Our Watershed, Our Future

Kathryn Lindsay, BRWP Chair presents at TEDx Algonquin Park

Work with Bonnechere River Watershed Project featured in PhD Thesis

Allyson Quinlan has been working with the Bonnechere River Watershed over the past few years on a research project towards her PhD from Carleton University. This research examines how municipalities in the Bonnechere River watershed in rural eastern Ontario, Canada, interact with actors across multiple organizational levels to govern a suite of Ecosystem Services. Allyson received her degree on Friday June 8, 2012. Congratulations Allyson! Click here to see a copy of Allyson’s thesis.


Four Scenarios Depicted in Paintings by Jerome Coulas

Based on Allyson Quinlin's research (above), local painter Jerome Coulas created four paintings that depict four possible scenarios for the Bonnechere River watershed area, depending on choices we make for our future.

Jerome Coulas

What's Ours is Yours

Acrylic

For more information on Jerome Coulas' four paintings, known as the Four Scenarios, click here.

www.coulas.com

Jerome Coulas

The New Rural

Acrylic

www.coulas.com

Jerome Coulas

The Great Divide

Acrylic

www.coulas.com

Jerome Coulas

Entrepreneurial Boom

Acrylic

www.coulas.com

Community Engagement Workshops

In 2009-10, the BRWP hosted a series of community engagement workshops with local residents to share perspectives on what they value most about their rural landscape. Discussion focused on key issues and concerns as well as what participants saw as important drivers of change in the watershed. Social,

economic, and environmental aspects of the watershed were discussed by residents who represented a variety of sectors including: forestry, agriculture, tourism, cottages, and industry.

The information gathered during the workshops was then used to collaboratively draft four future scenarios for the watershed. The Bonnechere 2050 scenarios are creative stories that describe what the future could be like in 2050, under certain conditions, and in response to key decisions and actions taken or not taken.

None of the scenarios attempt to accurately predict the future or to represent an ideal vision. The overall aim of the scenarios is to stimulate discussions among residents of the watershed about the future of the area and to reflect on the policies, events, and processes that will ensure that what is valued today can be sustained into the future.

Follow-up meetings with local artists and youth groups added new perspectives that were incorporated into the scenarios and a series of paintings by local artist Jerome Coulas that represent the four future scenarios were commissioned by the BRWP. These paintings will be unveiled at a community forum and arts exhibition taking place on April 15, 2011. Selected excerpts from the finished paintings are included the Community Engagement Series report and will be replaced in a subsequent version of the report with the complete images of the paintings.