March 08, 2024

Appreciating our community volunteers

BY KATE RUSSELL — Community volunteers were the focus at a recent Stewardship Circle held at the Kimberley Hall, where the evidence that 'neighbour is a verb' was offered through several presentations.

Over 30 people attended the event, hosted by the Beaver Valley Destination Stewardship (BVDS) group, to hear from multiple volunteers and stewardship organizations working to preserve the Niagara Escarpment in area.

After a land acknowledgement offered by Jade Michael Ryann to recognize the long history of people living in harmony with the land, those in attendance heard about a new BVDS project underway with the Gros Morne Institute of Sustainable Tourism (GMIST).

“We were chosen along with four other communities to participate in an ACTivate program,” said volunteer Kate Russell, explaining a local “cluster” of five volunteers is learning Asset Based Community-Led Development with GMIST. “ABCD is a great process for engagement.”

The model follows the principles that everyone has gifts to contribute, relationships build community, citizen-centred makes people actors in local development, leaders involve others, people care through curiosity, active listening and inclusion and asking questions instead of accepting ready-made solutions.

The BVDS has been connecting with multiple stewardship groups across the Beaver River watershed to share stories, network like-minded groups and support the group’s core principles. Through the GMIST project, volunteers are also learning about appreciative interviewing to explore local stories.

“We all want to ensure our journey together is worthwhile by learning together and adjusting where necessary to facilitate our collective gift exchange,” said Russell, who added BVDS wants to “convene watershed people and associations together and include everyone.”

Volunteer efforts accomplish amazing things when people work together as evidenced in the comments of Bob Hann of the Beaver Valley Bruce Trail Club, who spoke to the Circle about the major trail works completed last year at Hogg’s Falls.

“We have incredible resources in the valley,” said Hann, who noted volunteers on the project were often professional architects, project managers and CEOs who were willing to give of their time and energy to help plan and build two bridges and 700 feet of raised boardwalk to protect the natural areas and create trail signage to keep people from wandering and destroying the environment. “When you have them, use them.”

The project included all levels of government, local conservation authorities and the Bruce Trail Conservancy. Hann said the cooperation and collaboration took two years to modify routes, obtain funding and coordinate volunteers working on the ground, but together they all were successful.

“We need to look at changing government processes and culture so volunteers are expected and involved,” Hann said, sharing lessons learned through the project. “Cooperation involving everyone works.”

Individuals make communities stronger when they combine their energy, according to the evening’s MC Dave Meslin who responded to Hann’s presentation saying “the best asset we have is each other.”

Photo: Top row (left to right) Bob Hann, Jarvis Strong, Betty Muise, Tom Kennedy; Bottom row (left to right) Joan Nuffield, Brian McCulloch, Rob Leverty, Stacie Howe

The Escarpment Corridor Alliance's executive director Jarvis Strong agreed in his presentation on the regional organization that seeks to protect natural assets on a regional scale and preserve the beautiful sense of place.

“We have something here,” he said, “this area’s amazing. There’s no shortage of groups full of people with passion and energy.”

He outlined the ECA’s strategy to conserve, create and unite the Niagara Escarpment area to maintain the “ribbon of wilderness” that connects the biodiversity of the area.

“We need your curiosity,” he told those in attendance, adding the idea of a conservation economy doesn’t endanger business, it actually sustains local assets for the future. He suggested volunteers are key in this movement. “We want to be the glue for non-profits operating in this area.”

Speaking of conservation, Betty Muise of the Blue Mountain Tree Trust also spoke at the meeting about the over 100 volunteers who planted over 500 saplings along the Georgian Trail last year as part of her group’s mission.

“We don’t just plant the trees, we also look after them,” she said, noting the group has planted more than 100 seven- to ten-foot trees in local parks and has sold about 50 sugar maples to private landowners. “We should be looking after our trees rather than cutting them down.”

Muise suggested the local Tree Trust is watching some older trees and hoping to protect them in the future. They are supporting the town in tree planting and mapping efforts and hopes to upgrade a tree nursery in the short term but want to provide input on policies, offer resources and help shift behaviour to preserve trees moving forward.

Thornbury Lions Club member Tom Kennedy of Heathcote offered that the small but mighty volunteer group holds events to raise funds to support many project, including public stairs to the Beaver River, park benches in local cemeteries and has partnered with multiple local groups to support day camps and other community activities.

