Featured Park - Frontenac

Ontario Parks Insider

Wilderness has never been so close. Frontenac Provincial Park
is situated in south-central Ontario and is a prime destination for outdoor enthusiasts searching for a natural, but nearby backcountry oasis.

Frontenac provides an easy escape from the common campground. Its campsites are all set in the interior, in clusters, made up of two to four tent areas. With a maze of portages and hiking trails that interconnect throughout Frontenac, the park’s striking landscape can be explored by both paddlers and backpackers.

At the heart of Frontenac is Big Salmon Lake. Camping at one of the three cluster campsites on Big Salmon Lake will yield several day trip options. A day-hike to the top of Mink Lake Lookout, takes you through a scoured slope known to geologists as the Grenville Province of the Canadian Shield, a once towering mountain range. Another day outing can be had by portaging from Big Salmon into Camel Lake. Here a local family, in the 1940s, helped reintroduce the almost extinct beaver back to the area. Taking another portage out of Big Salmon Lake also leads to Little Clear Lake and the remains of the Hardwood Bay and Green farms; settlements that date back to the mid-1800s.

Less than an hour’s drive north of Kingston and two hours from Ottawa, Frontenac Provincial Park provides a perfect day or weekend backcountry escape that is uncommon in Southern Ontario. Maintaining this near north experience as a “threshold wilderness” has been the goal of the park since it was founded in 1974. This concept is unique to Frontenac Provincial Park. It strives to provide semi-wilderness travel in an outstanding natural environment, giving visitors an alternative to the developed, campground-centred recreation of many of southern Ontario’s provincial parks. To guide the park in maintaining this wilderness experience for future generations, a new park management plan is currently being prepared that will continue to embrace the concept of a “threshold wilderness”.

YouTube hit video - a serious threat to the Great Lakes

Ontario Parks Insider

Asian carp, made famous by their distinctive acrobatics and complete ecological dominance, are currently one of the biggest threats to the Great Lakes ecosystem. Despite their Youtube popularity, there are several initiatives underway to prevent them from entering Canadian waters. Here is what you should know about Asian carp:

What are Asian carp?
There are actually four species of Asian carp that are considered invasive and a threat to the Great Lakes, the bighead, silver, black and grass carp. Silver, bighead and grass carp are filter-feeding fish and consume plant and animal plankton at an alarming rate. Bighead carp can grow to very large sizes of over 1.5 metres (5 feet) in length and can weigh 45 kg (100 lb) or more. Black carp differ in that they consume primarily mollusks, and threaten native mussel and sturgeon populations. Adult grass carp can grow to nearly 1.2 metres (4 feet) in length and over 18 kilograms (40 lb) in weight.

Why are they a problem?
Asian carp are a problem because of their feeding and spawning habits. Bighead carp are capable of consuming 40% of their own body weight in food each day. Silver carp are smaller, but pose a greater danger to recreational users because of their tendency to jump out of the water when disturbed by boat motors. They have severely impacted fishing and recreation on the Illinois River. They can spawn multiple times during each season and quickly out-compete native species by disrupting the food chain everywhere they go.

Click here(video) to see how they have devastated the Illinois River.

Asian carp could have a huge negative effect on the Great Lakes ecosystem and a significant economic impact on the $7 billion fishery. They are well suited to the water temperature and food supply; they lack natural predators in the Great Lakes; and could quickly become the dominant species. Once they arrive in a lake, it is very difficult to control them.


Where did Asian carp come from?
Asian carp were originally imported to the southern United States in the 1970s to help aquaculture and wastewater treatment facilities keep retention ponds clean. Flooding throughout the early 1990s allowed these fish to escape into the Mississippi and migrate into the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. They now threaten the Great Lakes by possibly spreading from the Mississippi watershed through man made connections and through natural events like flooding.

What is stopping them from entering the Great Lakes?
To prevent Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes, the US Army Corps of Engineers constructed an $18 million electric barrier on the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal less than 60km upstream from Lake Michigan. The barrier deters fish from swimming through it by creating an electrical field. The barrier currently operates at 2 volts per inch - a voltage many feel is adequate to deter both adult and juvenile fish.

Other ways that Asian carp can enter the Great Lakes are through intentional or unintentional live release. On the Canadian side of the border, the Ontario government has banned the purchase, sale and possession of live Asian carp. It is known that some people purchase and live release carp in hopes of receiving good luck.

You can do the following to prevent the spread of black, bighead, silver, and grass carp and other aquatic invasive species:

  • Learn to identify grass, black, bighead and silver carp
  • Dispose of bait properly: Do not release bait into the water
  • Always drain water from your boat, live well, and bilge before leaving any water access
  • Never dip your bait bucket into a lake or river if it contains water from another water source
  • Never dump live fish from one body of water into another body of water



If all else fails, the folks at the Rick Mercer Report(video) have contrived their own solution to curb the invasion.

How to choose the right sleeping bag

Ontario Parks Insider

It’s odd that it took so long to go from sleeping on tree boughs to high-tech sleeping bags with goose down to keep you toasty warm at night. After all, comfort has always been at the forefront of camp inventions and tired canoeists have always had the need for a comfortable sleep.

The traditional “how to” books gave great detail on the proper way to layer conifer twigs and use blankets to keep warm at night. Relatively speaking, it was not that long ago, around 1890, that the modern day sleeping bag was first put into commercial production. This invention, however, revolutionized how well we sleep at night.

How to choose a sleeping bag?
Not all sleeping bags are the same and not all are sized the same. The best way to make sure you are buying the right one is to go to the store, dressed in what you’d usually sleep in while camping, and try them on. Just like backpacks or PFDs; you should get the best fit before you buy.

Climb in as many bags as you can at the store and test out the length and volume. You want space to move, but not so much that you need to heat the extra space with your precious body heat. Be careful not to have too little space so that you feel cramped or your shoulders are exposed.

Test the zipper out and see if it snags – nasty stuff if it does. Put the hood on and check if things like nearby velcro strips scratch your face. Also, can you easily reach the draw strings? Try different positions - are you a back sleeper or side sleeper or both – can you rotate easily within the bag to change your desired sleeping position?

Add in a layer of comfort
To rid the sleeping bag of that clammy feeling when you crawl in, insert a home-made liner. Simply fold a regular cotton, fleece or even silk bed sheet in half, sew the bottom and half way up the open side. Insert the liner with the half-sewn side towards the zipper. The extra weight is minimal and the liner adds extra warmth for early and late season camping. It can also be easily removed for cleaning, which will prolong the life of your sleeping bag.

Watch a video on how to select a proper sleeping bag

Pay More for Energy

Ontario Parks Insider

Thousands of Canadians just like you have signed up for Bullfrog Power and made the choice to pay a little more for energy.
But why would anyone voluntarily pay more for their energy?

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We all make decisions to pay more for things that align with our values.

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In Canada, our electricity comes from a range of sources like coal, nuclear, oil and gas, and large hydro. Only a tiny fraction comes from clean emissions-free sources like wind power. There’s a price to pay for the status quo: climate change, air pollution and a future at risk.

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