Muskoka Watershed Council

Muskoka Watershed Council Articles

Forest Health Articles

Trees are an integral part of Muskoka
Forests of Muskoka

Ecosystem Health Articles

Ecosystems must be protected 
Bigger is better for healthy ecosystems 
Here, there and everywhere: land must be protected 
Natural cover protects us from ourselves 
Strategy needed to protect natural areas

Trees are an integral part of Muskoka
By Rebecca Willison

Trees have been at the forefront of many people's minds the past several months, and for good reason. Trees are the oldest and largest living things on the earth, and they are a good measure of the health and quality of our environment.  Trees provide social, ecological, and economic benefits.  Their beauty inspires writers and artists, while their leaves and roots clean the air we breathe and the water we drink.

Trees are indicators of a community's ecological health.  When trees are large and healthy, the ecological systems - soil, air and water - that support them are also healthy.  The greater the tree cover and the less the hardened surface, the more ecosystem services are provided in terms of reducing stormwater runoff, increasing air and water quality, storing atmospheric carbon and reducing energy consumption due to direct shading of residential buildings.

By their very nature, trees and green space provide benefits and add value to developments.  Trees enrich people's lives and beautify landscapes.  Preserving trees has positive effects on the image and attractiveness of developments and enhances developers' reputations and profits.

As well, protecting existing trees in new developments increases a project's attractiveness, monetary value, and marketability by providing aesthetic and functional values.  Lots where trees are preserved are often sold more quickly and at higher prices.

The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) in the US conducted studies and found that 89% of homeowners want builders to leave as many trees as possible on their house lots.  They also found that 43% of the homeowners queried actually paid up to $3,000 (USD) more for the treed lots they built on.  Twenty-seven percent spent over $5,000 (USD) more for a naturally wooded site.  Trees have market appeal and improve a home's energy performance.

Preserving native vegetation reflects an environmentally sensitive approach to development.  Trees and the underlying vegetation intercept and absorb runoff from stormwater, reducing erosion and siltation.  They filter pollutants like lawn fertilizers, pesticides and other chemicals present in our landscape.  They improve privacy, buffer road noise and mask sounds from neighbours.

Developers who understand these values realize that it is in their best interest to encourage the preservation of trees and green spaces.  Potential homeowners, regulators, municipal officials, and the media should recognize the efforts made by builders to retain native vegetation during development in order to encourage more developers to adopt these practices.

The evidence supporting tree preservation is overwhelming, yet some developers continue to strip the sites they build on. Many builders like working with a clean slate.  They want unrestricted access to all parts of the site and prefer to plant new trees later in the project.

However, the mature trees that grace Muskoka are not easily replaced.  Developed conditions make it very difficult for a tree started today to reach the same stature as an existing mature tree and the changing chemical composition of our soil will likely result in poorer growing conditions for our trees in the future. This means that care and protection of our existing mature trees is very important.

An important measure of the degree of urbanization in a watershed is the amount of hardened surfaces, such as rooftops, streets, and parking lots.  As the amount of hardened surfaces increases in a watershed, more rainfall is converted to runoff and not available to the watershed processes that depend on it.

There are several examples around Muskoka where the local municipality has worked with a developer to maintain naturally vegetated areas, including entering into agreements to maintain large areas of existing forest as residential developments proceed.  However, across Muskoka we have also seen the result of developers and private landowners who have clear-cut both large commercial areas and smaller residential lots with little regard to the aesthetic and watershed health impacts that result.

In order to protect the ecosystems that support the lakes and rivers that flow through our communities, planners, developers and individual landowners should strive to protect existing vegetation and reduce hardened surfaces to a level where water is still available for plants and animals and groundwater is replenished.

Two major steps to accomplishing this goal are to retain as many trees and natural vegetation as possible when new development moves forward, and to soften hardened surfaces already present by incorporating more trees and native vegetation into our urban landscape.

Forests of Muskoka
By Ian Turnbull

'The lumberman has his harvest in Muskoka, and though the best of the hardwood is being rapidly thinned out, there yet falls to his axe many sturdy giants of the forest.  The timber products of the region include white oak, black birch, black oak, black and white ash, red pine, spruce, tamarack, and hemlock.'

