MWC Chair’s Annual Report for 2024.
Delivered by MWC Chair Aaron Rusak at MWC’s Annual General Meeting held on February 21, 2025.
My usual style of brevity and efficiency may not lend itself well to summarizing the busy year that Muskoka Watershed Council has had. However, I will still endeavour to share the accomplishments we’ve had this year in as effective a manner as possible. Outside of our informative monthly meetings, the Board and MWC members have been working hard to move the organization forward.
Recognitions
I’d first like to thank all the Officers, Directors, and Members of the Muskoka Watershed Council. For a non-profit this size, reliance on volunteers is an absolute must and there are many individuals that have stepped up to help with all the ongoing projects we’re working on. Our Board of Directors and Members have made big strides in narrowing our strategic focus and prioritizing tasks to be completed in the new year, emphasizing actions that were highlighted in our completed Strategic Plan. This key direction has positioned us to help lead Integrated Watershed Management moving forward and really start pushing for the next steps in the process.
I’d like to offer a special thank you to Rebecca, as so much of what we do would be completely impossible without her support. Rebecca spearheaded many of our stewardship programs this year and has been an invaluable resource for the day-to-day running of the organization. I would also extend a similar thank you to the District of Muskoka, as our newly signed MOU has solidified that support moving into the future.
Going into each of the programs that we’ve completed over the year would take quite a while, so I’m hoping my brief style will allow me to effectively summarize the key activities that have been completed over the year.
Stewardship Programs
In terms of stewardship, three different stewardship programs were conducted throughout the year, Love Your Lake, The Natural Edge, and the Algae Monitoring Program.
For Love Your Lake, shoreline assessments were carried out on Bastedo Lake, Gull Lake, and Silver Lake in 2024. In total, 251 properties were assessed and inputted into the database to generate a custom property report and a Shoreline Assessment Summary Report for each of the lakes as a whole.
The Natural Edge program focuses on renaturalizing shorelines in Muskoka and provides landowners with the resources and tools to do so.
In 2024, 17 site visits were conducted in Muskoka, with five sites in Huntsville, one site in Lake of Bays, ten sites in Muskoka Lakes, and one site in Gravenhurst. Of these sites, thirteen planting plans were created and starter kits were purchased and distributed to these landowners. Over the year, 630 native plants were distributed and planted at the sites.
The Algae Monitoring Program aims to collect information on the distribution, abundance, and season cycles of phytoplankton and blue-green algae. In 2024, a total of sixteen lake associations participated in the program and 400 water samples were taken from more than 35 different sites on these lakes.
Stewardship Awards
MWC was able to support a number of organizations in recognizing good watershed stewards through both the Doug Cross Stewardship Recognition Program, which is open to all local non-profit community and lake organizations, and the Robert Allen Memorial Stewardship Award, which is presented to a member of the Three Mile Lake Association.
In 2024, 12 Watershed Stewards were recognized through the Doug Cross Stewardship Recognition Program, including MWC member Pete LeMoine, and the Three Mile Lake Association presented the Robert Allen Memorial Stewardship Award to Lee Ann Smith.
Communications & Outreach
Our communications game has also been stepped up considerably this year, with the hiring of Well Known Company for both communications and marketing assistance. They have been critical in increasing our outreach efforts, with regular postings and communications going out across all our social media channels. With the recent completion of a marketing strategy and a supporter and donor package, Muskoka Watershed Council is currently set up to begin fundraising in earnest. Peter Sale and Neil Hutchinson have also been instrumental in creating an ongoing series of articles that are well publicized in the media and creating additional outreach for the organization.
Muskoka Summit on the Environment
In addition to that, Well Known was also a key contributor to the Muskoka Summit on the Environment, which returned for its seventh iteration in 2024. It was held at the Muskoka Lumber Community Centre in Bracebridge on October 4th and the theme was Resilience. The event featured several speakers, most notably a group of younger students from the surrounding high schools. 11 corporate and 6 municipal sponsors supported the event and it was attended by 122 people in total. A special shoutout should go to Peter Sale and the rest of the Organizing Committee, as they did a lot of the heavy lifting to get the summit organized and supported.
Integrated Watershed Management
Integrated Watershed Management is the final large project we have and deserves a special mention with how our work involving it is shifting over time. A second municipal IWM workshop was hosted by the Town of Huntsville and the Township of Lake of Bays on November 28th. It was a colossal effort to put together, but it facilitated key discussions on what IWM would look like moving into the future. Community engagement and involvement in the process were emphasized as important considerations and MWC will be moving the project forward with that in mind.
It is critical for MWC to take ownership in pushing IWM forward, as an independent, respected organization until such a time that a governance structure is finalized and agreed upon. In the past, we’ve hesitated to recognize and acknowledge that MWC introduced IWM to our region in 2018 and is at the forefront of IWM. I think that now is the time to take a leading role in foundation and creation of something that is truly special and unique to the Muskoka watershed. This next year is a critical time for IWM, as the IWM working group is moving into a project oversight and creation role. We need contributions from not only our members, but also stakeholders in the watershed to make sure we have the funding and organizational structure to create something that works for all denizens of the watershed.