Attention Cottage Owners – please mark your calendars now and plan to attend our Association’s 2004 Annual General Meeting (“AGM”). Our AGM this year will be held on Saturday, July 24th from 4 – 6 p.m. at the Recreation Hall in Waskesiu (located next to the library at the end of Montreal Drive).

In addition to the election of your 2004/2005 Board of Directors, there will be updates and discussion concerning important decisions now being made by Parks Canada that affect your cottage value and use, and the long-term future of the Waskesiu community. Please be informed about the many issues facing members of our Association, including lease renewals.

Our Association fees are now due and remain, yet again, unchanged at just $25. Cheques are payable to “P.A.N.P. Cottage Owners’ Association Inc.”

Please complete the following form, and detach and mail the same with your cheque, payable to the “P.A.N.P. Cottage Owners’ Association Inc.”, to 151 Whiteshore Crescent, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, S7J 3W3.

 

NAME:___________________________________________________________________________

COTTAGE ADDRESS:____________________________________________________________________

MAILING ADDRESS:____________________________________________________________________

POSTAL CODE ______________________

PHONE #S: _______________________ (Waskesiu) __________________________ (Home)

EMAIL ADDRESS: ______________________________________________

As you no doubt have heard, last summer’s first-year spraying of both the Waskesiu town site and the golf course were deemed a success, in spite of weather delays. On two days in June of last year, and now again this year, a fast-flying turbo crop duster zoomed overhead leaving a fine mist to settle on the trees. Bioforest Technologies, who organize and monitor the procedure and have test plots on the periphery of the spray area, tell us that the reduction in budworm density went according to plan. Noticeable was a considerable decrease in the numbers of moths in the middle of the summer of 2003 and, consequently, fewer eggs were laid to hatch this year. The results are obvious for anyone to see - the trees in the Waskesiu town site this year look much healthier, especially on the golf course…a very good sign! The value of this program for our community and our Association members is nothing short of tremendous, and is impossible to quantify.

However, friends, don’t forget…our Association has fully supported, and we have asked each of our members to commit to, a contribution of $150 (or more if you can) to finance the three-year budworm campaign. Parks Canada Agency, the “Save our Spruce Committee”, the Lobstick Golf Course, the Waskesiu Chamber of Commerce, the Waskesiu Cabin Owners’ Association, our Cottage Owners’ Association and over 330 of your neighbors and friends have all pledged their financial support to this cause.

If you forgot to send your $150 cheque last year to support your community, it’s not too late. Please make your cheque payable to: WASKESIU TOWNSITE ENHANCEMENT SOCIETY INC. (or “WTESI”) and reference the “Budworm Account”. Moreover, remember, WTESI is a registered charity that will issue you a tax receipt for income tax purposes. You can mail your cheque to: WTESI, 69 south Industrial Drive, Prince Albert, S6V 7L7, or just drop it off at the golf course in an envelope marked “Spruce Budworm campaign”.

If you have not done so, please have a look at the new Waskesiu community website - www.waskesiu.org. You’ll find lots of good information and links to web pages for our Association, as well as to the Waskesiu Chamber of Commerce, our elected Community Council, the Cabin Owners’ Association, the Concerned Park Supporters and others in our community. Your Association has been a very active supporter of this initiative, financially and otherwise. We hope that, over time, this Waskesiu community website will become a destination for members of our community to find information about what is happening in Waskesiu and Prince Albert National Park. We also hope that it will give our local businesses a chance to promote their services to us and to Park visitors, while providing an effective medium for us locals to stay plugged in.

A big concern for all of us is the dramatic drop in the Waskesiu Lake water level. While things are looking a bit better this spring, we have been subject to the double whammy of many years of below average precipitation combined with higher than average evaporation. Moreover, if by some miracle we did start to experience an above average period of precipitation, and Waskesiu Lake actually rose by four or five inches, the absence of a properly functioning dam on the Waskesiu River would inevitably cause this added moisture to simply escape down river.

In that regard, we are pleased to report that the Park has committed to rebuilding a series of “Riffle Dam”-type structures, starting this year. When Mother Nature really does end our drought conditions, it is hoped that these Riffle Dam structures will allow Waskesiu Lake to regain much of the historic water level lost over the course of the past decade.

A new boat launch will be constructed just inside the marina breakwater to compensate for the low-water conditions at the existing marina launch site. We understand that the marina operator has been offered a long-term lease subject to the construction of floating docks (given that the existing marina docks were built at the high water level with no provision for fluctuating conditions).

Our Association and, we believe, our Community Council and other groups in the Park are very concerned that many of the Waskesiu town site assets are in desperate need of repair, restoration or replacement...it is now undeniable that our roads, breakwaters, marinas, community buildings and other community assets are suffering due to lack of upkeep and capital.

In some cases, the crumbling infrastructure brings to mind a “third-world” image – certainly not an image to be associated with one of Canada’s most beautiful National Parks. Solutions may exist, but there are many challenges. One potential solution is to simply decommission many buildings and other capital assets which the Park appears not to be in a position to maintain. Yet another solution is to raise fees with a “user-pay” philosophy.

If Prince Albert National Park were a more “high profile” location within the National Park system – perhaps like Banff or Jasper - things would likely be much better. Our only hope is to lobby our federal politicians, reminding them that, at the very least, a reasonable standard should be achieved and maintained by the Government of Canada in relation to all of our National Parks. Other, community-based solutions may also exist, including via WTESI, and some of those solutions will be discussed at our Association’s AGM on July 24th, 2004. Please plan to attend.

• July 10th – 12:00 to 5:00 p.m. – Parks Canada Management Plan “Open House” at the Community Hall
• July 22nd – 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – Parks Canada Management Plan “Open House” at the Recreation Hall
• July 24th - Cottage Owners Association AGM 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. at the Recreation Hall
• August 1st -- 10:00 a.m. Waskesiu Community Council Annual General Meeting
• August 11th, – 12:00 to 8:00 p.m. – Parks Canada Management Plan “Open House” at the Recreation Hall

• September 5th - 9:00 a.m. - second annual Arbor Day Tree Planting.

   

  P.A.N.P. Cottage Owners’ Association Inc.
  2003/2004 Board of Directors

  President:		Jim Kerby (E-mail: jkerby@mlt.com)
  Treasurer:		Audrey Mackenzie (E-mail: wmack@sasktel.net)
  Secretary:		Les Cooper (Waskesiu phone: 663-5503)
  Directors:		Barry Chapman Cottage Owners’ Representative on the CPS Board of Directors (E-mail: barry.chapman@sasktel.net)
  		Dave King Cottage Owners Representative on SOS Committee (E-mail: Ldking_hockey@hotmail.com)
  		Grit McCreath Cottage Owners Representative on Friends of the Park (E-mail: grit_mccreath@hotmail.com)
  		Al Ross Cottage Owners’ Representative on the Waskesiu Community Council (Home phone: (306) 373-5313)
  		Joni MacKay (E-mail: joniMacKay@sasktel.net)
  		Barb Wouters (E-mail: barb@woutersrealty.com)