The Muskoka we want should not be the Muskoka of yesteryear.

The challenge we face in Muskoka is that we want to retain this healthy natural environment while also allowing for continued growth.

By Peter Sale.

Over the past six months, Muskoka Watershed Council has provided a series of weekly articles at MuskokaRegion.com on the theme, First Steps on the Path to Integrated Watershed Management. In these articles we explored some of the philosophical, technical and political challenges we will have to face together if we are to improve environmental management in the Muskoka region.

In putting this series together, we interpreted our theme quite broadly and deliberately avoided a step-by-step set of articles that might sound too much like a college course you readers should be studying!

Instead, we interspersed comments on the progress being made by our municipal governments in building more effective collaborative mechanisms for environmental management, articles on some of the particularly challenging environmental issues here, perspectives on the philosophical and cultural changes we will need to make, and stories about how easy it is to enjoy this amazing place while also nurturing it.

All of the articles remain available on the MuskokaRegion.com website, and they have also been reprinted on our watershed blog. Got a rainy spring day in front of you? Curl up and surf through them to see if there are some you missed. And, as always, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected] if you have questions or comments.

Yes, these are early days on the journey toward enhanced management of our watershed. But as our 2023 Muskoka Watershed Report Card made very clear, there are disturbing trends in the health of our environment and if we want to continue living in the best place in Ontario (I almost said “world”) we do need to move along this path.

Next week we will begin a new series, titled Living Smarter in Muskoka. The challenge we face in Muskoka is that we want to retain this healthy natural environment while also allowing for continued growth in our use of Muskoka, growing our economy based on tourism and outdoor recreation, improving the availability of affordable housing, and ensuring the spiritual and esthetic amenities that Muskoka provides so freely.

Some people might see this goal as impossible to achieve — you cannot have a vibrant natural environment and prosperous 21st Century lifestyles. Some may even say, nobody deserves to have all that, and, anyway, does it really matter if the landscape gets a little bit degraded? Muskoka Watershed Council is advocating some significant changes in both our perspectives and in how we use Muskoka. That is what Living Smarter means.

Articles in this new series will continue to challenge accepted beliefs that govern how we currently live. Other articles will discuss some of the new approaches to construction, transportation, and recreation that can mean greater use without greater pressure on the environment.

Because the Muskoka we want should not be the Muskoka of yesteryear, quaint as that may have been. Innovative ways of living will be needed if we are to sustain our environment while continuing to enjoy it. The important thing to recognize, of course, is that it is up to us, the full-time and seasonal residents, to decide how we want Muskoka to grow.

We at MWC welcome new approaches to solving problems and reducing impacts on environment — we want to see Muskoka become a leader in how to live sustainably while still living well.

Lest I forget, innovative environmental management is one part of this, and so there will be articles as well that continue to report on our progress in bringing IWM into being. And, as in previous series, we will toss in an eclectic mix of other stories to keep our readers guessing.

We thank MuskokaRegion.com, which I still think of as the Bracebridge Examiner, for giving us this platform to meet with you. Do continue to read our articles beginning next week.

This is article #1 in the MWC series Living Smarter in Muskoka; its author and series editor is Dr. Peter Sale, director and former chair of MWC and a retired marine ecologist who dreams all winter of beaches in tropical places but still loves living in Muskoka.

This article was originally published on MuskokaRegion.com on May 31, 2025.