As Stewards of Muskoka, What Will We Leave Our Children

AS STEWARDS OF MUSKOKA, WHAT WILL WE LEAVE OUR CHILDREN, AND OUR CHILDREN'S-CHILDREN?

     THERE ARE PEOPLE IN THIS MUNICIPALITY, WHO WISH THAT ALL CRITICS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT WOULD BE SUCKED UP INTO THE VERY NEXT FUNNEL CLOUD, AND DROPPED OFF, VERY UNCEREMONIOUSLY IN SOME OTHER JURISDICTION. I UNDERSTAND THIS FULLY.

     I HAVE READ THE COMMENTS OF THOSE CONSTITUENTS, WHO BELIEVE LOCAL GOVERNANCE IS ABSOLUTELY PERFECT, AND THE OVERVIEW, THAT THEY ARE FAULTLESS IN GRACIOUS PERPETUITY. WELL, THEY'RE WRONG, BUT I'M NOT GOING TO SPEND TOO MUCH EFFORT, TRYING TO CHANGE OPINIONS. IF I WAS EVEN, AT THE MOST, TO CREATE SOME LIGHT QUESTIONING OF STATUS QUO, THAT INSPIRED THEIR INTEREST, I'D BE DULY CONTENT. THE REALITY IS, WE ARE AT A PRECARIOUS TIME IN THIS MUNICIPALITY, AND IT ISN'T A PERIOD OF A FEW MONTHS OR A FEW YEARS. IT'S A PERIOD THAT BEGAN, IN MY OPINION, ABOUT TWENTY YEARS AGO, AND WILL CONTINUE FOR QUITE SOME TIME TO COME……..AND HOW THE REGION'S CHANGES, DEPEND ON WHO IS IN POLITICAL OFFICE, BOTH PROVINCIALLY AND MUNICIPALLY. THE CHANGE-MAKER IS WHEN DEVELOPERS FROM THE SOUTH, ARRIVE HERE WITH NEW PLANS FOR THE HINTERLAND. IF WE DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT PEOPLE IN POLITICAL OFFICE, ESPECIALLY AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL, OUR COMMUNITY AND REGION WILL BE HUGELY VULNERABLE TO THE KIND OF CHANGES THAT MAKE URBAN DEVELOPERS HAPPY, BUT MUSKOKA DWELLERS DISGUSTED. IT'S HAPPENED BEFORE WHEN THE ECONOMY WAS BOOMING, AND IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN. AND WE WILL ONCE AGAIN, RELY ON OUR MUNICIPAL COUNCILS TO ACT AS MUSKOKA'S STEWARDS IN SO MANY WAYS. THE CHANGES THEY CAN APPROVE WILLL HAVE THE POTENTIAL, OF NOT ONLY REFASHIONING OUR ENTIRE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT THUS FAR, BUT AS WELL, TURNING THE REGION INTO AN URBAN LANDSCAPE. RULES CAN BE CHANGED. GOOD PLANNING TO THIS POINT, CAN BE KNOCKED OUT OF THE BALLPARK, BY A COUNCIL THAT "WANTS TO PLAY BALL," INSTEAD OF PROTECTING MUSKOKA'S MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCE……THE LAKELAND ENVIRONMENT……HUGELY PIVOTAL AND RESPONSIVE TO OUR NUMBER ONE INDUSTRY; TOURISM.

