On Saturday, September 27, the FoTW and Lanark Stewardship Council cooperated in organising a shoreline cleanup of the Tay Canal from Last Duel Park in Perth to Beveridges Locks in Drummond North Elmsley Township. The event was part of the annual Canada-wide Shoreline Cleanup delivered by the TD Bank and the Vancouver Aquarium. Twenty enthusiastic folks from several eastern Ontario locations paddled 16 canoes and kayaks down the ten km. long canal, picking up, as they went along, a range of plastic, paper and other garbage that had found a way into this usually pristine waterway. Five trash bags were filled - with pop cans, plastic bags, beverage bottles, and such out of place materials as vinyl siding and a propane tank.

Canoeists and kayakers are invited to come for a paddle down the Tay Canal, on Saturday, September 27, with the Friends of the Tay Watershed and the Lanark County Stewardship Council.

Our trip will start at 10:00am, at Last Duel Dock, on the east side of Perth, and run down the Tay to Beveridge Locks, a distance of about 10 kms. We will provide refreshments at the Locks and bus transportation back to Perth to pick up vehicles. There is no cost for this trip (and no charge for the locks, thanks to Parks Canada).

This tour is to provide an early look at the Tay Canal and Marsh, in preparation for its upcoming 175th Anniversary in 2009 - and to mark the canal receiving World Heritage Site designation last year, by UNESCO. We will take advantage of this tour to do a shoreline cleanup, tying into the TD Bank's annual national Program, taking place across Canada from September 21-28 (participation is optional).

This is a beautiful wildlife area that we believe you will enjoy. It is a quiet paddle, with no rapids, down the Tay Canal and River for a few kilometres, before opening into the provincially significant Tay Marsh, home to many bird species. After several kilometres, the route turns down the second Canal arm to Beveridge Locks. See the website at www.tayriver.org for more description and aerial photographs.

If you plan on participating, please advise by e-mail or telephone (613-264 0094) - particularly if you wish to take the bus back from Beveridge Locks to Perth to pick up your car.

Please join us - and don't forget to bring the required canoe equipment with you (a list of this and a link to the MOT official website is provided at the above website).

Friends of the Tay Watershed
P. O. Box 2065, 57 Foster St.
Perth, ON, K7H 3M9
(613) 264 0094
info@tayriver.org
www.tayriver.org