Caring About Our Habitat Before Green Lighting The Bulldozers

Tanglefoot on The Barge at Gull Lake Park - Photo by Fred Schulz

BEING THANKFUL FOR THIS AMAZING DISTRICT OF MUSKOKA

WE SOMETIMES FORGET, AS RESIDENTS, HOW CHERISHED WE ARE ABROAD

     IT'S A WEE PROBLEM LIVING IN THIS NATURAL PARADISE, THAT WE ALL, FROM TIME TO TIME, TAKE IT (THE HINTERLAND) FOR GRANTED. IT'S TO BE EXPECTED, AFTER ALL, AS IT IS HOME, AND NOT GENERALLY CONSIDERED OUR RECREATION. ARGUABLY, IT GIVES ALL THE APPEARANCES OF A PLACE TO LIVE AND WORK, AND UNLESS YOU ARE AS COMMITTED TO "STAY-CATIONS" AS WE ARE, EVEN PARADISE CAN WEAR THIN UNDER THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES. ALL I NEED TO SEE HOWEVER, IS THE HUGE TRAFFIC FLOW TO OUR REGION, ESPECIALLY ON HOLIDAY WEEKENDS, AND MOST SUMMER FRIDAYS, TO KNOW THAT WE ARE A GREATLY DESIRED DESTINATION. WATCHING THESE SAME VISITORS, STUCK IN LENGTHY TRAFFIC JAMS, ON THE FOLLOWING SUNDAYS, ALSO SHOULD MAKE US AWARE, THAT WHILE CAUGHT IN THE MASS EXODUS, THEY ARE THINKING ABOUT US…..AND HOW NICE IT WOULD BE TO STAY HERE INDEFINITELY. I HEAR THIS ALL THE TIME IN OUR ANTIQUE ENTERPRISE, ON THE MAIN STREET OF GRAVENHURST. JEALOUS FOLKS WHO WOULD LIKE TO EXTEND THEIR HOLIDAYS OVER THE FOUR SEASONS, TO SEE AND FEEL WHAT THAT WOULD BE LIKE, EVEN AS A ONE YEAR EXPERIMENT. WHILE IT'S LOGICAL TO EXPECT, WE CAN, OVER TIME, COME TO THINK OF MUSKOKA AS PART OF THE SAME-OLD, SAME OLD, IT'S BECAUSE OF MODERN STRESSES…..NOT THE FACT MUSKOKA HAS BECOME A LESSER PARADISE. THE WAY TO OVERCOME IT, IS TO TAKE REGULAR MOTOR TRIPS (AND HIKES) AROUND THE REGION, AND ALLOW THE MAGNIFICENT LAKELAND TO INSPIRE THE UNINSPIRED. I DO THIS CONSTANTLY, AND HAVE NEVER RETURNED FROM SUCH A CASUAL SIGHTSEEING ADVENTURE, WITHOUT HAVING LOTS TO WRITE ABOUT, WHEN I PARK MYSELF AT THIS OFFICE DESK, OVERLOOKING BIRCH HOLLOW, AND THE ADJACENT BOG, WHICH I CAN SEE CLEARLY TODAY IN THE BRIGHT SUNLIGHT.

SPEAKING TO THOSE WHO NEEDED TO BE CONVERTED

     Quite a few years ago, I had a rare opportunity, to be invited to speak at a conference, dealing with a brand new Muskoka recreational development. I was invited as a Muskoka historian, and was expected to give a presentation, I think, about the grandeur of the old hotels and resorts. I did in part, follow the planned script, but what I saw in the audience, bothered me, truth be known. I was speaking to a professional group, hell-bent on proceeding with the lakeside development. This wasn't the time for a Muskoka history lesson, as I would conduct at a regional museum. This was a group of planners, engineers, architects, promotional experts, developers and the investors. They may have wanted a passive, time-killing overview, just to say it had occurred……"and now let's get on with it."

     I've never been one to stick to pre-arranged agreements, such as what my topic of discussion will be, when I hit the podium. I've shocked a few audiences in my day. On this outing, however, I was rather tame, but I made a strong point, more like a stinging pitch, for heritage observance of the flora and fauna of our region…..as habitat, not just for mortals who wish to live in the lap of luxury. I spent my allotted time, explaining the ecological….natural heritage of the region, and how development was stressing not only the lakes of the district, but all the forests, meadows and lowlands of the surrounding topography. I was looking out on industry professionals, giving me nasty glares, as if asking, "how the hell did this eco maniac get past security." I am an opportunist. Ask any one who knows me. I saw an audience of "the committed," and thought, "what the hell can it hurt," if I pull them out of the city….out of the urban din, for a walk through the Muskoka woodlands……as if they were all, suddenly, children on a nature hike.

