Our story
The association received its letters patent on August 16, 1961, when a group of cottagers organized to look after the waters their families summered on. Over sixty years later the mission hasn’t changed: keep the water clean, the shorelines natural, and the community strong, so the next generation inherits the lakes as we found them. You can still read the original 1961 documents in our governance archive.
We are recognized by the Province of Ontario and work alongside FOCA (the Federation of Ontario Cottagers’ Associations), Ontario Parks, and the Municipality of Dysart et al.
At the 2026 Annual General Meeting, members voted to change the association’s name to the Redstone Area Lakes Association (RALA) — read the full story in our AGM recap. The new name takes effect once the corporate filings are complete.
Seven lakes, one watershed
Our stewardship covers seven connected lakes in the heart of Haliburton’s wilderness: Redstone, Little Redstone, Pelaw, Bitter, Long (Tedious), Burdock and Coleman. Deep, cold and clean, they are classic Canadian Shield lake trout waters — a fishery found in only about one per cent of Ontario’s lakes.
Our lakes sit at the heart of the Redstone River watershed — 235 km² of country stretching from Upper Redstone Lake inside Algonquin Park down to Green Lake near West Guilford. The association’s stewardship covers the chain of seven cottage lakes within it.