STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES FOR 2009

Georgian Bay has come to be one of the most highly regarded, world-class tripping destinations.  It is even more attractive as pristine campsites can easily be reached within a two-hour drive and one-hour paddle of the Greater Toronto Area, making it highly susceptible to overuse and misuse.  The Georgian Bay Committee will be continuing its stewardship initiatives in 2009, in a reduced, yet still effective way.

Why might you ask are the efforts being reduced, while use has increased in the past few years?  Simply stated, the GBC continues to search for financial sponsors, more now than ever in economically challenging times. 

The GBC is coordinating a Fall Clean-Up, focusing on the campsites of Franklin Island.  If time and volunteer resources permit, we’d love to be able to also cover Snake Island as well as the Minks and McCoy’s.  This is only possible with volunteer efforts.  Please consider joining us for the whole weekend of October 2-4, or a part of the weekend.  Days will be spent doing remediation work on campsites and packaging garbage for removal by power boat on Sunday.  Evenings will provide an excellent opportunity to catch up with fellow paddlers on their season’s trips.  Sara and Terry of Gilly’s Marina and Restaurant have generously donated their services in assisting us on the Fall Cleanup weekend with their powerboat to remove the collected garbage and transport it to the local dump. 

We have managed to recruit a local volunteer (Anna Mallin) to distribute our highly acclaimed “Scoop on Poop” brochure to local marinas, township offices, outfitters and sites frequented by paddlers.  Surely this will yield a stronger than ever presence in the local Georgian Bay communities. 

Additionally, if you are planning a visit to Georgian Bay this summer, consider contacting Melissa Hachkowski for details and locations of campsites.  In exchange for this information, consider repairing any damage that you can and helping by cleaning up a campsite.  Upon return, please send details of your remedial actions to Melissa at somewhere_out_here@hotmail.com for recording and ongoing monitoring.  We can all pick up a piece of garbage and carry it out, leaving the place better than we found it!

                                                                                                                                                                    Melissa Hachkowski

Read about GLSKA's Stewardship Activities in the Autumn 2009 issue of  ON nature magazine

Georgian Bay Stewardship Report (2008)