Eugenia Lake

Eugenia Lake supports boating, fishing, paddling and swimming, with the main municipal lake access located off Canrobert Street. Nearby Eugenia Falls Conservation Area adds a very different experience, with trails and views of the 30-metre waterfall where the Beaver River drops over the Niagara Escarpment (Municipality of Grey Highlands, n.d.-a; Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, n.d.).

The public boat launch off Canrobert Street is the only municipal public access point to Eugenia Lake; other shoreline access points are private. The lake functions as a managed hydroelectric reservoir rather than a through-navigation waterway, and Ontario Power Generation controls seasonal water levels through winter drawdown and spring refill operations (Municipality of Grey Highlands, n.d.-a; Ontario Power Generation, n.d.).

Eugenia Lake supports fish from warm-, cool- and cold-water communities. Records reviewed for a municipal environmental study identified 20 species, including smallmouth and largemouth bass, northern pike, rainbow trout, brook trout and brown trout. This mix reflects the contrast between the lake’s extensive shallow areas and its smaller deep-water basin (Hutchinson Environmental Sciences Ltd., 2024).

Eugenia Lake’s municipal public beach is located beside the boat launch off Canrobert Street. Grey Highlands conducts regular recreational-water testing during the summer and posts current results online. Blue-green algae blooms have also been documented, so swimmers should always follow current municipal advisories and avoid visible blooms (Municipality of Grey Highlands, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).