Positive Impact Spotlight: Muskoka Discovery Centre
Muskoka Discovery Centre
Museums help shape how we see and interact with our communities and the world. This is powerful stuff! The Muskoka Discovery Centre in Gravenhurst aims to provide visitors with an immersive experience that inspires curiosity and feeds the imagination of guests of all ages. They do all of this through the lens of making a positive impact on their community. For their efforts, they were awarded with a Silver designation as part of the Green Step Sustainable Tourism certification.
Interactive and Imaginative
No matter where you turn at the Muskoka Discovery Centre, the thread of taking care of this place will weave its’ way into your experience through the galleries. Learn about sustainability’s roots in Indigenous ways of knowing and let your mind wander to past versions of the physical landscapes of Muskoka and how development has shaped our interactions with the land. Then, take a deep dive into learning more about the watershed functions and the protection of water. From storytelling to scientific knowledge, you’ll learn about how Muskoka’s rich heritage and environment have built the foundation of our economy.
Making it Personal
Certainly a museum aims to educate, but at the Muskoka Discovery Centre, the personal connection is also a goal. The Misko-Aki exhibit ends with a chance to write a reflection of the visitor’s role in protecting this place. Respondents place answers on a display board for all to see.
Collaborations with organizations like the Friends of the Muskoka Watershed highlight citizen science programs like Ash Muskoka which takes wood ask from residential fireplaces and spreads it on the forest floor to restore much needed calcium level in the ecosystem.
These types of interaction are thought to be one of the best ways to translate knowledge learned inside to meaningful action in the world. In the tourism sector, it’s called transformational tourism and it is one way tourism operators can add value for their guests.
Love Muskoka Sustain Muskoka
A work in progress, this exhibit will be one of the first displays you see as you enter the museum over the next year. A project with multiple community partners and subject matter experts, the Love Muskoka Sustain Muskoka is a way to talk about sustainability and climate change issues in more specific and call-to-action ways. While you wait for the physical displays, the Discovery Centre has video recordings of their recent virtual sustainability speaker series posted on their website.
And More…
While education is the biggest focus of the sustainable tourism certification for the Muskoka Discovery Centre, they are also making strides to reduce their own carbon footprint, implement incentives for using local products, and backing it all up with policies that confirm their commitment to the people, planet and profit tenants of sustainability.
The Positive Impact Spotlight series showcases the efforts to develop sustainable tourism across the great Canadian wilderness just north of Toronto. Got an example of sustainable tourism in action in these parts? Email [email protected] with details.