ASH-MUSKOKA PROJECT BEGINS SUMMER COLLECTION

BRACEBRIDGE — The ASHMuskoka Project kicked off this week.

On Tuesday, MPP Norman Miller and Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) rep Patricia Arney met with the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed at Brooklands Farm to learn more about an innovative study that’s being done, thanks to a three-year, $733,600 OTF Grow grant awarded last fall.

This investment is being used to launch Canada’s first residential wood ash recycling program in an effort to solve the issue of calcium decline in Muskoka’s lakes and forests.

Left, District Chair John Klinck, MPP Norman Miller, OTF rep Patricia Arney, Watershed friends chair Dr Norman Yan and Muskoka Lakes Township Mayor Phil Harding helped kick off the ASHMuskkoa Project Tuesday.

“I am looking forward to seeing the results of the study being conducted by the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed over the next three years,” said Miller in a Watershed release.

“Not only will people become more informed about the role calcium plays within our local ecosystems, but they will also learn how their actions can help care for our lakes and rivers.”

The ASHMuskoka Project got underway this past winter and will engage Muskoka-area residents over the next three years, helping them get the ashes from their fireplaces and wood stoves to local forests, in particular local sugar bushes. This collaboration involves the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed, universities, scientists, municipal officials, property owners and maple sugar producers.

Funds from the grant are being used to help with salaries for a full-time and two part-time positions, as well as research contracts for grad students.

In addition, it will help with workshops and community meetings, program materials, marketing and promotional materials, and some administrative costs.

The project will examine various methods of collecting wood ash and doing field tests to see how it should be used in different types of forests. The organization is working to recruit over 1000 area residents to take part in this program by the third year, and it will be partnering with the District Municipality of Muskoka to create collection sites at local waste transfer stations.

To learn more about this initiative and how you can be part of preserving Muskoka’s forests, please visit:

www.friendsofthemuskokawatershed.org

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada’s leading granting foundations. OTF awards more than $120 million to some 700 projects last year to build healthy and vibrant communities in Ontario.