This just in from Project Canoe's Summer Intern Program Coordinator, Ben Stainton. "The interns and I have conducted a successful privy installation and I would like to tell you all about it. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) offered a training course on how to install a privy in the most environmentally sustainable way. Using the information from that course and two privies donated from the Temagami Lakes Association, the interns and I were prepared to help preserve the beautiful lands on which we camp.

Our trip took us northeast on a paddle up the northeast arm towards the lovely town of Temagami. There are no known privies in this direction and it can be a heavily trafficked area. We passed by several sites on two separate privy expeditions. Some sites were too small to install a privy without endangering the environmental integrity of the land around it. On each occassion, we left Briggs (Project Canoe's summer basecamp in Temagami) as early as we could and landed at our site in the evening. We quickly started with our two tasks: installing the privy and setting up camp. Each trip concluded the privy construction the following morning with a final look at what our energies had accomplished in our trip.

Privies were built away from the water, on elevated land, on sites that were heavilly trafficked, and only if an existing privy was not present. The traininig with the MNR involved the installation of a privy, removal of two older privies, improving the sustainability of an existing privy, and moving a final privy into a new/more appropriate location."

Here are some photos from our adventures.