Kennedy noted he was a founding member of the Beaver River Watershed Initiative, as his property backs on the river so he has always cared for it’s health. The BRWI has thrived and grown to be a force in the community to support the river. That work informed his activities with the Lions Club to keep him involved and engaged with his community.

“There’s a whole pile of people benefitting from the efforts we put in,” Kennedy said, suggesting the Lions are always open to new members to join in on everything from barbecues to the annual duck race. “We support youth in community to fulfill our motto “we serve.”

Speaking of service, Joan Nuffield took the crowd back in time to the origins of the Bruce Trail when four naturalists, teachers and outdoorsmen conceived the idea 63 years ago.

“By creating a trail on the Niagara Escarpment they thought they could draw attention to it and support the natural wonders of the escarpment,” explained Nuffield, who noted 23 families got together to cut trails through the bush. By fall they new they needed more people and more land. “We steward the land that we own.”

The Bruce Trail Conservancy was born and today has properties along the length of the Bruce Trail. Land stewards patrol for invasive species, get rid of dumped garbage and follow plans put together by biologists to care for the land.

“We have lots of money and we own lots of property,” Nuffield explained, offering many landowners will their property to the conservancy to ensure it stays natural. “We are concerned when developers snap up property we would have loved to have. Some people say we have too much influence, but we never pay more than market value so we don’t create unfair competition in the marketplace.”

She suggested the local trails are seeing more “through hikers” who are often seeking places to overnight in the area, so the conservancy headquarters staff are exploring the potential for camping sites as well as parking areas for day hikers.

“We need to keep an eye on that sort of thing,” Nuffield said, offering if the trail was a person, it would thank volunteers for the good job their doing and ask people to respect the trail and “stop letting your dog do its business on me.”

The Friends of The Kimberley Forest are familiar with trail care as they keep watch over 400 hectares of woodland on the local escarpment. Volunteer Brian McCulloch took to the microphone to speak about the group’s vision of “a sustainable trail in a healthy Kimberley Forest for the enjoyment of all forever.”

The group maintains trails, builds boardwalks, creates bypasses around sensitive areas, supports the idea of a new parking lot and hopes to continue to partner with local businesses like the Beaver Velley Ski Club and the municipality, which receives donations on behalf of the Friends’ group.

“We’re exploring sociocracy as a governance model,” he said, offering it is keeping the group “responsible to its stated mission, vision and the goals we set.”

McCulloch noted a new parking lot at Concession 4A and 7th Line will be available this year and a community meeting is expected later in the spring to discuss other offroad parking opportunities.

The final speaker of the evening was Rob Leverty of the Niagara Escarpment Foundation (NEF), who congratulated all the groups who presented on their work to preserve and protect the natural environment, which “is incredibly important to all of us.”

He gave a brief history of the NEF, which formed from the early challenges to the escarpment from developers. An early group, Coalition on Niagara Escarpment (CONE) had been watching over the escarpment. It became the NEF based on donations which still allow the organization to grant money to support groups to protect the land.

“We live off the legacies given to us,” Leverty explained, noting the NEF is all volunteers, has no office but has over 100 years of experience on its board and can offer advice and support to many groups. “We deeply appreciate the forum you are creating here. I think this builds new friendships, new social relationships and resilience.”

He added there is “tremendous pressure on the escarpment,” with indications of this being a time of calm before the storm as he suggested of the more people try to protect it the more want there will be.

“Let’s keep the lights on,” he said, noting it is important the public knows what is happening and how to get involved. “Let’s see what everyone is doing through education, knowledge sharing and social interaction.”

BVDS core team member Stacie Howe wrapped up the Circle, offering the volunteers are not just a group to host presentations. She suggested there are difficult conversations to be had in the future.

“We’re collecting who we are and how we know each other, so we know we can have these conversations,” she said. “We want to be able to come together and address things. We’re going to collaborate to protect what makes us unique.”

The next We Are All Stewards Circle will be held March 11 at the Flesherton Kinplex at 6 pm. It will feature an in-depth presentation by the Aspiring Georgian Bay Geopark, information about local Indigenous history from author Robert Burcher and an update on how the Geopark is working with First Nations communities around the bay.

To stay in touch and informed on future events and projects, follow the BVDS on Instagram and Linked In or join the Hylo community to connect.

 

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