Adopt-a-Campsite Program

TLA Initiates “Adopt-a-Campsite” Program

As a member of the MNR’s Temagami Crown Land Maintenance Partnership, the TLA is committed to helping keep Temagami’s campsites beautiful. The TLA Campsite Clean-up program is now in full swing. All members are encouraged to stop in to their favourite campsite before the end of the summer, inventory its condition, and pack up any garbage left on the site. TLA Campsite Clean-up Forms can be completed and submitted to tla@onlink.net.

History of the Program:

2023 and 2024:

By PJ Justason, Friends of Temagami President, and Paul Tamburro, TLA President

There are 96 Lake Temagami campsites noted on the TLA’s “Lake Temagami Shoal Map” and 102 noted on the “Friends of Temagami Adventure Map”. The disparity may reflect former or little-used campsites or, equally likely, our ability to count little triangles on a map.

Some of these sites are heavily used and in varying degrees of hospitability. Accordingly, the TLA is planning an “Adopt-a-Campsite” program, and we have two goals for this summer.

First, the TLA is partnering with Friends of Temagami on an important project. FoT has built 14 thunderboxes specifically for Lake Temagami, as part of their Temagami-wide initiative to install 30 to 40 of these design wonders across the region in 2023.

The 14 units designated for Lake Temagami will be delivered as prefabricated packages to the TLA Headquarters Building, with easy-to-assemble instructions and FoT signage included. We are looking for TLA members or other residents to install them at campsites of your choosing around the Lake. Ideally, a spade could be left on each site to allow for easy relocation of its thunderbox, as the need arises.

Second, we will begin to update the existing catalogue of Lake Temagami campsites. We ask that you examine the campsites near your island and send information about them to tla@onlink.net – including a photo, the site location (with longitude/latitude, or an X on a map), and a description of the site condition (plus a notation about the presence or absence of a thunderbox). We will then be off to a great start.

Note: As of October 2024, approximately a dozen thunderboxes were placed by TLA members and others on campsites around the Lake – including the NE Arm, in Loon Bay, and the mainland west of Cattle Island.

2015:

• • TLA Students Clean Campsites and Install Privies (2015) – see page 7
  • Campsite Database with Names and GPS Coordinates (2015)

TLA staff members have visited approximately 130 campsites of 175 on Lake Temagami, noting condition of the site, presence of signage, and privy existence and state, as well as collecting garbage. Sites requiring new privies or repairs were identified and are in the process of being remedied this summer. Once all the campsites have been identified and GPS location recorded, a campsite map will be prepared.

2013:

• Summer 2013 Campsite Maintenance Checklist