2020 President's Report

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting emergency measures, our AGM is being held electronically. Normally, each year we feature a community of the Lake of Bays area and present heritage plaques to owners of heritage buildings. Gloria Woodside has the research underway for the Wahawin community on Glenmount Road. This will be presented at our 2021 AGM instead of this year.

The Foundation continues to make progress:

• memberships stand at 832 with 319 couple and 194 single members.
• 6 new Life Members, one of whom joined at Legacy status of $10,000
• 47% of our members are Permanent members (These are the members who have donated at least $1,000, and often much more, in any one year)
• volunteer activity dropped by 15% due to Covid-19

Our members were kept informed with 12 newsletters or notices plus many Facebook posts and Tweets.

Our financial position is strong and will be presented today by our Treasurer, Mike Kaptein.

Today I would like to acknowledge our newest board member Rick Stronks. He is the Chief Park Naturalist at Algonquin Park and brings to us immense skills in areas that the Foundation cares for.

Since the founding in 1985, the Foundation’s membership fee has remained at $25. At a strategic planning session and based on the current benefits of being a member, the board decided to increase the annual membership fee to $40 per person starting in September. 

A big project this year is the rebuild of the Foundation’s website which is outdated and no longer supported. It has been a timely project for the quiet period that started in March. The new site is targeted to launch in August.

Despite most of the spring and summer activities being cancelled for 2020, a number of fall and winter events were well attended: two mushroom walks, a volunteer seedling planting at Marsh’s Falls and a winter snowshoeing event. The Dr Cathy Charles Bird Count, on May 9, was repositioned as a stay-at-home count with 12 parties reporting their count for a total of 51 species. A number of people submitted recordings and pictures of birds which were then identified by Rick Stronks. The stay-at-home butterfly count on July 11th was less successful due to heavy rains.

At the Foundation’s AGM last year, Mark Mclean showed a number of heritage pictures of beautiful wooden boats that were part of the Cameron Peck collection, housed in Baysville. Mark has continued with the custodial duties of over 1400 pictures and has chosen 14 pictures that can be reproduced in a platinum-palladium process and are available for sale. Several of these prints were featured at a gallery in Toronto in February and the total collection can be viewed on the new website. 

Two Harriet T. Weaver bursaries were awarded to graduating students from Huntsville High School and Bracebridge and Muskoka Lakes Secondary School. Each of these students is starting university in subjects related to the Foundation’s work. Thanks to many supportive donors, the value of the endowed capital in the Harriet T. Weaver Fund continues to grow with bursaries now at $850 compared to the first year’s awards of $500 in 2014. 

The Foundation’s mission of engaging the community in the preservation of our heritage continues. Penny Thomas leads the Education and Outreach team and has successfully mapped walking trails on the Marsh’s Falls property. Materials and signage for self-guided walks are underway. A large poster describing the Marsh’s Falls property is now in the Education Centre as well as in the Marine Museum and Navigation Society building in Dorset. 

In September, the Foundation received a bequest from the Estate of Chris Karn which was subsequently matched and exceeded by Chris Karn’s family and friends. These donations are greatly appreciated and are to be used for information and displays in our Education Centre.

The Foundation continues to work closely with the Lake of Bays Association (LOBA) to defend Langmaid’s Island from being developed into 36 waterfront lots by Langmaids Island Corp (LIC). The island is a Muskoka Heritage Area and is clearly identified in the Township of Lake of Bays Official Plan as a protected area. The island is in the Township of Lake of Bays and the two landing areas for parking 120 cars, on South Portage Road, are in the Town of Huntsville. The proposal was reviewed by the municipal planners who recommended the application be declined. However, the developers filed an appeal based on the municipalities’ lack of response within a mandated time period. The appeal is set for February 2021 and both the Foundation and LOBA have Party status in the appeal process. LIC has proposed mediation which is under consideration by LPAT. We will keep members informed of progress on this important project.



Thank you to our many members, donors and volunteers who enable the Foundation to further the mission of engaging the community in the protection of natural and community heritage for the enjoyment of future generations.