By James Matthews

We need to take better care of our environment.

Sounds simple enough spelled out like that. A sentence of less than 10 words. But it’s quite clear, according to Geoff Ross of the Muskoka Watershed Council, how climate change is pushing the world beyond the effectiveness of previous environmental management practices.

Ross told Dysart township council during its July 23 meeting that much has transpired regarding enhanced environmental watershed management.

The council is a non-profit non-governmental organization with more than two decades of service to the Muskoka community.

It endeavours to protect watershed health by way of outreach and communication with the community. The council offers policy advice to municipalities and contributes environmental knowledge.

The council issues report cards periodically. The 2023 report card identified concerns about some health trends occurring in the watershed.

“The watershed overall is in good health,” Ross said. “It’s wonderful (and) there are other jurisdictions around Ontario that would give anything to have the quality of watershed that we do. But there are things happening that are of concern.”

The council has been pushing what’s referred to as integrated watershed management as a promising response to environmental challenges created by climate change.

Integrated watershed management retains municipal autonomy and mandates and doesn’t involve a new era of bureaucracy. Ross said integrated watershed management will reduce costs and improve environmental, economic, and social outcomes.

“There are groups that have suggested to the watershed council that this is just a pet project of the watershed council,” Ross said. “Well, no. It is a project that is essential to all those who share the Muskoka River watershed.”

Simply, it is essential to ensuring the health of that watershed.

“Without something like this, as I’ve said, the indicators are that we’re in for rough times,” he said.

The council is offering to help municipalities get started on a transition to integrated watershed management. As a matter of fact, there’s no other organization in such a position to offer that help.

Once an integrated watershed management is in place for a municipality, you’ll see the council backing away, Ross said.

“That is simply because we are primarily a group of community volunteers speaking to the science of watershed health,” he said. “We have no intention of becoming the administrators of the plan.”

For Dysart, that responsibility would go to the township’s council.

The next summit on integrated watershed management practices will take place in Bracebridge on Oct. 4.

Management will be discussed as part of a larger theme of resilience to the environmental pressures faced by people and municipalities that share the Muskoka River.

The summit will target the broader community.

“So that everyone out there who is living in (and) sharing responsibility for the watershed will have a reason to be at that summit,” Ross said.

To that end, Ross said the group is asking Dysart council to take a role in the move towards integrated watershed management.

“This isn’t going to happen very soon,” he said. “It’ll like take between five to 10 years before all this gets put into place. There’s a lot of preparatory work to do.”

The first step is to send councillors to the October summit. Following that, the organization would like to get some monetary support next year.

“The watershed council is a grassroots organization that doesn’t have a lot of money,” he said. “We’re proud of the amount of product we put out for very few dollars and the impact that product has.”

Of the 13 municipalities that are within the Muskoka River watershed, there’s only one that’s completely inside it. The others are, like Dysart, partially within the watershed.

“Some more, some less (inside),” Ross said. “But it’s a challenging mixture with that many lower tier municipalities and then the upper tier municipalities as well all sharing a part of this fabulous watershed.”

All those who benefit socially and economically from the value of the watershed should contribute to managing the issues confronting it.

“You said it would reduce costs,” said Mayor Murray Fearrey. “Tell me how that’s going to happen.”

“There are a lot of ways that can happen,” Ross said.

For example, the complexities of watershed science requires expertise to be consulted. Small municipalities generally can’t afford to pay the fees required by highly educated and skilled experts, he said.

It would be more affordable if a collective solicits those professionals and a group of municipalities foots the bills.

“You will need that kind of expertise to help manage a watershed,” Ross said. “You’re better sharing it.”

There are also questions of infrastructure, given how water moves and how climate change has been affecting that behaviour.

Quite simply, solutions may be prohibitively expensive for single municipalities.

Most of Dysart is within the Trent and Ganaraska River watersheds, which Fearrey said the township has little say over. He wondered what that says for staff hours that are paid for by residents.

“Because we’re taxed to death here now, timewise,” he said. “Money is one thing. We’re looking at six per cent increases every year in taxation, and seven (per cent). I don’t see any way out of that right now.”

Ross previously said the council will walk away after their consulting role is fulfilled.

“The watershed council is volunteer,” Ross said.

“I’m just afraid we’re going to create another bureaucracy that we all contribute to that just spins its wheels all the time, like a lot of them do,” Fearrey said. “Climate change is happening, whether we like it or not. We have to deal with it.”

What often starts as a great volunteer effort becomes a costly bureaucracy that’s difficult to get away from for municipalities.

Ross said lacking municipality participation weakens the overall plan and will deny Dysart information into what’s happening in the watershed.

“A big part of integrated watershed management is getting together with your neighbouring municipalities and planning for and talking about and consulting with what you’re doing jointly that deals with the watershed,” Ross said.

“Right now, we’ve got a watershed which is a living entity and everything is connected, but we’ve got 13 different municipalities who are doing 13 different things to pieces of that watershed.”