By Tim Homan
August, 2009. Page and I were seeking a new place to paddle and portage in the northwood’s land of lakes and loons. Judging from the photographs alone, Ontario’s Killarney Provincial Park*-with its gloriously clear blue lakes, white quartzite mountains, and spectacular vistas ranging to Lake Huron’s Georgian Bay-looked idyllic, a Northcountry canoeist’s paradise. But the small print below the pretty pictures led us into troubled waters. Those words made us wonder if Killarney was like a lobotomized super model, beautiful but largely lifeless. The park suffered severe pollution from acid deposition during the 1970s and 80s. The pH readings plummeted well below 5.0 in the most poorly buffered lakes. At its most lethal right after snow melt, this acidification killed the sport fish – northern pike, smallmouth bass, lake trout and the like. One trophic level after another collapsed as the food chain imploded, unraveling the web of life. With less organic matter in their waters, the lakes with the lowest pH levels actually appeared the most pristine, clear and sparkling, but in reality were the most biologically comatose and largely sterile.