     THE RE-OPENING OF THE PICKERING AIRPORT PROPOSAL AGAIN, THIS WEEK, MUST BE LIKE GETTING KICKED IN THE GUT, FOR ALL THOSE CITIZENS WHO WERE PART OF THE FIGHT DECADES AGO, WHEN THEY SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED THE ENVIRONMENT, AND BLOCKED THE MEGA PLAN. SO HERE IS THE CONSERVATIVE GOVERNMENT RE-INTRODUCING IT AGAIN…….AND FORCING THOSE CONCERNED CITIZENS TO RETURN TO THE BATTLE-FRONT, TO STOP IT FROM MOVING FORWARD. WHEN I REFERENCE "THE BOG," AS I DO FREQUENTLY, BECAUSE WE LIVE ABOVE IT, HERE IN GRAVENHURST, I AM ABLE TO DO SO, BECAUSE OUR FIGHT AGAINST THE TOWN, FORTUNATELY TURNED OUT IN OUR FAVOR, SEVERAL YEARS AGO…….AND STOPPED THE RIDICULOUS PLAN, TO SELL IT OFF, FOR RESIDENTIAL LOTS. IT'S A FILTERING ACREAGE FOR A HUGE VOLUME OF RUN-OFF WATER, FROM A LARGE SECTION OF TOWN, THAT EVENTUALLY DRAINS INTO MUSKOKA BAY, OF THE GREATER LAKE MUSKOKA. WE SAVED IT, LIKE THE GOOD FOLKS IN THE PICKERING AREA, SAVED THEIR REGION FROM BEING HOST TO AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

     WHAT BLEW ALL OF US AWAY, IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, BACK THEN, WAS THAT A MAJORITY OF THE COUNCILLORS, AT THE TIME, DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE PROPERTY…..AND WHAT IT WAS AS A LANDFORM……HILLSIDE, DENSE FOREST, ROCKY STREWN FIELD, OR WETLAND. THEY WERE INTENDING TO SELL OF THIS 20 OR SO ACRES OF WETLAND, WITHOUT DUE DILIGENCE, TO DETERMINED WHAT RELEVANCE IT POSSESSED IN OUR PORTION OF THE COMMUNITY. IF WE HADN'T SLAMMED INTO THEIR MOVING VEHICLE, I WOULD ONLY BE ABLE TO WRITE ABOUT THE BOG IN THE DISMAY OF RETROSPECTIVE……BECAUSE IT WOULD BE LINED NOW WITH BUNGALOWS AND BOXED WITH FENCING. THE FACT THAT A SIGNIFICANT URBAN WETLAND WAS TO BE SACRIFICED……WAS NOT A BIG DEAL. WE HAD NO SUPPORT IN OUR FIGHT, FROM THE DISTRICT, OR ANY ONE ELSE FROM A MAIN ENVIRONMENTAL OR CONSERVATION GROUP, WILLING TO LEND US ONE WORD OF SUPPORT. WE HAD OUR SUPPORTERS, BUT FROM UNLIKELY PLACES. IN FACT, WE WERE TOLD IT WAS AN INSIGNIFICANT PARCEL OF LAND, AND COULD SUPPORT TWENTY OR SO HOUSES. WHEN WE DECIDED TO PUSH AHEAD, WE DID SO WITH THE SUPPORT OF MANY CITIZENS, WHO WERE TIRED OF BEING KNOCKED AROUND, AND HAVING THEIR MUNICIPALITY CHANGED WITHOUT SERIOUS CONSULTATION. WE WERE LUCKY, BECAUSE WE GOT THE STORY ABOUT THIS, HOT OF THE PRESS, FROM MUSKOKA TODAY…..AND FROM THAT POINT ON, UNTIL THE CONCLUSION, WE KEPT UP AN UNRELENTING PRESSURE, TO HAVE OUR CONCERNS DEALT WITH. SOME SAY I DROVE PEOPLE NUTS WITH EMAILS. WELL SIR, SOME OF THOSE I DROVE NUTS DECIDED TO RUN FOR ANOTHER TERM OF OFFICE, SO IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN ALL THAT BAD. BUT WHEN I WRITE, AS I DO REGULARLY, ABOUT MY WORRIES REGARDING MUNICIPAL COUNCILS HAVING TOO MUCH POWER, AND TOO LITTLE TRANSPARENCY, ALL I HAVE TO DO IS LOOK OUT OVER THE THRIVING, BEAUTIFUL BOG……DOING ITS NATURAL FILTERING FOR MUSKOKA BAY, AND PROVIDING HABITAT FOR THOUSANDS OF CRITTERS, LARGE AND SMALL, AND MY FEARS OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS SEEMS VERY JUSTIFIED.

