MCTAVISH TOWNSHIP — A group of property owners on Loon Lake, northeast of Thunder Bay, is taking a closer look at the prevalence of blue-green algae in their water.
The Loon Lake Waterkeepers Conservancy was formed in summer of 2024, said its chair Tom Beasley. Its goal is to improve water quality in the lake and “blue-green algae gave us the kickstart to do that,” he added.
When the algae, also called cyanobacteria, “blooms” in a water body, it forms a potentially-toxic scum-like substance on the surface. It can have a range of side effects on humans and land animals when touched and/or ingested, and its presence reduces oxygen levels in the water, which is detrimental to aquatic plant life and animal life, conservation experts say.
There have been more reports of these blooms in recent years in the Northwest, largely in inland freshwater lakes. Beasley said Loon Lake is no exception.
“I've been on the lake a long time — our family has,” he said. “I'd say in the last … five to six years, there's been two or three blooms a year on the lake — on East or West Loon.”
“Prior to that, I don’t think there were many.”
That has banded together many of the roughly-160 property owners on Loon and led to the formation of the conservancy, Beasley said, adding that they sought input from the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Nathan Wilson, a noted freshwater researcher at Lakehead University.
That led to a successful public awareness campaign around the lake, Beasley continued.
“Education is the start of any action,” he said. “Initially, last summer, we had a brochure that was created by our members and hand-delivered to 160 camps in a compostable bag with a phosphate-free bar of soap to deliver a message to the campers.”
“That allowed us to do one-on-one education and chat with campers about what's the cause of this and how can you mitigate against it.”
The conservancy partnered with Trinity and St. Paul’s United Churches to hold a Thursday evening public forum on blue-green algae, its causes and ways to prevent it from spreading — or even reducing it. Generally, that can include planting native vegetation along shorelines (rather than having a lawn right down to the beach or waterline), reducing or eliminating phosphorus from fertilizers, using soaps and detergents free of phosphates and ensuring septic systems are properly maintained.
The group is also looking further ahead, Beasley said, including longer-term studies (three to five years) of lake conditions. That, he said, involves submitting funding applications for people and underwater monitoring equipment to do more scientific analysis on things like levels of temperature, phosphates, and other dissolved elements.
Another plan is to scan the lake to get a model of how the lake bottom looks, Beasley said.
“Having that scientific analysis done over time will be of great benefit,” he said.