     I borrowed my experiences from my old outdoor educator chum, Dave Brown, of Hamilton, who used to run daily nature tours in the wilds of the Botanical Gardens forest, and his classroom was like a smaller version of the Smithsonian, full of the relics of nature. I used to go on some of Dave's nature walks for his students, and he taught me how to use experiences like this, to sensitize youngsters, adversely influenced by city life and times. The first forest tour I took with Dave, was during a special arts program, for Hamilton students, held at Camp Kwasind, on Skeleton Lake, in Ullswater. Here were these city kids, used to the sounds of sirens, earth movers, jack-hammers, overhead jets all day long, and the average din of traffic night and day. Dave would stop the tour, now and again, and ask the kids to sit on a bench or fallen log, to listen to the world around them. I saw their expressions. They didn't have a clue what he was talking about. When they finally caught the drift of the exercise, they were still reaching to identify manmade sounds like outboard engines, out on the lake; chainsaws, leaf blowers, and car traffic on an adjacent cottage road. They even identified small planes passing overhead. What they were having a difficult time separating, was the inherent sounds of a vibrant nature, with the sounds they understood from daily city existence.

     Those kids took quite a while, to become sensory aware of the life forms around them. At first, they couldn't hear the rustle of chipmunks in the dried leaves of the previous autumn. They couldn't detect the soft sounds from the wash of the lake onto the pebbled shoreline. They couldn't hear a bee buzzing around a wildflower, or a fish jumping at a surface fly, a short distance out on the lake. They didn't think of the wind brushing the field grasses, as something they should be aware of, or how the snake sounds slithering along the forest floor. Over the course of a week, and daily sensory trips like this, those same students claimed to be able to hear it all…..and to be able to identify the sources of these amazing hinterland noises.

     I turned to this room of "suits," and briefcase toting world-changers, and asked them if they would accompany me…..via their imaginations, to walk the shoreline of the property they were soon going to be building upon……to hear nature at its heart. I spun a pretty compelling story-line, and gave them all the visuals they needed, for their minds, like Dave's students, to replicate those steps of discovery……in this beautiful lakeland of Canada. Some appeared reluctant to play this game. Others figured out that I was an environmentalist, disguised as an historian. Others seemed tired enough of the old grind, that like hypnotism, they fell easily into my imaginary walking tour. I don't believe I had many converts that day. But it has since impressed upon me, that in order to conserve Muskoka in the future, it will require amazing sensitivity from people like this…….the architects, planners, engineers, developers and their investors. It wasn't a presentation aimed at thwarting what had already been approved, as a development, but to make these city oriented residents, realize, that the alterations they are making in our bailiwick, requires a greater level of understanding, for our eco-system; which is after all, the reason thousands upon thousands of vacationeers visit Muskoka each year; part of a tourism tradition that began in the 1870's, and carries on strongly today. In large part, because development has been accepted, and realized, that is complimentary to the areas they have been situated on the landscape. This doesn't mean to suggest that all recent development has been compatible with the surroundings, but there is far more push these days, to comply with Muskoka's sensitivities. Watchdog groups are performing their due diligence even if developers aren't as thorough. If we lose these precious forests and wetlands, we will also lose the quality of the lakeland generally. Seeing as the resort in question, did come to fruition, and has become a landmark vacation destination, it is of course dependent on the well being of the tourism economy at large…..in a regional sense. Its success is linked with the overall well being of the industry, which has always had its inherent frailties, and responses to the world's prevailing economic climate. Yet ongoing damage to the eco-system in Muskoka, is a progressive death knell of our number one industry; tourism.

     I was never invited back to the resort for an encore presentation. I didn't press the matter. I didn't call them up demanding a re-match. I remember one local planner, however, who did come up to me at the end of the presentation, to congratulate me on the delicate way I morphed from history, to environmental protection, without warning, and without any placard reading, "Stop large scale lakeside development." She understood all that I had spoken about, and told me about her youngsters having had outdoor education in their upbringing. Even to have a compliment from one out of fifty in attendance, was flattering. I didn't get the bum's rush out of the building either. Maybe I deserved it, but I wouldn't do anything different, if I was asked to lecture, at some similar conference of urbanites today; organized by those planning to change our natural heritage……without first knowing what this entails. They need to be told, that before you change something, you don't know about…..well sir, that's why you take to the trails and roadways, and see how incredibly endowed this region is…….years before hiring the earth moving crew, to destroy what nature has so generously created, for our sustainability. This is not the city. This is the hinterland. Our economy depends on its well being. The quality of our lives, is directly proportional, to the way we treat our habitat. We can do better. We know that! 

     We could all use a little upgrading in this sensitivity-thing, in order to carry on our conservation work, to preserve Muskoka's hinterland for future generations. Thanks for visiting today. See you again soon.