     NOW I THINK ABOUT THE FOLKS IN PICKERING AND VICINITY, AND HOW THEY MUST BE FEELING TO HAVE SUFFERED THIS LOW BLOW FROM OTTAWA. IT IS A LOW BLOW, MAKE NO MISTAKE OF THAT! WE HAVE AN UNOFFICIAL COMMITTEE HERE IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, LIKE A RESERVE BATTALION, READY TO MARCH AGAIN, AT THE FIRST INKLING OF COUNCIL'S RESTORED INTEREST, IN PAVING OVER OUR CHUNK OF PARADISE.

     COUNCILLORS MAY FEEL THAT THEY ARE BEING UNFAIRLY SINGLED OUT HERE……AS BEING THE MAIN CULPRITS IN SUCH CHANGE. IN THE CASE OF THE BOG…..WELL, THERE WERE NO OTHER VILLAINS IN THIS PLANNED SELL-OFF OF AN IMPORTANT RESOURCE. I VERY MUCH FEEL, THAT THE PRESENT COUNCIL SHOULD RESTRAIN ITSELF, FROM ANY BINDING NEGOTIATIONS, ABOUT THE FUTURE USE OF THE MUSKOKA CENTRE'S MUSKOKA BAY PROPERTY; IN ORDER TO ALLOW THE COUNCIL THAT WILL HAVE TO LIVE WITH THAT DECISION, IMMEDIATELY AFTER, TO PLAY ITS ROLE; HAVING OF COURSE, NEW COUNCIL BLOOD. THERE ARE COUNCIL HOPEFULS OUT THERE, ALREADY, AND I HOPE THEY WILL SPEAK UP, AND GET INVOLVED IN THE PROCESS, OF DISCUSSING THE FUTURE OF THE PROPERTY……..AND MAKE IT AN ELECTION ISSUE IN THE FALL OF 2014.

     THE FOLLOWING IS A BLOG I WROTE WITH THE BOG, IN MIND, A YEAR AGO……WHEN ONCE AGAIN, I HAD A FLASHBACK TO THE SUMMER WE NEARLY LOST OUR BEAUTIFUL ACREAGE, TO PAY FOR A NEW TOWN HALL WE DIDN'T NEED…..AND COULDN'T AFFORD. I BORROWED A FEW PLUMES FROM SEVERAL OTHER AUTHORS I HAPPEN TO ADMIRE.

AUTHOR ODEL SHEPARD LOVED HIS CONNECTICUT - AND FEARED CHANGES TO THE LANDSCAPE

I'M NOT SURE WE REALLY APPRECIATE THE CHANGES MUSKOKA IS FACING

     " EVERY BIBLIOPHILE NEEDS A QUIXOTIC SEARCH IN LIFE, AND I GOT MINE ONE DAY AT WHITLOCK FARMS, A BOOK SELLER NEAR MY HOME IN CENTRAL CONNECTICUT. EVERETT AND GILBERT WHITLOCK, LOCAL LEGENDS, HAVE PLIED THEIR TRADE FOR THE PAST FORTY YEARS OUT OF TWO BARNS IN WHAT WAS FARM COUNTRY. STILL RELATIVELY RURAL, THE LAND HEREABOUTS HAS BEEN PRESERVED AS OPEN SPACE THROUGH THE GRACES OF CONSERVATION AND THE FACT MUCH OF IT HAS REMAINED IN THE OWNERSHIP OF THE SAME FAMILIES FOR GENERATIONS."

