| What is the Muskoka Watershed Council? |
| Muskoka Watershed Council is a volunteer-based not-for profit organization that brings evidence-based environmental information, education, and stewardship programs to the community.
Muskoka Watershed Council is an advisory body. It makes recommendations to municipal governments, decision-makers, managers, and the general public on ways to protect and restore the resources of the area's watersheds and is not a regulatory or enforcement agency. Click here to learn more about Muskoka Watershed Council. |
| What is a watershed? |
| A watershed is an area of land that drains to a river, lake or stream. It includes all the land, air, plants and animals within its borders. Land forms such as hills or heights of land largely determine the boundaries of watersheds and direct the speed and path of its rivers.
Watersheds fulfill three primary functions: to capture water, to filter and store water in the soil and to release water into a waterbody. Within the complex living system of a watershed, everything is connected. Thinking of a watershed as a giant sponge helps explain the connections between all parts of a watershed and how a river like the Muskoka River can always be flowing. As precipitation falls, it is stored in the watershed’s land and waterbodies (the giant sponge) and is slowly released through shallow water discharge into the river. The term Muskoka watershed refers to all watersheds lying totally or partially within The District Municipality of Muskoka and includes areas in Algonquin Park, the Township of Seguin and the Township of Algonquin Highlands. All water in Muskoka’s watersheds eventually flow into Georgian Bay. Muskoka Watershed Council primarily focuses on environmental matters relating to areas within the Muskoka River Watershed and the northern portions of the Black and Severn River Watersheds.
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| What is the relationship between the District of Muskoka and the Muskoka Watershed Council? |
| Muskoka Watershed Council is a volunteer organization supported by the District of Muskoka and the Muskoka community. Together, they share a belief that the most effective way to sustain the watersheds for future generations is through evidence-based environmental education and cooperative approaches to watershed management involving a broad cross-section of stakeholders.
At the start of each municipal Council mandate, four District Councillors are appointed to the Muskoka Watershed Council’s Executive Committee. Additionally, the District provides in-kind staff support, office and operational accommodations, and a modest annual stipend. |
| Why is it important for Muskoka Watershed Council and the District of Muskoka to work together to protect watershed health? |
| As a premier tourist destination, the population of Muskoka doubles in the summer months with cottagers and tourists, with most people being drawn to its natural environment. The significant interest in lakes, rivers, wetlands, and forests are the basis for Muskoka's tourism-based economy. For environmental, social, and economic reasons, ensuring the health of Muskoka’s watershed is crucial. |
| What is the District of Muskoka's role in protecting the environment? |
| The District of Muskoka is a municipal leader in environmental programming and policy. Within an area without a conservation authority, the District addresses regional environmental matters through innovative, evidence-based policies and programs. These include undertaking wide-ranging environmental monitoring programs, developing and delivering climate change initiatives, facilitating flood plain mapping, communicating data through the Muskoka GeoHub, and advancing an integrated watershed management strategy. Additionally, the District supports the work of Muskoka Watershed Council. The District of Muskoka continuously seeks and secures external support or grants to support and further advance its policies and new projects. |
| What is the Muskoka Watershed Council's role in protecting the environment? |
| Muskoka Watershed Council's goal is to sustain and enhance the water and terrestrial ecosystems of the area's watersheds for the environmental, health, economic, spiritual, and intrinsic values they provide.
Muskoka Watershed Council does this by implementing several outreach and stewardship programs to promote environmentally responsible actions across the watershed. In addition, Muskoka Watershed Council educates the community by publishing science-based position papers, best practices information, and a watershed health report card. |
| What is Integrated Watershed Management? |
| With our extensive natural areas and numerous lakes and waterways, Muskoka is rich in natural capital (soil, forests, wetlands, lakes), which is vital to our economy and the quality of our lives. Effective management can sustain that capital to the maximum extent possible while permitting the development required to house our population and sustain our economy.
