Stewardship
Overview
Stewardship is an ethic that embodies the responsible planning and management of resources. Environmental stewardship is the responsible use and protection of the natural environment through conservation and sustainable practices to enhance ecosystem resilience and human well-being (Chapin et al, 2011).
There are many academic reviews of the activities behaviours, decisions and technologies carried out by stewards, whether as individuals, groups, or networks of actors (see Bennett, et al., 2018 ) but perhaps, Robin Wall Kimmerer in her book Braiding Sweetgrass explains our responsibilities best:
And so it has come to pass that all over Indian Country there is a movement for revitalization of language and culture growing from the dedicated work of individuals who have the courage to breathe life into ceremonies, gather speakers to reteach the language, plant old seed varieties, restore native landscapes, bring the youth back to the land. The people of the Seventh Fire walk among us. They are using the fire stick of the original teachings to restore health to the people, to help them bloom again.
The Seventh Fire prophecy presents a second vision for the time that is upon us. It tells that all the people of the earth will see that the path ahead is divided. They must make a choice in their path to the future. One of the roads is soft and green with new grass. You could walk barefoot there. The other path is scorched black, hard; the cinders would cut your feet. If the people choose the grassy path, then life will be sustained. But if they chose the cinder path, the damage they have wrought upon the earth will turn against them and bring suffering and death to earth’s people.
We do indeed stand at the crossroads. Scientific evidence tells us we are close to the tipping point of climate change, the end of fossil fuels, the beginning of resource depletion, Ecologists estimate that we would need seven planets to sustain the lifeways we have created. And yet those lifeways, lacking balance, justice, and peace, have not brought us contentment. They have brought us the loss of our relatives in a great wave of extinction. Whether or not we want to admit it, we have a choice ahead, a crossroads. Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Milkweed Editions, 2013, p. 368
Here you will find a hodgepodge of resources:
Working together, we can leave a legacy for future generations – while we enjoy everything Chandler Point offers today.
Recommended Reading
Commanding Hope by Thomas Homer-Dixon
Thomas Homer-Dixon is a Canadian with an important message for the world. Drawing on his decades of work on global security and social cohesion to identify the relentless demographic, environmental, political and economic stresses that will shape humanity’s prospects in the coming decades, Homer-Dixon shows us what is needed to stop and reverse the cascading failure of our natural systems, the crippling of our economies, and the deepening of our social divisions.
This is a sober, but ultimately radically positive, and practical book about how to command hope so that we can – individually and collectively – become active players in seeing and achieving a humane, sustainable future for all.
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Drawing on her life as an indigenous scientist, a mother, and a woman, Kimmerer shows how other living beings—asters and goldenrod, strawberries and squash, salamanders, algae, and sweetgrass—offer us gifts and lessons, even if we’ve forgotten how to hear their voices. In a rich braid of reflections that range from the creation of Turtle Island to the forces that threaten its flourishing today, she circles toward a central argument: that the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgment and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. For only when we can hear the languages of other beings will we be capable of understanding the generosity of the earth, and learn to give our own gifts in return.
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
Are trees social beings? In The Hidden Life of Trees forester and author Peter Wohlleben convincingly makes the case that, yes, the forest is a social network. He draws on groundbreaking scientific discoveries to describe how trees are like human families: tree parents live together with their children, communicate with them, support them as they grow, share nutrients with those who are sick or struggling, and even warn each other of impending dangers. Wohlleben also shares his deep love of woods and forests, explaining the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in his woodland.
Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard
Simard writes – in inspiring, illuminating, and accessible ways – how trees, living side by side for hundreds of years, have evolved, how they perceive one another, learn and adapt their behaviors, recognize neighbors, and remember the past; how they have agency about the future; elicit warnings and mount defenses, compete and cooperate with one another with sophistication, characteristics ascribed to human intelligence, traits that are the essence of civil societies – and at the center of it all, the Mother Trees: the mysterious, powerful forces that connect and sustain the others that surround them.
Have you read a good book that an environmental steward would enjoy? Send an email to webkeeper@chandlerpointcottages.ca
Preserving Wetlands
Wetlands are habitats that form because water has remained in contact with soil for more than 90 days of the year, and has resulted in the growth of hydrophilic (water-loving) plants in organic soil that developed from dead matter decomposing an environment without oxygen, These soils act like a sponge absorbing water limiting overflows and feeding streams and lakes in times of scarcity. The wetland plants filter water, removing nutrients and heavy metals. Together these habitats are important in erosion control, water regulation, water quality and biodiversity.
Wetlands provide habitat for over 70% of Ontario’s species at some stage in their life cycle, including large game animals such as moose, birds and waterfowl, amphibians (frogs and salamanders), reptiles and fishes.
Four main wetland types are found in Ontario: swamps (treed wetlands); marshes (grass, sedge and floating plant wetlands); bogs; and fens (nutrient-poor acidic wetlands with sphagnum moss). Wetlands are also found in various areas from shorelines (riparian wetlands), along rivers (riverine wetlands), in distinct pockets such as marshes or swamps (palustrine wetlands), or in entirely isolated conditions (isolated wetlands).
Additionally, vernal pools (seasonal depressions or pools) exist in forested areas and are known to provide all like benefits, but are noted especially as primary nursery habitats for amphibians (salamanders, frogs). Shoreline wetlands are the essential fish nursery habitats.
The Lake Kashagawigamog basin (in-lake and upland areas) contain less than 10% wetlands. A significant portion of these are riparian wetland systems; mostly marsh habitats dominated by emergent vegetation including reeds and grasses that are essential fish nurseries and contribute to species diversity. Historical accounts also indicate few areas along the eastern shore containing large cedar swamps. However, only small remnants exist as a result of tree-cutting, development and infilling. Vernal pools are visible in the spring in areas amongst the forests of the southern and north-east basins, however no survey of these habitats has been conducted.
None of the wetlands within Lake Kashagawigamog or the immediately surrounding basin have been evaluated according to the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources under the Ontario Wetland Evaluation System [note: as of 2012], however it is likely that the large shoreline/riparian wetlands harbour reptiles and birds at risk so that if an evaluation was to be conducted they may likely prove to be provincially significant warranting attention and protection. However, conservation of all existing wetlands (including cedar swamps and vernal pools) is imperative to maintain species and fishery diversity, to regulate water levels and maintain water quality.
Source: Kashagawigamog Lake Report
Activities
All Season Scavenger Hunts
This is an idea from Sidney Gallimore for children of all ages and the young at heart. Watch this space for more information and lists for scavenger hunts for each of the four seasons of flora and fauna that you can hunt for around our Chandler Point grounds. Take pictures of your finds, mail them to webkeeper@chandlerpointcottages.ca and we will post them on this page.
Contact Us
If you have an idea or contribution to make to this stewardship section, please contact us at webkeeper@chandlerpointcottages.ca or fill out the form. We really want to grow this section!