People and nature living in balance

If you ever wondered where in Muskoka the Group of Seven set up their easels to so powerfully interpret what was before them, Georgian Bay Country’s 30,000 Islands is a great place to start.

Just as these paintbrush-wielding visionaries knew a good thing when they saw it, the area’s 18,000 First Nations and other year-round residents, as well as cottagers and recreational visitors, also share a love for the region and a desire to see it protected.

The groups invested an extraordinary amount of collaborative legwork over the course of seven years to develop a proposal to have the area’s unique natural and cultural heritage officially recognized, and in 2004 their quest came to fruition when United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) designated the Georgian Bay Littoral a World Biosphere Reserve, just one of 15 in Canada, and one of 553 world-wide.

You see, these aren’t just any old 30,000 islands. The Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve encompasses the longest freshwater archipelago in the world, stretching from the Severn River to the South all the way north to the French River. It is incredible beauty is matched only by its biological diversity, with shoreline, rock barrens, mixed forests, hundreds of lakes and a wealth of wetlands, host to hundreds of at-risk animal and plant species.

What is a Biosphere Reserve?

Biosphere Reserves differ from what the Canadian government deems Protected Areas in that they see human community as integral to good stewardship rather than its anathema. The concept of Biosphere Reserves is “people and nature living in balance.” The Town of Parry Sound is in the GBBR, for example, and conservationists recognize tourism and sustainable development as key components to the region’s economy.

The job of the not-for-profit Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve, then, is to protect, promote and celebrate the region. Its initiatives include the Biosphere Action Group, Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Manual, Lessons-in-a-Backpack for the school set, Species at Risk, Life in the Biosphere, and citizen science initiatives like FrogWatch.

The GBBR is associated with Canadian universities and colleges, including McMaster, Waterloo, Nipissing and Trent; Georgian Bay Islands National Park, and several Ontario parks, including Massasagua, Killbear, Oastler Lake, and French River, and Internationally it participates in UNESCO’s World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

So go ahead and book that cruise ship tour, knowing that this a community in accord.

Courtesy of Muskoka Tourism

By Tamsen Tillson                                                            

Bracebridge, ON                                               

Published on  May 21, 2010