Integrated Watershed Management is an approach to manage human activities and natural capital together, on a watershed basis, while considering the connected interests and needs of the environment, economy and society. See the Muskoka Watershed Council’s website for more about Integrated Watershed Management. |
| What is the District’s role in Integrated Watershed Management? |
| In April 2021, the District of Muskoka received over $4 million from the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks to implement twelve technical projects aimed at examining the existing conditions in the Muskoka River Watershed and exploring ways to reduce the impacts of flooding. The results of these projects will help inform a future Integrated Watershed Management Plan.
More information on the technical projects can be found here |
| What is the Muskoka Watershed Council’s role in Integrated Watershed Management? |
| Successful Integrated Watershed Management requires community input from all sectors within the Muskoka River Watershed. The Muskoka Watershed Council has formed a Community Round Table with the intent to gather community voices to make recommendations on a future Integrated Watershed Management Plan based on the outcomes of the District of Muskoka’s 12 technical projects. The Community Round Table also works to educate the public about Integrated Watershed Management. More information on the Community Round Table can be found here |
| What is the District's role in monitoring lake water quality? |
| The District of Muskoka undertakes several monitoring programs to assess different aspects of Lake System Health, including chemical, biological, and physical.
Chemical: For over 40 years, the District of Muskoka has sampled 80-85 lakes and bays annually for a variety of parameters, including phosphorus, calcium, chloride, pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. Over 190 sites on 164 lakes across the District are sampled on a rotating basis, depending on the lakes' development pressures and specific characteristics. This data set is one of the best and longest-standing municipal water quality sets in Canada and is used to inform development policy based on long-term water quality trends to protect our aquatic ecosystems. Biological: District staff guide lake association volunteers each summer to implement the benthic monitoring program to collect data on the aquatic communities that form the basis of the food web. Physical: shoreline land use surveys map the physical characteristics of shorelines across Muskoka, and shoreline assessment programs provide relevant stewardship information at a property level. Check out the Muskoka Water Strategy to learn more. The District of Muskoka has also implemented causation studies to protect Muskoka's vulnerable lakes, as identified in the Muskoka Official Plan. These causation studies try to pinpoint what factors affect a vulnerable lake's water quality based on key indicators (such as a confirmed blue-green algae bloom). |
| What is the role of the Muskoka Watershed Council in monitoring lake water quality? |
| The Muskoka Watershed Council has established a number of programs alongside community volunteers and local organizations. Some programs include the Algae Monitoring Program, the Natural Edge Program, and the Love Your Lake Program.
Information collected from these programs, in conjunction with data from the District of Muskoka and other programs like the Lake Partner Program, is combined for the Muskoka Watershed Report Card. By scientifically evaluating indicators of watershed health, the Muskoka Watershed Report Card measures the health of the water, land and wetlands.
Check out the Programs page on Muskoka Watershed Council's website for more information and how to get involved. |
| What is the District doing about Climate Change? |
| The focus for the District of Muskoka for climate change is action and policy-oriented.
On October 19, 2020, Muskoka District Council declared a Climate Emergency, a declaration that deepens the District's commitment to protecting Muskoka's economy, community, and ecosystems from the impacts of our changing climate. On December 21, 2020, Council approved "A New Leaf: Muskoka's Climate Strategy" to address climate change at both corporate and community levels. A New Leaf is Muskoka's comprehensive climate change strategy. This strategy is designed to increase Muskoka's resilience to climatic changes and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. As part of this strategy, District staff have engaged with Area Municipalities to develop a consistent and cohesive approach to adapting to climate change. Click here for more information about A New Leaf. Click here to learn more about Muskoka's Greenhouse Gas Initiatives project. |
| What is the Muskoka Watershed Council doing about Climate Change? |
| The focus for Muskoka Watershed Council for climate change is education and awareness.
Muskoka Watershed Council published "Planning for Climate Change in Muskoka" in 2016, an in-depth report of the climate that Muskoka is likely to experience at mid-century. This report also includes 15 specific recommendations for government, businesses, community groups, and individual residents. Members of Muskoka Watershed Council also regularly publish articles in local media channels about climate change topics. |
