’t even running.”
According to Lance, it took two years for Binnie to agree to meet with the association. When they finally met, they did not agree on a solution.
The lake association brought the conflict to the town council in late June. Lance asked them to consider measures that would allow “more equitable” sharing of the water.
‘A choice between using our lakes sustainably or prioritizing the short-term benefits’
Kash Lake is a 16-kilometre, five-chain lake that stretches from Dysart et. al to Minden Hills. Its winding curves are between half to one kilometre wide.
At the June 25 meeting, Lance argued that the two boats running at the same time amplified the wake. “Even if the boats travel down the middle of the lake, the waves do not dissipate,” he said.
Beyond making it difficult to do other activities on the lake, the association is concerned about the ecological impacts that the boats are having.
“A wave’s energy dissipates over time as it moves through the water,” says Timothy James, an associate geography and planning professor at Queen’s University who is working with the LKO. “So, the closer a wave is to shore when it is generated, the more power it will have when it reaches the shore.”
Wakeboats can cause damage to ecosystems and habitats, accelerate shoreline erosion, and stir up sediment that can upset nutrient balances in the water. James says the sediment can lead to algae blooms, more weeds, and decreased water clarity.
“This is not simply a conflict between shoreline property owners and wake boaters,” says James, who owns a cottage on another lake in Haliburton. “It’s a choice between using our lakes equitably and sustainably for the long-term enjoyment of everyone, or prioritizing the short-term benefits of a few at the expense of everyone who enjoys our lakes.”
Frustration is mounting between the two groups
Binnie, however, is frustrated that the camp is being painted as the only wakeboats on the lake.
“We’re not talking about a pond, this is the largest lake chain in Haliburton,” he says. “There are well over 200 boats on the lake, and 50 to 75 of those are wakeboats or something similar.”
Binnie says that he’s received calls from property owners on the weekends complaining about wakeboats in the water, despite the camp being closed those days.
“You can’t single out my boats when all these other boats are still running,” he says. The camp has also installed dash cams on their wakeboats to monitor the activities of their drivers and surroundings.
In a conversation with Dysart’s deputy mayor that took place prior to the June council meeting, Binnie agreed to wait until 11 a.m. to start playing music, and move the second boat to another part of the lake a couple of days a week.
Two weeks into the camp season, Lance says the music has been blaring off and on, though he’s seen less of the two boats.
The LKO is hoping to enact some form of regulations to lessen the impact of wakeboats. In the council meeting, Lance outlined several strategies, including implementing vessel operation restriction regulations (VORR) with Transport Canada that could affect all wakeboat activity.
Kash Lake wouldn’t be the first to enact measures like this—Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park has horsepower restrictions and Tackaberry Lake in Muskoka has a ban on powerboats—but Dysart’s council would rather explore other solutions first.
James says that this conflict is bigger than just the camp’s wakeboats—it’s about ecological damage to the lake as a whole.
“I know what it’s like to be out on the water,” says James. “We don’t want to stop people from having fun, but we really need to be thinking about, ‘just because we can do something, should we?’”
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