Muskoka Watershed Council

The Muskoka Watershed Council was founded by the District Municipality of Muskoka and the Muskoka Heritage Foundation in October of 2001 and has been affiliated with the Dorset Environmental Science Centre largely since its inception.  The Council believes that the most effective way to sustain a watershed for future generations is through a cooperative approach. This typically entails involving as many of the stakeholders in Muskoka's watersheds as possible when making decisions and deriving management plans. Given the long term monitoring and aquatic ecosystem health perspective at the Centre, we collaborate on many different fronts.

An excellent recent example of this synergism betweeen DESC and MWC was the 2010 Freshwater Summit held in Bracebridge in early June. The Summit provided a forum for freshwater scientists, policy makers, Aboriginal peoples of Canada, students, interest groups and the public to discuss issues (and solutions) concerning the protection, use and management of freshwater in Canada. This was a dynamic two-day event that saw the participants draft a Summit Communiqué as well as a Canadian Charter of Water Rights and Responsibilities. A concurrent Youth Summit saw participation from students from 8 different high schools in the region and produced a communiqué of its own. These documents were accepted on behalf of the federal government by Minister Tony Clement (MP - Muskoka-Parry Sound).