That's the way the writer saw it about 1882, in a publication called Picturesque Canada, The Country As It Was and Is.  Although the 'sturdy giants' continued to fall for many decades, our forests today demonstrate nature's remarkable ability to recover over a long period of time. 

In our 150 years of settlement, virtually all of Muskoka's forests have been harvested several times over.    The first time around, it was to establish homesteads and fields for farming.   And then the logging era followed, when white pine was harvested to support everything from British shipbuilding to World War I requirements.  Back then Gravenhurst was known as sawdust city with lumber mills dotting the shores of Muskoka Bay and lumber exports shipped south from Muskoka Wharf's railway station.  Hemlock harvesting supported massive leather tannery operations in Huntsville and Bracebridge, as well as building the Toronto subway system.

During World War 2 loggers again entered the forest to take out the yellow birch that was used on the wingtips of the mosquito bomber.  During the 1960's and 70's hard maple, the remaining large trees, were removed for flooring and veneer.  

In those early years, unsustainable forest harvesting drove the economy. The tourism economy developed as second growth forests generated the 'sturdy giants' we see today.   That was then and this is now.  What's different?

Knowledge is what's different.  We know that well managed forests can be harvested to sustain the logging and forest products industry over the long term.  We know that healthy forests are essential to watershed health.  We know that the aesthetic values of a 'natural Muskoka' are essential to residents, visitors and our economy. 

Professional loggers know the importance of sustainable forestry practice.  It's their livelihood.  In recent public meetings on the District's tree cutting bylaw they spoke passionately about earlier generations who harvested the same forests they are harvesting today.   That's because they did it right.  Sadly, there are a few loggers, often from outside Muskoka, who do not do it right and damage forest health. 

Doing it right is the law on Crown land.   The Crown Forest Sustainability Act in Ontario requires a forest management plan for harvesting and management on Crown lands.  The plan aims to maintain large, healthy, diverse and productive forests.  District's tree cutting bylaw will apply to large acreages on private lands.  

To the casual observer, a forest may look like a bunch of trees standing around doing nothing.   In fact they are busy and the busier they are the stronger nature is.  Trees trap and store carbon dioxide, mitigating climate change.   Forests help regulate water quality and prevent erosion.  Forests are home to diverse plant and animal life.  Walk gently in a forest and you will hear and see that life.

And that brings us to the aesthetic value of forests.  From the very beginning in Muskoka, people have characterized the unique beauty of the area in terms of rocks, lakes and trees.  Trees stand as silent sentinels in countless business logos. They figure prominently in our advertising. Communities rise up in indignation when trees are indiscriminately cleared for development. Muskoka is trees.

Judging by community response to clear cutting in highly visible areas, citizens expect their governments to oversee and protect natural resources, including forests.  Collectively through local governments and individually as landowners, we are responsible for stewardship of forests.  Future generations have a right to inherit them from us in the best possible condition.

Who is responsible for forests?  Senior governments are responsible for forest management on Crown lands as determined by law.  Forests on private lands are the responsibility of landowners.  Just as local governments regulate private land use through zoning and building controls, they may choose to protect natural resources on private lands.

The District's proposed Forest Health program has two parts.  One is a stewardship and education program to communicate knowledge essential to effective forest management.  The other part is a regulatory tree cutting by-law to ensure appropriate logging practice. 

Ecosystems must be protected
by Scott Young

In Muskoka's watersheds, 21 known ecosystems are completely unprotected. Seventy-seven ecosystems have less than 30% of their area under protection. According to the Muskoka Watershed Council, if we are going to have a healthy natural environment, some part of all 157 unique ecosystems located here must be protected. The good news is Muskoka's watersheds include significant Crown Land and a big chunk of Algonquin Park, which is why the Watershed Council's 2007 "Muskoka Watersheds Report Card" assigned a grade of C+ in this category. But clearly, there's lots of room for improvement.
 
