Students from Rosseau Lake College took part in a forest sustainability project on Friday, coincidentally Earth Day.
The school joined forces with the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed organization to spread ash through a forest at Camp Big Canoe in Bracebridge.
It’s part of a research project held by the non-for-profit to help heal Muskoka’s forests.
“It’s really awesome as a chemistry teacher to bring my students here and kind of do real, like chemistry and give back to the community,” said Emily Windrem, Rosseau Lake College teacher.
According to Trent University master’s student Shelby Conquer, years of acid rain had flushed out calcium from the soil in lakes and forests in Muskoka and would take centuries to replenish on its own.
“Item [wood ash] helps replenish those nutrients, and it helps bring up the PH of the soils, which helps the soils and the trees and the plant life all recover from that acid deposition that we saw a lot of in the past,” she added.
Conquer said wood ash is 30 per cent calcium by weight, helping speed up recovery.
Residents donate the wood ash from their fireplaces and ovens.
Friends of the Muskoka Watershed have held ash drives since 2019, with more than 1,000 people donating.
“Everybody wants to do something to benefit the environment, but they’re not quite sure how. It’s all very intimidating when you look at the big picture. So if they look at this, they say this is pretty easy to do, ‘I can help with that,'” said Tim Kearney, Friends of Muskoka Watershed Project Director.
The group will continue to monitor the forest weekly and eventually post their findings on-line.