     The passage above was written by writer, Alan Bisbort, in the February 1999 issue, of the magazine, "Biblio," in an article entitled "The Last Connecticut Yankee's Books Tell All." Biblio was one of my favorite publications, catering to the persnickety bibliophiles out there, and Bisbort's article fascinated me so much, that I've kept it in my reference library from the first day it arrived here at Birch Hollow. What fascinates me, in particular, is the work of American author, Odell Shepard, and his son Willard, who co-authored books, such as "Holdfast Gaines." In particular, I enjoyed the examination by Mr. Brisbort, of Odell Shepard's love for his region of the United States. The passions of Shepard mirror my own life-long commitment to representing the heritage of Muskoka. I would have loved to meet the author and his son, and I'd like to shake the hand of Alan Brisbort, for conserving this important piece of literary biography.

     Under the heading "Boulders and Blue Air," Bisbort writes, "As Odell Shepard, author of 'Connecticut: Past and Present,' put it in 1939, 'I lost, awhile, the fear that my Connecticut may be dragged down by cruel claws. I let the heathen rage. What can they do to boulders and blue air? What force have they against a rock and a dream?" As the writer notes, about the elder Shepard, "Indeed, like a dream, Connecticut is still mostly a state of mind, and Odell Shepard was as close as anyone to having been its dream chaser."

     The author once claimed he was "in love with every tree and barn and old stone wall," in the state, adds Bisbort. The feature writer notes that, in the back of his book on Connecticut, Shepard penned, "I have a dream which, if it has any fault, is too severly practical - a dream about Connecticut in years to be. In every township there shall be a poet, appointed by the Governor. The duty of these poets, first and foremost, shall be to dynamite the filling stations within their several territories; then they shall begin to burn down all the bill-boards." Shepard went on to become lieutenant governor of Connecticut, and a co-founder of the "Thoreau Society of America," as well as an editor of Thoreau's journals.

     At Whitlock Farm, Mr. Bisbort found a large collection of Odell Shepard's books and associate copies, that had been sold to the book business by the author's family. "Perhaps they knew something of my happy accident of time: I arrived just after Odell's great-grandchildren had unloaded his prodigious book collection at Whitlock's. These books would be unloaded, in turn, in smaller increments over the next several months onto the sagging shelves of my office library."

     It's interesting to note, in the article by Alan Bisbort, that Shepard was not only a good friend but biographer, of Canadian poet, Bliss Carmen, entitled "Bliss Carmen; A Study Of His Poetry," published in 1923. "In his day and nation, Carmen was as big as Robert Frost. He was, in fact, Canada's poet laureate." Bliss Carmen was one of the participating poets at the writer's retreat, at Muskoka Assembly, in the 1920's and 30's, on Tobin's Island, Lake Rosseau, with well known authors such as Charles G.D. Roberts, Wilson MacDonald, Sir Gilbert Parker and Marshall Saunders.

     Shepard once said of his life-long writing interest, that it had been spent pursuing "the history of solitude," and he may have felt closer to David Thoreau, who he believed had known so much about this precious solitude in the alluring hinterland.

     Shepard wrote books you may have read, including, "The Harvest of A Quiet Eye," "The Lore of the Unicorn," and "Jenkin's Ear."

     In fact, I have felt this way about Muskoka since I arrived here in the winter of 1966, from the hustle, bustle and urban sprawl of Southern Ontario. When I lived in Toronto, while attending university, I arrived home to Muskoka every Friday afternoon, enthralled to be away from the city......which then, as today, I felt was true freedom. Even though my family helped expand the city, as building contractors, back in the Depression years, I have never been able to reside in Toronto for more than a few weeks at a stretch, before I start feeling the call of the wild. I am at home here, and in my neighborhood, I might see a fawn at daybreak, amidst the fern cover, or find a lone wolf ambling along the forest path before full sunrise. I like seeing the deer out in the Bog, across the lane, and the woodpeckers are a treat for the eyes, at mid-day, when everything is so colorful and dynamic. I love to hear the trickling of the myriad tiny creeks that snake through the bogland, and each squirrel and bird flitting about the evergreens, makes this place enchanted and a compelling oasis to come and write, as I do frequently these days. Even when I come home from a long drive, I can't wait to wander these little pathways to nowhere in particular, because of the pleasant solitude I find, only a few feet from the full vigor of an urban neighborhood.

