Muskoka Watershed Council

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The Muskoka Watershed Advisory Group (MWAG) was established in August 2019 to provide advice and to make recommendations and project suggestions to the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks regarding implementation of the Muskoka Watershed Conservation and Management Initiative.

The MWAG mandate is for more long-term solutions and will not address the immediate flooding issue of 2019 or possible future flooding in 2020. Of course most cottages are more concerned about flooding. A long Government report was published in November 2019 by MNR with recommendations and actions from flooding events in 2019. The Muskoka overview is on page 47 and Muskoka recommendations are on page 117. Click here to see the report.

The province has budgeted $5M for any of adopted recommendations or projects. Plus there is a matching program MWAG could tap into with a potential of another $10M available.

Mandate: Provide recommendations to Minister of Environment

Goal: Identify Risks and Issues, identify short and long term solutions and develop a comprehensive approach such as Flood Plain Mgmt, Governance, Building codes

Objective: Phase 1 - Outreach - Input from locals and groups, identify funding and projects.

The MWAG has been meeting with many different communities in the Muskoka Watershed region to advise them of their mandate and get input from the local communities and associations. Randy Rapson, the WLCA president attended a meeting on January 23rd at the Port Carling Community Centre and is sharing this info from the meeting:

The meeting was well attended by many lake & river associations. The Ministry of Environment and MNR attended. The Ministry of Environment was non-committal on course of action and timeline. Representatives from the Town of Bracebridge were not visible. The Muskoka Lakes Association and other associations presented their concerns and recommendations. Others brought up their frustration in lack of action or length of time to get any action. Click here to listen to the audio recording from the meeting.

Some ideas brought up during the session:

  • Inventory of Wet Lands

  • Flood Plan Mgmt Update, upstream storage, better dam management, constant flow rate through out region and reduce choke points

  • Responsible development by towns

  • Muskoka Conservation Authority

  • Fish Habit Impact

  • Ontario Hydro Impact and Model

  • Reduction of hard surfaces by cottagers

MWAG have asked everyone to submit their recommendations, suggestions and concerns by February 9th via email. MWAG will compile an interim report and submit it to the Minister of Environment by mid-May. If you have any ideas or concerns that you would like to put forth to the MWAG, please send an email to Muskokawatershed.ag@gmail.com and copy the WLCA president at president@wood-lake.ca.