6 ` www.georgianbay.ca GBA UPDATE Spring 2023 GUARDIANS OF THE BAY By Katherine Denune, Chair, Guardians of the Bay Committee I am so excited to share the first two seasons of the Stewards of the Bay video series. As a part of the broader Guardians of the Bay initiative, this video series highlights the passion and action of our community members in their commitment to preserve the unique habitat of the Georgian Bay. These first two seasons feature more than 40 of our friends and neighbours from both the Sans Souci and Copperhead Association (SSCA) and the South Channel Association (SCA). The whole purpose of the Guardians of the Bay initiative is to recognize the outstanding efforts of those who care about Georgian Bay. I set out on this video series project with the aim of celebrating the passion and everyday contributions of my neighbours. As I filmed more and more, I realized that the series was actually becoming a powerful vehicle to connect people with neighbours they might not know, and to encourage even more contributions. I frequently heard folks telling me, “I want to do that project too,” or “I want to meet that person.” Beyond anything else, this project was a lot of fun and I think you can see that reflected in the videos. While there are too many stewards and initiatives to include all of them here, I am excited to share just a few: Wildlife Habitat Projects The first episode of the SSCA Stewards of the Bay series opens in a protected cove with John Hamilton and his successful loon nest platform, built in collaboration with neighbour Brian Rohde. John shares that, “loons have been a part of our life for the full 40-plus years we’ve been in the neighbourhood. We threw some mud and a little bit of vegetation [on the platform] and now this is the sixth year in a row we’ve had babies produced.” This episode ends with the evening songs of crickets and a family of bats leaving their box one by one. This peaceful clip is the culmination of an association-wide effort to build and install bat houses all over the South Channel. Peter Adams, the SCA Environment Chair and an instrumental person in this initiative, shared his motivation, stating, “after the white nose syndrome knocked back Ontario’s bat population so much, it’s really just getting cottage owners to help them make the recovery by providing a really solid and safe roosting area for them.” Next summer the SCA plans to continue building bat houses and begin a barred owl house initiative. Young Stewards! One of my priorities in making the Stewards of the Bay video series was to highlight the stewardship among all our generations and especially our youth. I am happy to share some of the neat projects our young cottagers are working on. Our youngest stars are the Edwards sisters, Charlotte (8), Maddie (6), and Olivia (5). These gals dove into one of the Georgian Bay Mnidoo Gamii Biosphere kits, adeptly dissecting an owl pellet and venturing on a great scavenger hunt. Fifteen minutes away by boat, Ben Denune (8) brought some pails down to the beach to pick up small plastics and Styrofoam with his parents. Ben explained, “we’re cleaning up plastic to help the fish on the beaches feel better and not choke with microplastics.” University student Thomas Dancy has been planting native plants with his dad John Dancy for several years. “We started planting lots and lots of milkweeds and we’ve started seeing more and more monarchs,” Thomas shared. “Every morning we wake up and we run around and look, and any time we see a little monarch caterpillar on the leaves we’re all excited about it.” Looking Forward The goal of this project is to encourage others to make videos for their communities along and near Georgian Bay. These videos serve as a powerful representation of the impressive contributions of cottagers and as a friendly introduction to the SCA and the SSCA. I hope you take a look, “meet” some neighbours and get inspired to join in on the fun! You can access all of the videos at the following link: https:// georgianbay.ca/gba-member-association-videos/ Video Series Spotlights Cottager Stewardship Charlotte, Maddie and Olivia Edwards dissecting an owl pellet. Thomas Dancy finding a monarch butterfly. Katherine Denune and Peter Adams building bat houses.
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