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Volume 167 No. 7
With this weekend the start of the 2025 PaB’s summer season and with the temperatures warming up, we hope to see you on the Bay! We’ve had a couple of heavy rains and thunderstorms these past few days, but the sun has shown its warm face and gave us a beautiful sunset on Sunday night. Happy Canada Day!
Table of Contents In this eBlast:
PaBIA
- Responding to a Fire – An Overview
- Part 1 – How to Respond to a Fire
- On the Water Boater Coaching is Back Intermittently – 1st session July 2
- PaBIA Sailing Tune Up Race: June 28th Correction
- Literally on the Bay – Is a River Alive
- In Memoriam – Kieron Bayley
OF INTEREST
- ToA Resolution regarding Protocol for Flying the Canadian Flag
- Pointe au Baril Station Canada Day Celebrations – Tuesday, July 1
- Ojibway Art Show – Do You Have Any Budding Young Artists at Home?
- GBLT – New MAPS station Up and Running
- ToA – Large Item Pick Up Days – 1st of Two Days on July 5 from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm (correction)
- Lake Michigan-Huron Water Levels – June 18, 2025
PaBIA
Responding to a Fire
Last fall, the sad destruction of the Phippen cottage again reminded us of the constant threat that fire poses to the PaB community. It was a dramatic reminder that we need to stay alert and prepared for fire.
Over the last several years, our awareness of the need for fire preparation has increased significantly. Many islanders have purchased fire pumps for their cottages and put together Neighbourhood Groups for assistance in an emergency. But what do you do when the call comes in? “There is a fire on a neighbouring island. Your help is required!” You have a fire pump and you’re ready to go, but what do you do when you get there??
Matt Solecki is a 6th-generation cottager in Pointe au Baril, and he is very aware of the risk fire poses on the islands. He has worked for BC Wildfire Service for more than 10 years as a Wildfire Technician, leading Initial Attack Crews on many BC Wildfires as well as being a member of the Incident Command Team on several large fires. Matt has worked with PaBIA to develop a series of 6 articles on how cottagers can effectively respond to fires on the islands.
Our PaBIA eBlasts will publish one article a week for the next 6 weeks, starting with “Part 1 – How to Protect Your Cottage” which is below.
Part 1 – How to Protect Your Cottage
With wildfires becoming an ever-growing concern in Canada, it’s important to understand what can be done to protect your home and property from the risk of wildfires. The most important step in protecting yourself is managing the available fuel around your cottage. The FireSmart Canada program is designed to help homeowners protect their property by providing information and resources that can be accessed on their website. The Ontario FireSmart also has a selection of easy-to-read reference guides.
From the view of a professional firefighter, the value of the program cannot be understated. The process can be summarized as follows:
- No fuels within 1.5 meters of a structure
- Reduce shrubs, evergreen trees, and dead material within 10 meters
- Thin and prune trees within 30 meters
- Day-to-day maintenance such as cleaning out gutters and sweeping dried leaves and needles away from any structures, especially where they might settle in a sheltered area, such as against the foundation or under a deck.
One of the main concerns people have with fuel reduction around their property is that it will reduce the aesthetics, particularly for traditional cottages nestled into the landscape. FireSmart doesn’t recommend the removal of all vegetation; rather, it maintains a list of drought and fire-resistant plants that are recommended for the 1.5-30 meter zone around a cabin.
While modifying the fuels around your house may not be able to stop the worst fires, it does significantly reduce the intensity of a fire approaching the structure, and thereby increasing the effectiveness of any other efforts to safeguard the house, such as metal siding, sprinklers, or direct action by firefighters. Firefighters can protect a house that has been “FireSmarted” more effectively, in less time, and with fewer resources, making a community more resilient for every individual who participates.
PaBIA still has the printed version of the 2019 PaBIA Maps in stock, but Tom Cavers is keeping the Online Maps updated for your convenience
PaBIA On the Water Coaching – July 2nd
Wednesday morning: 9:00 – 11:00 a.m.
Randy Johnson will again offer On-the-Water Boat Maneuverability Coaching for those who want to learn or refresh their knowledge of operating or docking their boats.
His schedule will vary throughout the summer, and we will do our best to keep you posted! Sign up in the Ojibway Office and meet at the Ojibway back docks!!! Should you need to contact him, you will find his cell number on page 293 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Literally on the Bay
Welcome to the Pointe au Baril Library summer e-blasts.
The Library, located in the Community Centre on South Shore Road, is open from 9:30-11:30 am Mondays and Wednesdays, holidays excepted. Recent best sellers have been added to the collection in time for summer reading. We are very much looking forward to the many conversations that a Library generates.
Our first reading recommendation is Canadian author Claire Cameron’s How to Survive A Bear Attack. This book is a compelling intersection of three themes: personal memoir, nature writing, and crime investigation.
