White Squall | Franklin Island Georgian Bay Ontario Project

Overview of the Franklin Island Project:

Franklin Island is a conservation reserve with increased visitation over the last few years from many different user groups. This is in part due to its close proximity to the mainland enabling easy access. When Killbear Provincial Park becomes full, campers are sometimes directed to areas like Franklin as an alternative. The island is a very popular picnic destination. Weekend paddlers, motor-boaters and sailors also cherish it for the stunning scenery, world-class swimming and quiet solitude. We have also noticed that when the alcohol ban is in place on the May 24 weekend, there is increased use by young people for parties. The Franklin Isle. area is renowned as a world-class sea kayak, sailing and motor-boating destination. These collective uses add up to considerable environmental stress - unless we all take extra care.

Thunder Boxes and Campsite Cleanliness

For the past several years White Squall Paddling Centre has joined with the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Association ( GLSKA) to establish wilderness “thunder boxes” in popular campsites around the perimeter of Franklin. GLSKA took the initiative as a public service to build these boxes, and White Squall has been instrumental in installing, monitoring and maintaining them throughout the summer season. These latrine boxes have been used heavily each season and there is a noticeable improvement in overall campsite cleanliness where a “thunder box” is located. It doesn’t take much to mess up a site simply because some campers are unsure about how to properly deal with human waste in a wilderness setting. If they have a box provided-they not only use it, but tend to keep the rest of the site much cleaner as well.

What is Franklin Island?:

Franklin Island is a 2261 acre Ontario Provincial Reserve Park - part of the Great Lakes Heritage Coast Line & the Georgian Bay International UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The island has unique beauty, natural deep water harbours, excellent camping and ease of access from mainland making it an extremely popular boaters (sail, motor, kayak & canoe) destination.

How You Can Get Involved and Help Out :

First off, we all need to camp softly and take out our garbage. It takes about $250./trip or $3000./season to keep sending staff out to clean, and we hope you’ll join us in helping. If you can’t afford a monetary donation - what about coming and helping us clean up? or go out on your own and choose a site to clean? Every little bit helps. We’re hoping that private citizens, businesses, Carling Twp., resorts and cottager associations will all see the value in helping. Please contact Tim Dyer from White Squall at (705) 342-5324 or email him at info@whitesquall.com.

Several different groups and individuals have joined to help keep Franklin pristine. Here are some of them:

GLSKA- For the past several years in September, GLSKA has arranged a Franklin Isle Cleanup weekend. Members continue to help with campsite maintenance.

Snug Harbour Marina - Owner Terry Gilbert has offered free ramp use for cleanup operations. He has also kept sites clean and picked up big garbage items for the cleanup effort. Terry makes a point of educating campers on proper campsite treatment and has encouraged responsible stewardship.

White Squall Paddling Centre - has been sending out staff regularly throughout the summer season to visit campsites, clean up and relocated thunderboxes. This is a costly effort-but it is well worth it as staff have received much encouragement from Franklin users - everyone seems to be wanting to do the right thing.

West Carling Association-is a local cottagers group with a deep connection to Franklin Isle. They have agreed to fund the construction of new thunderboxes to assist in the effort. Members also individually help out with cleaning and monitoring sites.

East Georgian Bay Stewardship Council- a new group funded by MNR with a mandate to co-ordinate community efforts and partners in environmental projects in east Georgian Bay.

Wawanaisa Resort-Peter and Dorte Wiltmann have taken on the task of monitoring and cleaning up campsites in the northeast corner of Franklin as part of the effort.

Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve Committee - This group has shown a keen interest in being involved

Bruce Davidson - a local cottager, Bruce has shown a keen interest in helping keep Franklin clean, and has been instrumental in encouraging other cottagers to get on board.

Peter Chapin - a local cottager, has kindly made a donation to help pay the Squall staff wages

Brenda Royce - a local cottager, has kindly made a donation to help pay the Squall staff wages

At present, GLSKA is seeing if some collaborative effort can be acconplished whereby they would seek funding to hire two summer students as stewards for not only Franklin, but other areas of Georgian Bay. White Squall has supported this initiative by offering to provide necessary gear and boats for this, along with offering to help in the hiring, training and supervision of these summer students. None of this is confirmed - and depends on accessing grant(s). If it goes ahead, we’ll still need to get more community partners on board as the work required is still daunting. But every little bit helps,and we hope to see both the MNR and the local township become active and take a leadership role. Clearly local residents see this as worthwhile. We can all only do what we can on a year to year basis, and hope that through these efforts - a longterm strategy for Franklin will evolve.

The Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council has announced it anticipates to continue the Custodial Crown Land (Conservation Reserve) program in 2008. They look forward to working in cooperation with local groups such as White Squall and GLSKA among others. Project initiatives include

Franklin Island Project Update - July 1, 2006

The Great Lakes Sea Kayak Association (GLSKA) and White Squall Paddling Centre are pleased to announce that a joint endeavour between GLSKA and White Squall is confirmed for this summer. GLSKA, through their Georgian Bay Committee, has sponsored the wages for one summer student to monitor and cleanup wilderness campsites on crown islands in the region of Franklin Island . In light of this contribution, White Squall has offered to train, supervise and accompany this student by sending one of their their own staff for 30 hours a week through July and August. This represents a significant combined committment on behalf of both organizations of over $6000. and reflects the importance kayakers and canoeists place on maintaining the integrity of near wilderness islands such as Franklin and surrounding islands.