Few things in life are as certain as change. Change can be stressful, and often, the more dramatic the change, the greater the stress. If we face many changes at once, the stress compounds. If we are in poor mental and physical health, stress can be devastating. The same goes for the environment. Population growth, air pollution and developments like new roads, deforestation and climate change combine to stress the natural environment. The ability of an ecosystem to survive depends on its resiliency. Strong, healthy ecosystems have a way of bouncing back. Protecting some of all ecosystems strengthens nature's capacity to cope with change.
 
Most would agree it's nice to have frogs and birds and forests, but some will argue that it is more important that we have jobs and a vibrant economy. Natural ecosystems and the plants and animals within them provide people with services that would be very difficult to duplicate.  While it is hard to place an accurate monetary amount on ecosystem services, some of the financial values can be calculated.  Many of these services are performed seemingly "free," yet are worth many trillions of dollars. For example, the Pembina Institute estimates that Canada's boreal forest contributes $14.9 billion in forest products and an additional $5.4 billion in pest control by birds and $1.85 billion in net carbon sequestering annually. 
 
In Muskoka, recent studies by the District Planning Department have valued the tourism sector at $220 million a year.  In addition, it is estimated that the second home population contributes approximately $581 million annually to the economy.  What if Muskoka's white pine forests are devastated by invasive insects as a result of climate change?  Will cottagers want to come here if their docks are gummed up by algal blooms?  Muskoka relies heavily on a healthy natural environment.
 
Although people tend to value ecosystems for the services they provide, they're no use to us unless they function properly. Each ecosystem is unique and fills a niche that supports a range of plants and animals, and most are part of a network. Ecosystems are intricate and complicated and often a minor change in one part of the network can have a significant impact on another part. As climate change is starting to be experienced and studied, these inter-connections are becoming even more evident.
 
According to the Muskoka Watershed Inventory Project, most unprotected ecosystems are located within the central portion of Muskoka along the Highway 11 corridor. Although much of the central portion of the watershed is still naturally vegetated, it is fragmented by roads and vulnerable to development or other forms of degradation. In fact, it is already highly degraded and wildlife find their natural pathways across Muskoka's watersheds are increasingly blocked by concrete. This lowers the resiliency of species and reduces the likelihood they will be able to recover from stress.

To ensure that Muskoka's ecosystems both function properly and provide the services our health and economy depend on, we must protect a representative sample of all ecosystems, and these must be interconnected and self-sustaining. We can increase the protection of these vulnerable ecosystems through land stewardship, placing ownership in a land trust, or by adopting more stringent development policy.

Bigger is better for healthy ecosystems
by Scott Young

Bigger is better. That's the message from the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) in its 2007 Report Card. If we are going to have healthy functioning ecosystems in Muskoka's watersheds, we are going to have to protect some nice big chunks of nature. MWC research shows that we must protect at least 10,000 hectares of land in each of the Muskoka River Watershed and the Black-Severn Watershed, or the survival of many species will be jeopardized.

Climate change will be a significant stress on Muskoka's watersheds in the foreseeable future. The expected effects of climate change include more frequent, more severe storms and drought, and more invasive species. Many species and ecosystems will not be able to adapt and it's likely some will be lost. There is a real possibility that iconic species like Lake Trout and Gray Jay will be lost to Muskoka.

Few things in life are as certain as change, but change can really stress the natural environment. Protecting very large areas of land strengthens nature's capacity to cope with change, whether that change is part of a natural cycle, caused by development pressures, or the result of climate change. Strong, healthy ecosystems have a way of bouncing back. Big natural areas contain a complex network of intertwined ecosystems that support each other and have better resilience to survive stressful changes in the larger environment.

Furthermore, the MWC points out that large natural areas support nutrient cycling: they produce oxygen and bind carbon, which helps moderate climate. They also provide habitat for large mammals, and limit the spread of disease. Industries such as forestry, and Muskoka's essential tourism and second-home sector also rely on large natural areas.

