As reported in our last 2 newsletters, members of our lake community participated in the provincially sponsored Water Rangers Program in 2024. Specifically, testing was done last year by Bobby Swain in the east basin and Paul and Tania Hazlett in the West Basin.

Last winter, Dr Ho-Tossane of the Nordik Institute contacted the Environmental Services Committee of Huron Shores about a project that she was initiating to collect do fresh water sampling along the North Shore. Here is a write up describing the program that was being initiated for 2025:

This initiative is part of a community-led effort operated by the NORDIK Institute. The goal is to empower local residents to collect consistent, meaningful data on the health of our local water bodies - including lakes, rivers, and creeks throughout Huron Shores and surrounding communities.

Nordik Project Announcement in Soo Today.

The project builds on successful models used in other Northern communities and is designed to fill data gaps in areas where there is little to no regular environmental sampling. While this is not a regulatory or enforcement-driven program, it can help provide valuable baseline data that contributes to public awareness, long-term planning, and resource protection.

The project includes:

• Weekly water quality sampling (May-Sept) using test kits Parameters like pH, temperature, clarity, and conductivity
• Volunteer training and safety guidance
• A shared digital database to support transparency and learning
• A fall data workshop to review findings together as a community

At that time, Dr Ho-Tossane requested that the ESC find volunteers in various water bodies within Huron Shores to collect samples and submit them to the program. Since the program ws being run using the Water Rangers protocols, the BBLA volunteered to incorporate their program with Dr Ho-Tossane program.

For 2025, three locations on Big Basswood Lake were being used for sampling:

• Continued testing by the Hazletts in the west end
• Testing by Christine Coutu and Jason Naccorato in Philips Bay
• Testing by Peter Falk near Harris Creek in the East End

Throughout the summer, site testing was performed at each of these three locations using the prescribed protocols. We worked very closely with Kiki Vetrie from Dr Ho-Tassone's team on the program and have already started to discuss additional tests for next year including fish DNA sampling.

As of this writing, no final results had yet been published but we will be working with Kiki throughout the winter to analyze this year year's results and plan for another season of testing in 2026.