How do our watersheds measure up? Get the Muskoka Watershed Council’s 2007 report card and find out.
It’s been three years since the Muskoka Watershed Council (MWC) unveiled the first report card on watershed health. The initial report card highlighted our excellent water quality, the need for emission controls to improve our air quality, more effective tools to protect our wetlands, and more information about our fisheries.
Another three years of data collection and analysis has provided the MWC with new findings on the health of our watersheds. Has our air quality improved? Is our water quality still in excellent condition? Are wetlands better protected now than they were three years ago? What human impacts are apparent? The primary objective of the 2007 report card is to evaluate any changes against the standard of a healthy, functioning and sustainable watershed.
These indicate that, at a global level, we’re seeing effects of climate change, acid deposition, and invasive species. At the local level, we are seeing changes to natural habitats resulting from human activity.
How is our water? Overall, our water scored a grade of B. The recreational water quality in our lakes is among the best in Canada with low bacteria and phosphorus levels. This sub-component scored A-. Drinking water quality also continues to score very high with a grade of A-.
The removal of shoreline vegetation and climate change are two of the biggest threats to our good water quality. Already we are seeing a loss of fish habitat, changes in types of algae, and new invasive species. The score for aquatic habitats was a B.
Where people are renaturalizing shoreline habitat, improvement is occurring. Our actions around water, both positive and negative, will determine the health of the lakes and rivers in our watersheds in the future. Our stewardship actions scored A-.
How is our land? Overall, our land scored a grade of B-. We are privileged in Muskoka to still benefit from some natural areas of 10,000 hectares and larger, which support our large native mammals. These areas need to be protected if we want our children and grandchildren to see species like bear, moose and wolves. Ecosystem protection scored an A.
Throughout our watersheds, we also need to maintain our moderately-sized natural areas of around 200 hectares in order to support interior forest species like birds and provide ecosystem services such as flood control, carbon sequestration and oxygen production.
Wetlands are also important; they keep our water clean and support virtually all of our native plants and animals, either directly or indirectly. Education and stewardship are required, along with the acquisition of important areas by public agencies and local land trusts. Protection of wetlands scored a C. How is our air? Overall our air scored C.
People in Muskoka generally believe that we should enjoy clean, pristine air because we live outside large urban areas. However, both local emissions and pollutants from the Ohio Valley have resulted in 10 to 30 air quality advisory days a year. Air quality scored a C-.
Pollutants from the Ohio Valley contribute up to 90 per cent of ozone levels on poor air quality days. Without a negotiated agreement with the United States to reduce industrial emissions and a concerted effort by all levels of government to reduce local and provincial emissions through industrial regulations, conservation and improved transportation standards, air quality will remain the same or worsen. Transboundary pollution scored a C.
Climate change will be the single most significant stress on our watersheds in the foreseeable future. Although it is still too early to truly understand what changes will occur and the impact on the social, economic and environmental systems within our watersheds, some early changes have been noted. Grey jays are having difficulty surviving warmer winters and winter recreation is being affected.
People will adapt and find opportunities for improvement along the way. Many species and ecosystems, however, will not be able to adapt as quickly and it is likely that many native species will become extinct or be pushed further north.
With multiple stressors affecting our watersheds, maintaining healthy, natural, intact ecosystems is the best insurance against widespread degradation. We need to strengthen nature’s ability to cope with change. The key messages from the report card are:
Protect shoreline vegetation;
Reduce hardened surfaces;
Protect significant wetlands;
Reduce habitat fragmentation;
Maintain large natural areas;
Remediate degraded sites;
Contain urban sprawl;
Reduce carbon emissions.
To view a copy of the full report card visit the MWC website at www.muskokaheritage.org/watershed.
The annual general meeting of the Huntsville Lakes Council is Saturday, Aug. 18 from 9:30 to 11 a.m. in the community room at Your Independent Grocer, Hwy. 11 and 60. There will be a talk given on environmentally friendly cleaning products and, hopefully, a MWC representative will explain some of the finer points in the report card. Check your Forester for more information closer to the date. All are welcome to attend.
Thanks to the Muskoka Watershed Council for preparing the above summary.
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