For 30 hours a week throughout the summer, there will be two staff going out to Franklin and surrounding Crown Islands to clean up campsites, locate wilderness outhouses and report any environmental damage to the East Georgian Bay Stewardship Council and appropriate authorities. This effort is in support of other monitoring and cleanup efforts of the West Carling Association and the Stewardship Council. Franklin is a popular destination for a wide variety of summer visitors. With an on-going cleanup programme and increased public awareness, the sincere hope is it will remain pristine for generations to come.

Both GLSKA and White Squall wish to stress to the public that in order to keep islands such as Franklin available in its natural state, the time has come to join in a voluntary fire ban. Though a campfire is a part of the Canadian fabric, Franklin is at a point where it just can't sustain this any longer. Most available fuelwood has been burned off and now visitors are cutting live trees, simply to feed an evening fire. This, coupled with the fragility of shallow soil cover leaves the islands vulnerable to serious damage. Several other community organizations have joined in supporting this voluntary ban on campfires.

It is vital that we all leave no trace on these wilderness islands. Georgian Bay and her islands are a priceless freshwater treasure right in our backyard......and deserves our best community effort.

For more information or if you would like to help out please contact Tim Dyer at 705-342-5324 or email.

On Sunday May 28 a meeting was held in Carling Township with a large
number of interested groups and private citizens about the future of
Franklin Island and the surrounding crown islands. This area is a
favourite with club members and is one of the prettiest spots on the
Bay. The meeting was called by the West Carling Association, a
ratepayers group whose members live nearby. In attendance were
representatives of the following groups:

East Georgian Bay Stewardship Council
West Carling Association
Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve
Carling Township Council
Great Lakes Sea Kayak Assoc. ( Tim Dyer)
Georgian Bay Land Trust
White Squall
Wawainaisa Resort
other concerned private citizens

As you can see, there was a lot of interest, and to my delight, everyone
was very positive and we all had the best intentions. I was able to describe
to the group the longterm support GLSKA(Great Lakes Sea Kayak Assoc.)
has provided through the annual cleanup weekend and the Georgian Bay
Committee's proactive stance in constructing and installing thunderboxes
throughout the area. If Carling Council or it's residents ever had any
misconceptions about the integrity or environmental conscience of kayakers,
I can tell you that they have a completely different viewpoint now. The entire
group congratulated GLSKA (and White Squall) for their longterm and
committed work in keeping Franklin wild for generations to come.

The exciting thing is that the Stewardship Council is a new group
funded by MNR but mandated to co-ordinate community efforts and
partners in environmental projects. They are willing to be the lead
agency in developing good signage for the islands, co-ordinating a
monitoring programme, and supporting the campsite cleanup efforts of
GLSKA and White Squall. This is a good thing as though they don't have
much of a budget, there is at least someone on a payroll with access to
computers, work boat and MNR staff to help us.. They only have a one
year mandate at this point, but so far so good!!!

Fires are the number one reason that campsites get wrecked as
inexperienced campers go looking for wood and chop down trees. Another
very pivotal moment in the meeting was when the entire gathering voted
to support a voluntary ban on campfires for Franklin and adjacent crown
islands. This is a very rare occurence and shows how committed the
group is to ensuring the longterm integrity of the island. This will
be reinforced with professionally-made signs that will be erected by
the Stewardship Council later this summer.

White Squall has committed to GLSKA to provide one staff on a rotating
basis to train, work with and supervise another summer student funded
by GLSKA so that there will be two stewards out in the islands for 8-10
weeks this summer. Part of the mandate will be to check, clean and
install thunderboxes out on the Minks and McCoys. This is exciting
stuff and we are looking forward to working with GLSKA.

GLSKA is to be congratulated for being so environmentally proactive,
and because of your efforts, other people are now recognizing that positive
things can happen by working together. You are leading the way and
we're happy to be working with you!

The Georgian Bay Littoral Biosphere Reserve - Visit their Homepage

The Georgian Bay Littoral biosphere reserve, designated by UNESCO in 2004, stretches 200km from the Severn River to the French River delta, covering an extensive shoreline along the many islands, deep coves, fjords, and river mouths.

The complex topography of the eastern coast of Georgian Bay results in a mix of open waters, sheltered bays, coastal wetlands, exposed bedrock shores, sandy and cobble beaches and island forests.The shallow soils make the islands sensitive to human recreation impacts and the risk of fire.

The region supports a high level of biodiversity with over 100 species of animals and plants considered to be species at risk in Canada or Ontario.These include birds such as the red-shouldered hawk, prairie warbler, and least bittern, and reptiles such as the eastern fox snake and eastern massasauga rattlesnake.

Sea kayakers recognize the thirty thousand islands as some of the best paddling in the world. We’re pretty lucky to have this as our backyard – and look forward to sharing it with you.

The late Stan Rogers wrote a powerful song called "White Squall" some years ago. It is a beautiful, sweet water ballad with a lingering reminder: