January 18, 2024

Beaver Valley Destination Stewardship Circle gathers groups

BY KATE RUSSELL — SPECIAL TO SOUTHGREY.CA — In an inclusive and collaborative approach, the newly forming Beaver Valley Destination Stewardship (BVDS) group has begun hosting Circle meetings to loop in the many volunteer groups and highlight their activities across the Beaver River watershed area.

“The valley is not here to be owned,” said Ariana Crispin in the land acknowledgement read at the opening of the meeting. “It is here to be shared.”

Launching the first circle meeting with a collection of six local stewardship groups, the destination stewardship core team offered space to speak to about three dozen community members at the Kimberley Hall on January 16th. More folks were able to watch online through a live link.

From left to right: Andy McKee of the Beaver River Watershed Initiative, Bruce King of the Kolapore Wilderness Trails group, volunteer Heather Reid.

BVDS has defined its stewardship area as the Beaver River watershed, which extends the care of the group to a much larger area than the valley alone. This also places the area firmly in the larger context of Georgian Bay and the new movement toward a Geopark across the entire bay region.

As part of the sharing circle session, Tamara Crispin spoke about the aspiring UNESCO Geopark under development which will include all of Georgian Bay and its associated watersheds. Currently there are 197 geoparks in 45 countries, so this latest movement to “promote awareness of the key unique aspects of the area” will ultimately support eight distinct regions around the bay.

Each stewardship group was given five minutes in the meeting to introduce their work and seek assistance in areas where local people may want to volunteer services or time and effort.

From left to right: Simona Freiberg of the Sustainability Project, Tamara Crispin.

Charley Baxter of the Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank spoke about the work of this new non-profit formed in early 2023. Its volunteers conduct botanical surveys and house a seed bank collected from wild stock. She provided a review of projects already undertaken to preserve the area’s genetic diversity and seed saving strategies as well as restoration programs. Volunteers are welcome in several action areas. Reach and/or follow the group on their Facebook page.

Meanwhile, Andy McKee of the Beaver River Watershed Initiative offered an update on the good works of volunteers on rehabilitating local streams and rivers. A retired biologist, McKee showed images of the clearing of blockages on the Little Beaver River and the successful installation of a fish culvert there under a railway bridge, which blocked fish from going up the river since 1872.

“There is good habitat there to work with,” said McKee, adding the group, which is a volunteer-driven arm of the Grey Sauble Conservation Authority, has also stabilized banks to allow better spawning grounds in the Upper Beaver River near Feversham. The watershed initiative is always willing to receive more volunteer assistance from people interested in river habitat and preservation. Find them on their Facebook page.

As for the Kolapore Forest, longtime volunteer for the Kolapore Wilderness Trails, Bruce King, spoke about the evolution of natural trails. King was part of the group back in the early 70s, when people just wanted a place to cross-country ski. Over the years, the volunteers went from just making trails to more sustainable practices to prevent erosion.

“We started to realize just how special the Kolapore Uplands are,” he said of the group which celebrated 50 years in 2023. “We are trying to develop sustainable trail management and are looking at our environmental impact in a larger context.”

The trail users and volunteers are focussing on how to deal with garbage, provide washrooms and deal with invasive species. They had their first tree planting session in 2023 and are more focussed on education now, planning a series of theme walks “to get users to appreciate just how special the Kolapore Uplands are.”

The trail group has lots of help with maintenance labour, but could use a hand with behind the scenes volunteers willing to organize people and assess needs for specs and materials for things like bridges. Learn more on the Kolapore Wilderness Trails website.

The Sustainability Project has plenty of activities and knowledge sharing to offer. Simona Freiberg, who coordinates the community garden and compost areas of the group, was happy to provide an outline of the groups activities to support a culture of sustainability.

From local gardens in several communities to participating with other organizations on climate action to regenerate Grey Bruce, the volunteers host complimentary workshops (with a series coming up this year at the Meaford Library) a community fridge and a gleaning program with local orchards to collect fruit that would not otherwise make it to people. Find out more on the Sustainability Project website.

