Over the years, the amount of garbage floating in the water and sitting on the shorelines of lakes in the Temagami area has increased. Of particular concern are plastics, as they can take hundreds of years to break down. They may never do so completely, but instead disintegrate into smaller and smaller pieces – which can have negative impacts on wildlife (especially when ingested).
To help address this issue, the TLA would again like to issue the “Temagami Shoreline Clean-Up Challenge” to anyone who resides on, or enjoys, Lake Temagami and other area lakes. During the summer of 2024, we encourage year-round and seasonal residents, and visitors, to seek out and collect trash that is in the water or lying on mainland or island shorelines.
We will award prizes at the end of the summer season, in these categories:
(a) “Most Trash Collected”
(b) “Most-Unique Piece of Trash”
(c) “Oldest Piece of Trash”
(d) “Most-Useful Piece of Trash”
(e) “Largest Piece of Trash”
Prizes will also be awarded in a special “Children’s Category” – to recognize the industrious young people who devote their time and effort in keeping Lake Temagami, and area lakes and shorelines, trash free.
Please dispose of all items appropriately, and simply e-mail photographic proof of your efforts to the TLA at: tla@onlink.net. We urge everyone to continue with the clean-up initiative throughout 2024 and beyond.
TLA Past President, Paul Tamburro, shows off his trash-retrieval skills during the 2023 shoreline clean-up challenge. (photo submission by Paul Tamburro)