There are two areas of 10,000 ha or greater in both the Muskoka River Watershed and the Black/Severn River Watershed, and that's good enough for a grade of A in the Report Card. Significant portions of these areas are part of provincial parks and Crown land and already benefit from a high level of protection. But much of the land is in private ownership with no protection. Local land trusts, comprising either one large area or several small ones combined, are the way to protect some remaining natural areas.

Here, there and everywhere: land must be protected
by Scott Young

Muskoka is made up of hundreds of small watersheds that are of vital to our quality of life in Muskoka. According to the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) 2007 Report Card, natural areas of at least 200 hectares within each of these small watersheds need to be protected, ideally with an interior forest protected by a 200-metre buffer. Protected areas like this, if they were dispersed across Muskoka, would provide healthy ecosystems for wildlife and fish, and also moderate climate, filter groundwater, trap carbon and produce oxygen.

Few things in life are as certain as change, but change can really stress the natural environment. Protecting natural areas across Muskoka's watersheds strengthens nature's capacity to cope with change. Change can be part of a natural cycle, or humans can instigate change by cutting forests and building new roads and structures. We are also changing our climate by burning too much fossil fuel, and that can lead to major stresses like insect infestations, invasive species, flooding and drought. But strong, healthy ecosystems have a way of bouncing back. If we protect many areas across our watersheds, we'll give nature a better chance to survive, reemerge and reestablish itself after a period of stress.

Over the last two years the Muskoka Heritage Foundation, in collaboration with the Muskoka Watershed Council, District Municipality of Muskoka and the Ministry of Natural Resources, has developed the Watershed Inventory Project, which uses satellite, air photo, and field data to analyze natural areas and their level of protection. The results of this project were used to evaluate the health of the land in our watershed.

Muskoka is fortunate that about half the natural land-base within our watershed area is protected either as Crown land, or as a provincial or national park. The problem is, it is not evenly distributed geographically. Many types of ecosystems are underrepresented, and some types aren't protected at all. Specifically, protected areas are geographically skewed to the far eastern and western portions of the watershed with far less protection in the middle where many of the ecological services (clean water, flood control, air quality, recreation areas, carbon sequestering) are most needed to ensure a high quality of life for the people who live there. Furthermore, there is a large portion of the central area of the watershed that does not have natural areas that are 200 hectares or greater.  In order to maintain the ecological function of the watersheds, we need to rehabilitate degraded areas to enhance existing natural areas.

Provincial and national parks and Crown land nature reserves are the best way to protect natural areas. That means we need to drill our politicians about land protection. Private land trust holdings are another great way to protect land - if you've got it. Areas can also be protected through provincial and municipal land-use policy and private stewardship, but these tools do not guarantee the same level of long-term protection.

Natural cover protects us from ourselves
by Scott Young

Stormwater runoff from our roofs, roads and parking lots is a high-speed conduit for pollution into our rivers and lakes. This stormwater has nowhere else to go because the natural vegetation and soils that could absorb it have been paved over. But natural groundcover, healthy shorelines, and wetlands can help by filtering runoff of harmful chemicals and nutrients, and allowing the water to soak into the ground. According to the Muskoka Watershed Council, reducing our impact so groundwater is replenished and is available for plants and animals is all part of maintaining a healthy natural environment in Muskoka.

Few things in life are as certain as change, but change can really stress the natural environment. Building new roads, parking lots and structures are some of the ways we most dramatically change our environment. Roads fragment wildlife habitat. Buildings and parking lots permanently alter the landscape. But strong, healthy ecosystems have a way of bouncing back. Protecting natural groundcover, healthy shorelines, and wetlands across Muskoka's watersheds strengthens nature's capacity to cope with change.

The Muskoka Watershed Council's 2006 stormwater case study demonstrated that stormwater runoff in our urban areas is damaging the water quality of our lakes and rivers. In a natural forested ecosystem, water pools on the forest floor, infiltrates the soil, and is used by plants and evaporated or transpired into the atmosphere. It feeds aquifers used for drinking water, and cools and cleans the water before it reaches the lake or river. But when that forest is replaced with rooftops, streets and parking lots, the water is converted directly into surface runoff and is not available to the watershed processes that depend on it. Instead, it causes flooding, erosion and the flow of nutrients, bacteria and chemicals into our lakes and rivers.

