MWC Helps Local Organizations Recognize Watershed Stewards

Karen became a David Suzuki Butterflyway Ranger in 2021. She has since advocated for the planting of natural vegetation to form ‘pathways’ for butterflies and other pollinators throughout Bracebridge. She has spoken at Bracebridge Horticultural Society meetings many times and has distributed information at several public functions. Karen is an active member and Secretary of the Bracebridge Horticultural Society. Karen and her husband live on the shores of Lake Muskoka and are very conscious of the need for stormwater management and the importance of native vegetation on their property.

Kevin, in addition to his extensive volunteer work as a director of MWC and Co-chair of the IWM Community Roundtable, also finds time to Chair the Brandy Lake Association Environment Committee and, as such, coordinates all of the association’s work on the various water monitoring and sampling programs. He has also mapped most of the main creeks coming into the lake, identifying areas where more attention should be given, and has provided the lake association with many years of updates on water sampling but also rainfall, land use changes in the watershed, and how climate change will affect our lake and its surroundings.

Kevin also spends a fair amount of time answering questions from folks on the lake and tries to reach out as much as possible to the kids on the lake, giving them a chance to learn about nature and the ecosystem of the lake whenever he can. He has recently recruited a teenager who lives seasonally on the lake into the water sampling crew, and we are excited that she is learning from an expert like Kevin.

LTLCA selected Peter and Carol for this award for their exemplary habits of maintaining their shoreline to be as natural as possible. They have used natural stone for their pathway to the water’s edge and permitted all natural vegetation to grow freely without any trimming. In addition, Peter has contributed much time and personal energy to studying and monitoring water quality for decades now.

Jim’s interest in seeing that the forests and lakes of Muskoka are subject to proper and balanced management led him quickly to the Ratepayer’s Environment Committee. As a result of personal observation he identified problems with ice away systems. Winter can result in substantial changes to the shoreline of the lakes in our watershed.

Bubbler systems can cause main lake ice to disconnect early from the shoreline in the spring instead of melting gradually. This allows large masses of ice to float away striking the shore. This floating ice can push clay, soil and rock from the lake bed and shore up onto the land.

Jim’s observations showed that there was no control of design or size of ice away systems. There were systems on docks where none was warranted. There were unnecessary large areas of open water which were potential danger to the waterways and shorelines of Muskoka. Jim was motivated to learn as much as he could in an attempt to rectify this.

As Chair of the Environment Committee for many years, Jim took it upon himself to research regulations – or lack thereof – by meeting with engineers and dock construction companies. This led to further conversations with the OPP, Members of Parliament, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada. He also met with members of snowmobile clubs, the Muskoka Tourism and Marketing Association, delegated to Township and District councils, trying to get consensus on bubbler guidelines, and visited dozens of properties of owners concerned about the effects that bubblers would have on their shorelines. Finally, it was time to spring into action and begin to educate members on what he had learned.

Jim, in collaboration with the then President of the MLA, produced Bubbler Etiquette – a document that was circulated to all MRA and MLA members. It identified several suggestions for responsible use of bubblers, such as the use of a thermostat, a timer, proper signage, warning light, and having someone monitor your property. All of this in the hope of reducing the amount of open water around docks and shorelines in winter.

While Jim would say that the situation is improving, it is not perfect yet. In fact it is too soon to know what the environmental impacts will be. But it is a good start.