Blue Lakes Ecolabel and Program
Last summer, the Blue Lakes ecolabel and program for Lake Mazinaw was initiated which is delivered by
Watersheds Canada and The Land Between organizations. It’s explained as follows:
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Blue Lakes Ecolabel: The ecolabel is a free, voluntary method of environmental certification that recognizes the adoption of lake stewardship principles or practices. Ecolabels are found around the world. A similar label is the Blue Flag program that certifies beaches and marinas across the globe (www.blueflag.global).
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Blue Lakes Program: The Blue Lakes Program provides a suite of tools, resources, and activities to help participants advance lake health in Southern Ontario, which can be tailored to your lake’s needs. To participate in the program, the following sequence of steps are taken:
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Step 1 - form a Blue Lakes Committee (completed): This step was completed last fall. The Committee is made up of 3 Lake Stewards (past and present), the President of the MPOA, a Senior biologist with the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, and attended by the Superintendent of the Bon Echo Provincial Park. The benefits of working with said organizations and past Lake Stewards are immeasurable and have been instrumental to formulating the Eurasian Milfoil Action Plan and understanding potential sources of funding, detailed in S.2.0 below.
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Step 2 - Goal Setting (in progress): Within the Blue Flag Program Dream Board, the Committee identifies their goals under each performance area 1-8 (pictured on next page.) With the assistance of the Blue Lakes program manager, the committee can work towards promoting the health and integrity of the lake, and report on the success of their efforts at year’s end. Those who reach their goals are awarded the Blue Flag, which they can fly to signify their successful participation in the program. Participants can select new goals each year, if they wish, and earn the right to keep flying their Blue Flag with the continued achievement of their goals.
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Step 3 - Execution (in progress): Throughout the year, the Committee will work towards the goals by completing the actions prescribed on their Dream Board.
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Step 4 - Assessment (not applicable yet): Following Step 2, each year a self assessment Scorecard will then be used to track all accomplishments and successes each year against their goals. This is submitted annually to maintain the ecolabel. Success will be measured by a group's or individual's ability to improve and advance each year.
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