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03/07/2026

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11/21/2025

10/14/2025

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08/17/2025

Cursed Gummy Bear? Nope, just a magnificent bryozoan doing its thing.

If you’ve ever found a floating, gelatinous blob while out kayaking and thought, who left that perfectly good gummy bear to rot in the lake, you’re not alone. But guess what, that isn’t a gummy, a pile of frog eggs, a mutant brain, or a sci-fi nightmare. It is Pectinatella magnifica, aka the magnificent bryozoan.

What looks like a single giant blob is actually a community of thousands of tiny, filter-feeding creatures called zooids, working together in harmony. These ancient creatures breathe life into freshwater, capturing plankton and cleaning the water as they drift in slow-moving rivers and lakes. Some colonies grow over a foot wide, pulsing gently with the current, a secret world hidden in plain sight.

When winter comes bryozoans release statoblasts, microscopic survival pods that can withstand freezing, drying, and even time itself. When conditions are right, they awaken, building new colonies and continuing their ancient cycle.

While Pectinatella magnifica is the most common bryozoan in the US, there are actually thousands of species across the globe. Have you ever encountered one of these strange and beautiful blobs?

A bryozon colony found in Lake Huron by Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office. Michael Schindler/USFWS.

08/17/2025

08/05/2025

⚠️ Burn Ban in Effect as of August 5, 2025.

Due to current conditions, the Municipality of Trent Lakes has issued a ban on all open-air burning effective August 5, 2025. This ban suspends all approved Open-Air Burning Permits.

🔴This ban includes the following and will remain in effect until further notice to ensure public safety:

• Burning of clean wood, leaves, and brush
• Outdoor campfires
• Charcoal BBQs, charcoal smokers, wood smokers
• All outdoor wood burning appliances
• Patio torches
• Outdoor candles
• Fireworks

🟢The following are permitted:
• Propane or Naptha Gas cooking equipment with shutoff mechanism
• Electric cooking equipment

Citizens are further reminded that all smoking materials should be fully extinguished before being discarded in proper non-combustible containers.

Trent Lakes Fire Rescue would like to thank all citizens for their anticipated co-operation during this ban. We would also like to remind citizens that any person found to be conducting open air burning in contravention of the ban, is guilty of an offence and subject to penalties outlined in B2023-053 Section 4.1.

Trent Lakes Fire Rescue will continue to monitor the conditions and issue a subsequent release when the open air burning ban is lifted. Citizens may also watch www.trentlakes.ca for an update for when the ban is lifted.

For questions please contact 705-738-3800 ext. 230.

07/18/2025

How the Kawarthas Were Named

To the end of the nineteenth century, the lakes of South Central Ontario were typically just called the Trent Valley, which was assured a place in the Canadian English-language public, because of the never-ending political lobbying to get the Trent Canal built. Once the region was served by railways, tourism became practical. The Muskokas were already a successful destination, and if the Trent Valley had a similar handle, the Grand Trunk Railway would promote the region alongside the Muskokas.

The Trent Valley Navigation Company (who hoped to profit because tourists would need their steamships to get around the region), Bobcaygeon Reeve Albert Edward Bottum and Bobcaygeon Independent publisher Charles Stewart set out to create a new name as the new century began. These promoters had no doubt that because of the international fascination with indigenous peoples, a Mississauga name would maximize the appeal of the region. So they travelled to Curve Lake and asked their friend Martha Whetung to propose a name. She suggested Ka Wasa (Ka = Water, Wasa = Shining). By the time they got back to Bobcaygeon it had become Kawatha. They sent the name off to the Acme Marketing Company of Buffalo (Looney Tunes fans may appreciate that there really was an ACME), who added the ‘r.’ Before long there were brochures all over North America, which employed much creative licence to transform the region into a pristine, natural, health resort. By this time, “Kawartha” was translated as “bright waters and happy lands.” Many locals could see how exaggerated the claims were and that Kawartha was not an Mississauga word, but there was no doubting the effectiveness of the advertising campaign.

Within a few years the Trent Valley had become the Kawarthas, a popular destination for visitors from throughout North America. The Trent Valley Navigation Company quickly found that despite the influx of visitors, offering a coordinated network of steam transportation was not profitable, especially as gas powered motor boats appeared, and they folded. But a trip through the beautiful lakes on one of their white paddlewheelers, adorned with maple woodwork, red plush seats was the original iconic image of the Kawarthas.

For her help, Martha Whetung received free passage for life on Trent Valley Navigation Company steamers. She died just as the company was winding up, and its manager, W.T.C. Boyd donated her tombstone.

https://maryboro.ca/story/how-the-kawarthas-were-named/