An integrated watershed-based management approach could help identify and solve environmental issues

A few months ago, the Muskoka Watershed Report Card was released, and its findings were predictable (at least to anyone paying attention to the environment).

The report card covers the entire Muskoka River Watershed, a small portion of the Southern Georgian Bay shoreline, and parts of Severn River-Lake Simcoe Watershed that intersect with the District of Muskoka. It covers 7,000 square kilometers spanning from the Algonquin Highlands to Georgian Bay with around 2,000 lakes surrounded by extensive forests.

The report card findings include a shifting climate causing various impacts to the watershed ecosystem that will be ongoing for years to come; an ever-shrining duration of winter ice coverage (it’s 20 days less than it was two decades ago) that has ripple effects on lake ecology, tourism, and the construction industry.

Since the year 2000, the area has seen twice as many severe storms compared to the three decades prior contributing to intense spring flooding when combined with the ice melting; an increase in chloride and saltier lakes (with 70% of lakes now above natural salt levels and 24% with chloride levels that threaten aquatic life).

A continued decline in calcium in the soil and lakes have extreme consequences for vitally important aquatic organisms like Daphnia and other zooplankton, which rely on calcium for skeleton formation; and an increase in algal blooms, specifically harmful blooms such as the toxic blue-green varieties are becoming more common, impacting the beauty and economy of the region while raising health risks.

All of this posed the question: what can be done?

Following the results, we caught up with Peter Sale, chair of the Muskoka Watershed Council to chat about what the report card means and ask that exact question. He says that all these environmental issues are “strongly linked.”

The answer is having an “integrated watershed-based” management approach, explains Sale.

This integrated approach requires bringing together all the stakeholders throughout the entire Muskoka River Watershed (which includes 13 local area municipalities, four upper tier municipalities, hundreds of thousands of property owners, and thousands of businesses).

“Our existing system of environmental management is not good enough,” says Sale. “Everybody is doing the best they can, but it’s just not comprehensive enough to help us adapt to climate change or prevent certain aspects of climate change and make sure that we keep the environmental quality of a world class high end for our tourism industry that we all depend on so much.”

The reality of the situation is that while so many well-meaning individuals and organizations are attempting to tackle one environmental issue at a time, it’s pretty much like putting a band-aid on deep cut that needs stitches. Yeah, it may help a little to quell the bleeding, but the main issue will still need to be addressed or it will eventually get worse.

The watershed is an interconnected, practical ecosystem that includes the forests, the soil, the ice, the snow, the rain, the flora, the fauna, and of course the lakes and rivers and streams and aquifers.

It’s great that there are amazing projects being done throughout the region, and some very good science in regard to specific issues (reducing the use of road salt and using residential ash to increase calcium in trees), but Sale notes that unless something is being done to address other issues in other parts of the Muskoka River Watershed, then the good work will be for naught.

“We have 13 municipalities trying to manage it,” says Sale. “The coordination and bureaucratic processes and tools aren’t there to have a truly coordinated effort and approach to have a holistic positive impact. We started talking about this need for a more integrated watershed-based approach. One that talks about the economy and our communities as much as it does about the environment because they’re interdependent.”

However, they’re not just “talking,” they’re walking and have already hit the pavement to gather support for this massive and essential initiative.

Sale is chairing the community roundtable for the integrated watershed project and was on the report card writing team. When looking at the report card, it’s easy to see how all the concerns and negative environmental shifts are having a combined impact on the watershed.

“All of them are interrelated,” says Sale. “There are a couple of areas we just don’t know enough about in our watershed. The composition and dynamics of our forest ecosystems. You’ll hear us talking about how much forest coverage there is and sometimes we’ll get into what types of forest dominate on which parts of the watershed.”

Mapping and other tools are helping create more understanding on what’s happening in the large, forested areas in the watershed. Often subtle changes can go overlooked because of just how much forest there is to cover.

Understanding the carbon storage and carbon pumping in forests is part of the puzzle of protecting the watershed.

“Forests pump up half of our annual rainfall back into the atmosphere,” says Sale. “Any little changes we make there will alter the chemical balances and flow of water through the lake system and the rivers. We don’t think about floods until there is too much water in the big rivers and lakes. But the floods could have started at the head waters, they could easily be related to something going on in our forests and wetland areas.”

The process has begun to bring together all the municipalities, the business sectors, community groups, the indigenous communities in a non-partisan way to get a handle on managing the watershed and solving the identified problems in a comprehensive way.

“We have a giant watershed area that’s connected,” says Sale. “It makes the most sense to have a group that takes the lead and has the support of all the municipalities to have a joint approach and have everyone agree on the processes. Of course, each stakeholder will get regular reports on the progress of the concentrated approach.”

Sale notes the integrated approach has been established elsewhere in the province, however it’s often been driven by conservation authorities. This area doesn’t have a conservation authority or government body that oversees the whole watershed system.

“It’s a model that has been used in other parts of Canada, North America, Europe and even in Third World countries, but no one has ever thought to attempt in Muskoka, and we think we can come up with a made-in-the-watershed solution,” explains Sale. “Something that’s tailored for the needs that we have here. It doesn’t have to parrot the other models; we can tailor it to fit.”

Sale says it’s best when everyone with a stake comes to the table and forms agreements on who is going to do what. They’re trying to bring on board, the District of Muskoka and all the other municipalities and indigenous communities and business sectors.

“Which are already showing interest, so we’ll be able to move it forward,” he says. “We need a bit of a culture shift with the public and our government people. We have some municipalities where the whole council agree that we need to be talking about this thing … then we have other municipalities where more education is needed.”

A big selling point that appeals to everyone is the large cost savings to be had, particularly in the future.

“You can start to look like joint infrastructure projects,” says Sale. “Rather than solving a local flooding problem on its one, we can achieve a whole bunch of climate adaptation goals and also a bunch of higher ecological goals with one project.”

He adds: “Where before and currently, we try to solve an individual problem in a very localized area. What we want people to do is think about the watershed on a larger scale and solving multiple problems with a project we approve or an infrastructure project we build . . . all those things.”

What’s next? For Sale and his committee, it’s more meetings with stakeholders that will include public meetings, and continued efforts to get everyone (or at least a strong majority) on board with the integrated watershed management approach.

Those interested in the watershed report card and what else is happening, can start by visiting: https://www.muskokawatershed.org/2023reportcard/