Is A River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane
“A beautiful, wild exploration of an ancient idea: that rivers are living participants in a living world.” So goes the description on the cover of this extraordinary book. Macfarlane’s central proclamation is that this book is a journey into an idea that changes the world – the idea that the river is alive – that water is speaking. . . In English pronouns for natural features are ‘which’ or ‘that’, not ‘who’: I prefer to speak of rivers who flow and forests who grow.
To reveal the life story of the river Macfarlane travels to three main landscapes including the Rio Los Cedros in Ecuador and the watery city of Chennai, India. Of particular interest is the third river located in Canada. This is the wild interior of Nitassinan, homeland of the Innu people, through which runs the Mutehekau Shipu, also known as the Magpie River, who makes sea-fall at the mighty Gulf of St. Lawrence. . . It’s August, and I have travelled to eastern Canada to meet a living threatened river who flows south from deep in the roadless boreal forest up near the Quebec-Labrador border, down to the sea at the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
The timing of this book is significant. This is a critical moment for Canadians. What is our vision for our nation’s future? How will we reconcile the competing forces of economic development and environmental sustainability? “Is A River Alive is a book that will open hearts, challenge perspectives, and remind us that our fate flows with that of rivers – and always has.”
PaBIA Sailing Tune Up is Saturday!
Sailors will meet in the Ojibway Bay for the Tune Up Race! PaBIA’s Sailing Commodore, Jamie Isbester has you covered! If you wish to be added to the sailing email list or for further information, please email Jamie Isbester by either clicking on his name or text/phone him by finding the information on page 292 of the 2025 Yearbook.
Of Interest
Large Item Pick-up Days
The two Saturday dates set aside for large item pick-ups this summer. The ToA is trying to accommodate us islanders for planning purposes, so should you have items you wish taken, the dates (different than in past years) will be July 5 and August 9. From 9 – 5pm, they will be at the Pointe au Baril Station docks to receive the items that islanders bring in by boat. Please keep in mind that there are items excluded from these two special collections, so please click on this link and look for those exceptions. Attached to this link is the North Archipelago newsletter in pdf format where all the information can be found.
Township of the Archipelago
Resolution re Flying Canada’s National Flag
(click to see the resolution in its entirety)
For all cottagers: The ToA wishes to share its resolution re the CN National Flag:
In part, it reads:
- WHEREAS the National Flag of Canada (National Flag) should be given the place of honour among all other flags inside Canada; and
- WHEREAS the National Flag will always be flown on its own flagpole per Canadian Heritage guidelines for residents, private sector, and public sector; and
- WHEREAS it is improper to fly the National Flag with another flag, of any type, on the same flagpole.
Got a Budding Young Artist at Home?
Let their creativity shine at our Kids’ Painting Morning — a fun, hands-on art experience guided by two fantastic professional artists! Come paint alongside artists Kara McIntosh and Bob Hambly and the artwork will be featured in our first-ever Kids’ Gallery during this year’s Art Show!
- Sunday, July 13th from 9:00 am to Noon at the Arts & Crafts Hut
- Please call the office 705-366-5085 to reserve a spot, members and non members’ children are welcome!
- Perfect for kids aged 8–14 who love to paint, explore, and express themselves!
This event is FREE and open to all children 8-14 yrs.in the Pointe au Baril community!
New MAPS Station Up and Running
Exciting news for our bird research program! This beautiful pair of American Redstarts were among the first banded birds at our brand-new MAPS station. MAPS (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship) is a continent-wide program to gather long-term data on bird populations. Every 10 days throughout the breeding season, our team will set up a series of mist nets to safely catch birds, identify and band them, and record detailed information.
This marks a significant expansion of the number of bird species we are collecting data on, and an important contribution to international research. Thank you to everyone who supports the Land Trust and makes this work possible.
Yearbook Update
With each eBlast, we will provide you a list of names of those members who have provided updated contact information. The details of all the changes since the 2023 yearbook came out in early May are provided in THIS printable format for you to print out and insert into your own Yearbook! Changes as of June 23 are below.
For reporting Markers’ problems
contact Tom Cavers by cell (pg. 267 in yearbook) or email
For contacting Secretary-Treasurer and Asst. Sec. Treas.
Nancy Rogers and Elise Findlay: contact.pabia@gmail-com)
Bell, Peter (addition)
In Memoriam
Kieron Bayley, past PaBIA member, 36 Payne’s Rd. and 190 South Shore Rd., husband of Diana, father of Chris (Justine), David (Leslie), Nicole (Matt French) and Miranda (Ray), June 18, 2025.
Water Levels
Lakes Michigan/Huron Water Levels June 18, 2025.
To better read the charts, please click on the chart for the Daily or Six Month Forecast Water level chart and the corresponding websites
Please support PaBIA’s Yearbook Advertisers 2025
Mark Payne
c 705.746.0171
This site’s advertising feature was created to provide assistance for special local information & events for existing Yearbook advertisers only.
Emergency
• PaB Nursing Station
• Canadian Coast Guard
Search and Rescue
800-267-7270
• PaBIA Emergency info