Our Story 2024
2024 was an incremental year of convening community in stewardship circles, connecting to our roots and aligned groups, building relationships, and collaborating with interested and Indigenous people to bring destination stewardship to bear on our collective love of the land we call home.
We enhanced our capacity and gathered skills and perspectives to share with our community of care.
As a co-learning cluster, we succeeded at our ABCD’s in asset-based community-led development through ACTivating with Gros Morne Institute of Sustainable Tourism (GMIST).
We brought sociocratic rounds to our outreach with Tourism Strategy Project Partners to explore how stewardship might inform regional strategies.
We collaborated with rural heritage volunteers and invited Indigenous people with a two-eyed lens to walk and talk with the land and with us, through our Workshops Outdoors on Destination Stewardship (WOODS) project, sponsored by Community Foundation Grey Bruce through Osprey Museum.
Together with watershed neighbours and organizations, we began a journey of understanding how we can value and care for this great place.
We welcome you to join us on this continuing adventure so that our vital relationships with people, place, and planet continue to enhance our perspectives, possibilities, and personal responsibility.
Illustration created from community appreciative interview day hosted with GMIST in Rocklyn, Feb 2024
Setting our Community Table
We’re creating a community of care for the Beaver Valley watershed through stewardship circles, special events, knowledge sharing and connecting non-profit groups to offer a voice for the natural environment.
Our core team of volunteers endeavors to bring the host community of the Beaver Valley Watershed together under a set of Guiding Principles, so that through our relationships we share responsibility for the holistic care of our home.
[GMIST in-community visit for ACTivate program. Lunch at Euphrasia Memorial Hall provided by Rocklyn Agricultural Society]
[BVDS (B) gives a watershed familiarization tour to GMIST (G) at Bowering Lodge. L-R Tamara Crispin (B), Ariana Crispin-Frei (B), Rob Leverty (B), Gord Cunningham (G), Jonathan Foster (G), Nora Fever (G), Stacie Howe (B), and Heather Reid (B)]
[Community Connector Stacie Howe welcomes community to an ACTivate day to learn Asset-Based Community-Led Development with GMIST in Rocklyn]
Our impact:
355 event attendees, 3633 online engagements, and 40+ community connections
Highlights:
Five core volunteers in our Community Cluster co-learned Asset-Based Community-Led Development with Gros Morne Institute of Sustainable Tourism’s ACTivate program with St.FX
Five Stewardship Circles: January and February focused on networking groups, March showcased the Georgian Bay Geopark, April was about road safety. Year end offering by Aki Guardians
Four WOODS sessions: Indigenous Aki Guardians and Grey Bruce Native Seed Bank partnered with Osprey Museum volunteers and funded by a Community Foundation Grey Bruce grant