New, innovative infrastructure can be used to restore vegetation and green space in urban areas that have been hardened.  Planting street trees can reduce stormwater runoff because urban tree canopies intercept rainfall before it hits the pavement and is converted to stormwater. Trees with mature canopies can absorb the first half-inch of rainfall.  Other techniques are designed to mimic the functions of the natural environment. Green roofs, rain gardens, rain barrels and cisterns, vegetated swales, pocket wetlands, and permeable pavements and are commonly used in urban areas.

The shoreline zone is the last line of defense against the forces that may otherwise destroy a healthy lake. A naturally vegetated shoreline filters runoff from surrounding land uses, removing harmful chemicals and nutrients. At the same time, shoreline vegetation protects the lake edges from erosion caused by waves and ice. The shoreline zone also provides critical habitat for aquatic insects, microorganisms, fish, and other animals, thereby helping to maintain a balance in sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

Wetlands and their surrounding areas are also critical for the control and storage of surface water, and the recharge and discharge of groundwater. They maintain and improve water quality, aid in flood control, protect shorelines from erosion, trap sediments, and support complex food chains that are essential for a broad spectrum of living organisms, including humans.

Strategy needed to protect natural areas
by Scott Young

Many ecosystems in Muskoka's watersheds are not protected and are vulnerable to being lost. There are only a few very large, intact natural areas that can support some of our native large mammals like grey wolf and bear.  In much of the watershed, even moderately sized natural areas are missing. These areas are important to support interior forest species like warblers, ovenbirds, and the red shouldered hawk.

We know this because in 2005, we began taking inventory. The Muskoka Watershed Inventory - a project of the Muskoka Heritage Foundation in collaboration with the Muskoka Watershed Council, District Municipality of Muskoka, and the Ministry of Natural Resources -- identified many of these concerns and geographic patterns that could not previously be understood.

This is the final article in a series about the importance of protecting healthy functioning ecosystems. Over the summer, we have discussed the importance of protecting some of all ecosystem types, protecting a few big 10,000-hectare natural areas and many 200-hectare areas, and protecting natural groundcover, healthy shorelines and wetlands across Muskoka's watersheds. It is all part of a larger series produced by the Watershed Council based on seven key areas assessed in the 2007 "Muskoka Watersheds Report Card."

Throughout this series, the common message has been about change. Change is certain. Change causes stress. The more dramatic or sudden the change, the greater the stress. If there are many changes at once, stress compounds. Just as change causes stress in our lives, change can stress the natural environment.

Whether change is part of a natural cycle, or whether it is caused by human developments like new roads, deforestation or climate change, the ability of an ecosystem to survive will depend on its resiliency. Strong, healthy ecosystems have a way of bouncing back. Protecting a comprehensive system of natural areas throughout our watersheds would strengthen nature's capacity to cope with change.

Yet there is no established comprehensive system of protected areas within Muskoka's watersheds.  The large areas of natural cover we have are remnant areas of Crown land, provincial and national parks, nature reserves, and the limited development activity over the last 150 years. The pressure for development is and will continue to increase in the next few decades. Steps need to be taken now to protect the natural values of the watershed to ensure that they do not become highly fragmented and require considerable time and resources to remediate in the future.

The local watersheds benefit from large areas of Crown land, eleven provincial parks - including a large portion of both Algonquin and Queen Elizabeth II Wildlands Provincial parks - and one national park. These provide a foundation for the development of a comprehensive natural areas strategy. However, the central portion of the watershed, especially along Highway 11, has very little protected area although it still supports many highly significant natural areas. A protected areas strategy needs to build on the strengths of the existing protected areas and encompass the core areas in a connected manner that supports a healthy natural system.

According to the MWC 2007 Report Card, the overall health of the Muskoka River and Black/Severn River watersheds is a B-. But as we gain a better and more detailed understanding of the health of our environment, we understand the fragmented nature of the watershed and the vulnerable state of some of our most dearly loved natural areas. Without protection, Muskoka's watershed grades can only decline.