    I have a blogsite I call "Muskoka as Walden," my own clear demonstration, of enduring respect for Thoreau, and this amazing embrace of nature; and for me it is in this charming ballywick of Gravenhurst, Ontario, in South Muskoka. Whenever I feel the need to escape, for even a temporary sojourn, the Bog welcomes me to its interior. I don't have a cabin in there, like the one Thoreau had on Walden Pond, but there are a couple of fallen logs that make a perfect place to lodge temporarily, to watch the natural world carry on its way.

     I do worry alot these days, as Shepard was concerned about the changing topography of Connecticut, about the way progress will intrude upon our hinterland. One might expect a surge of development interests in the next ten years, as more city influences spill over from the present urban boundaries.......stressing down with bulldozer blades, upon the open, wild areas of our district. It is hard to know just how dramatic those changes will be, and if we can influence progress, to meet our interests, and our passion to maintain the lakeland character that has been so important to the development and maintenance of the tourism industry......of which we dearly depend, and would suffer greatly if it was to falter.

    I do not believe the tourist-kind visit our region to joyfully shop, specifically at convenience-store strip malls, and box stores, when they have ample shopping opportunities in the urban areas of our province, and in the United States. While the local population benefit from some of these shopping opportunities, many sightseers wonder how congested it might soon become, when urban developers regain their appetite for exploitation. I fear that more superfluous commercial sprawl will destroy the picturesque qualities of our region, while offering very little in return for the sacrifice of open space. Development and progress are good for the local economy, but the balance is precarious, and we should all know this ahead of welcoming new plans for subdivisions and commercial nodes, suitable for urban environs, but not the more rural lakeland setting. In the past, we have accepted development without much concern about the negative impacts this kind of progress can inspire.....and in fact, herald in the future. While developers have become very savvy about appealing to the advancement of the "job market," which they tout as reason enough for town councils to support expansion, we have found that many of these claims are shallow, to the point of being a mirage, and in large part, just another unsubstantiated claim.

     As a reporter, covering the municipal beat, I used to hear a wide variety of these claims of great future prosperity, and for most of the slick presentations, it was a case of "we will save you, if you sign on to our project." I'd always think to myself, while twiddling my pencil, about the moral story of "Jack and the Beanstalk," and those "magic beans," that were going to bring much prosperity. It usually boiled down to a sale's pitch and not much more. Accepting the developments meant, however, the sacrifice of forests, wetlands, and farm pastures. Well, you have to sacrifice something right? Even I accept that development is going to happen, and of this, there is no doubt, or law big enough to stop it. Our success in the future, will be to achieve a balance, that is achieved by sensible proportion and good planning. And the appreciation, that like the Connecticut that Odell Shepard knew and loved, Muskoka must has its areas of environmental protection, and stewardship.

     It has become somewhat of an urban legend, in the arts community, that in later life, Canadian Group of Seven Artist, A.J. Casson, once said, he could no longer find anything of interest to paint in Muskoka, as all the old interesting buildings had been torn down, and rebuilt without the character of the pioneer farmsteads. He may not have been impressed by the urban scenes either, but this is all hearsay. If he did make these claims, I would agree with him whole heartedly, and I can remember this landscape carnage, as the old landmark houses, storefronts, barns and boathouses were torn down to make room for modern architecture......which is fine by the way. But I know what the artist was saying.....if he said this in the first place.

     I also dream of a sensibly, environmentally-respectful development of Muskoka, for many years to come. It has been my writer's paradise for long and long, and I hope others feel the same as residents and visitors......that this solitude is precious, inspiring, and restorative, and of this, I'm so glad my parents introduced me to Muskoka in the first place. The only way I will leave this district, is kicking and screaming. Otherwise, they will be sprinkling me here.

     Thank you so much for visiting today's blog. Please join me another day.