“We are very proud of being interconnected with others,” said Freiberg, suggesting the group could use help with project implementation, communications and funding, offering that “we could be the platform for what others are doing.”

The final presentation of the evening was offered by Kay Schaltz of Climate Action Now. Formed in 2019 in the Town of the Blue Mountains, the group is 17 members strong and is working on multiple projects. With a goal of reducing local carbon footprints, they collaborate with the town and other climate groups and have a listing online.

“It’s very community based,” she said, offering a Families for Climate Action is currently in phase one, where families will track their actions for a year to explore opportunities and challenges to sustainability. The information will then be used to develop a program to help families be more climate friendly.

Another project is being undertaken in collaboration with the Institute of Southern Georgian Bay as a design team looks to create a regional green economy hub. The group is in the feasibility study stage on this idea, but Schaltz suggested the Grey Bruce and Simcoe area is the only place in southern Ontario without a green economy hub, where circular economy and low carbon transmission is encouraged.

As the group is currently reviewing the Town of the Blue Mountains official plan to comment on policy and seek to embed climate action and mitigation into town activities, they asked for assistance in maintaining a sustainable social media presence.

“Everyone has a voice,” said volunteer Heather Reid as she encouraged people to connect with each other at circle meetings, in their own groups and through an online platform the BVDS is now using. Circle meetings will be held monthly on the second Monday at the local hall to keep the community informed, share knowledge and network amongst the many organizations working on conservation efforts within the watershed.

Former municipal councillor and Friends of the Kimberley Forest volunteer Cathy Little offered an outline of the sociocracy governance the group plans to use moving forward to collaborate with other groups without establishing any kind of hierarchy in a distributive leadership model, explained on the Sociocracy for All website.

“Sociocracy is organic, it consists of interconnected circles which seek consent, continuous improvement and evaluation,” she explained, adding the Friends of the Kimberly Forest have already adopted sociocracy and Little is already noticing a difference. She is pursuing certification in the model to share with the community as a way of leading, doing and measuring progress. “Every circle is inspired to keep moving forward.”

BVDS has adopted five main principles for their community work. These are offered to individuals, businesses, other regional organizations and government to follow as guidance to maintain the Beaver Valley long into the future.

“These are the north star or guiding principles of the BVDS,” explained Paul Woolner in his short presentation to the people gathered. He called the principles a “force multiplier” as so many people and organizations work toward a sustainable Beaver Valley. “Any non-governmental agency would implicitly have embraced these already, but having them explicit is helpful.”

Available online for review at the BVDS Hylo platform, the principles are simply to take the whole picture into account, protect distinctive destination character, benefit local communities, choose quality over quantity and collaborate for holistic destination management.

“The principles will align groups together,” Woolner explained, “but not sacrifice the autonomy of each group, which will have its own focus.”

The many groups engaged in the area are invited to collaborate on Hylo, an open-source platform used to connect many groups, allow for easy knowledge sharing and discussion. Volunteer Heather Reid spoke briefly about the program, saying it helps “build trust and relationship to seed effective coordination.”

She will host in-person coaching sessions on the last Monday monthly (with two coming up on January 29th and February 26th) for those who want to learn more about posting events, sharing resources and exploring the many local groups working alongside each other in the Beaver Valley area, which is defined by the Beaver River watershed.

Overall, the first BVDS circle meeting was well received by the community, as lively conversations and sharing of contact details ensued after the formal agenda. In wrapping up the meeting, local catalyst for action Stacie Howe, offered how she is always amazed by the people of this fabulous place and how destination stewardship touches on every area of life.

“It’s everyone and everything. It’s like the mycelium under the ground and all of the small things we do every day,” she said, noting how complex yet simple it is to spontaneously care for your home and larger watershed neighbourhood in collaboration. “It’s almost magic. That’s what happens when we work together. It’s the pace of community that makes things grow.”

The BVDS hosts a growing Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/thebeautifulbeavervalley/) with regular stories and invites everyone to join their Hylo community. The next circle meeting will be in February where more local stewards will speak.

 

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