Adapting to the urban Ontario lifestyle slowly coming around. Roads have traffic, the sense of community is lacking and the north half of town is a near mirror image to the south where box stores and chains butt-out small business. The access to the outdoors is…something, I mean it is there, but in small quantities. The search for “our spot”, a place where we can just get outside at a moments notice, remains an active contest. Fanshawe Conservation area is not too shabby when it comes to access to outdoors.
The 21 kilometer trail around the reservoir plots through one of several fragments of Carolinian Forest that remain in southwest Ontario, albeit the trail is not exclusively forest, road walking is required. We decided to give it a go. Arriving nice and early to beat any chance of a crowd, we paid the $15 vehicle fee to access the park (for reference, National Parks are $10.50 per person or $145 annually. Fanshawe Conservation area offers $140 for a season pass). We follow the mauve signs for a few kilometers to the trailhead parking, which is pleasantly and sparsely populated, and begin our hike.
It is not long before we are passed by mountain bikers, but not before we walk through the golf club parking lot (designated trail), and start on the dirt single-track. The forest is abundant with beauty, vibrant leaves block the sky with stunning greens, the understory is nearly absent because the canopy is so dense. Last years leaf litter forms a crunchy barrier between the sun and soil.
We pass the halfway point of the trail, marked by a several kilometer road walk and have still had no access to the reservoir, or river filling it, since we began.
“I can’t believe we haven’t bee able to find a spot to access the lake yet…poor poncho, she’s so thirsty”
“I know! You’d think that hiking around a lake would provide a lot of opportunities to go for a swim. I wouldn’t mind a swim myself.”
Before we knew it, the hike was over. 21km in the bag and one single spot along the trail provided access to the river upstream of the reservoir. Poor Poncho. She was thirsty, and hot. In classic poncho fashion, she wallowed in a mud puddle not 100 meters from the car. If she lacked fir, she’d give a pig a run for it’s money.
“let’s walk over to the lake and let Poncho get it, she’ll like it…and we can clean her off”
“yes, let’s do it”
As we casually pass the bouncy castle/ obstacle course, not at all jealous of the kids who will be playing on it, the signs near the edge of the lake become readable “DO NOT ENTER. POISON OAK”. To left, and to the right, a sign is placed every 50 meters as far as the eye can see.
“Well shit, I guess we’re not going in this way”
We drive the car to the day use booth and talk with the lady manning the booth….errr… operating the booth.
“Hi, we just got done with a hike and would like to access the lake. Where can we do that?”
“What do you mean?”
Caught off-guard by the question, I replay my previous statement in my head. Did I say that weird? Am I missing something? “Where can we access the lake to go swimming??”
“You can’t. There is no swimming allowed because of the blue-green algae blooms.”
“Oh…not even for dogs?”
“Especially not for dogs. It’s very dangerous for them.”
“Gotcha…okay, well we’ll be on our way then”
We pull away, slowly passing the young woman who seems to have fallen asleep sitting in the door way of the ice machine, a bag of ice in each hand.
“Dude! What kind of lake do you hike 21km around and can’t go swimming in it afterwards?!”
“Beats me, that’s a bummer. It’s hot. What about the people in canoes and fishing? I wonder how it is for them?”
“I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’d be eating fish out of there if we’re not even allowed to be in the water”
“What do you think causes it?”
“Most certainly agriculture run-off, but i’m not sure.”
And it is most definitely Agricultural runoff, take a look at the map below. Excess fertilizers, especially phosphorous and nitrogen, are brought into the lake via run-off.
Fanshawe “lake” (It’s actually a reservoir) and the surrounding agricultural land. The surrounding land is the source of excess fertilizers which exacerbate blue-green algae blooms.
If the map of the surrounding area is not convincing enough that agriculture is playing a part in the algae blooms, then view the following map.
It’s ALL agricultural land. A crazy amount of agricultural land, much of it draining into Fanshawe reservoir.
So what are the implications of excess fertilizer in the lake? There are many, and surprisingly or not, this is not a new phenomenon. Blue-green algae (actually cyano-bacteria; a photosynthetic bacteria) blooms are ancient, the issue is the frequency at which they occur due to cultural influences, earning the term “cultural eutrophication”. Health departments across North America have warned about the health effects of blue-green algae in lakes, ranging from skin irritation to neurological impairments.
Lakes such as Fanshawe Reservoir are not the only sites where these algae blooms appear. The Great Lakes and oceans are also susceptible to Harmful Algae Blooms (HAB), creating toxic conditions and eventually rendering an area a “Dead Zone” (think Gulf of Mexico).
Let’s go swimming, but choose your water body well.
Thames River as seen north of Fanshawe Reservoir