MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Spring 2021

22 SUP at the Grotto, without wanting to develop the skills to make that goal happen. And we’ve commodified our natural wonders without providing the knowledge about what they are and what it is that makes them so extraordinary in the first place. The problem isn’t over-tourism. It’s more that tourism as we know it hasn’t always been a balanced industry. The problem is unbalanced tourism—which includes the unchecked promotion of a destination without fully examining the consequences. Until now, tourism agencies have been running full throttle, promoting destination areas without any check-valve in place. Publications hype up the area with top-ten seasonal hit lists. Instagram and travel blogs also fuel the industry. For example, online tourism publications have promoted (without my knowledge) tours my Peninsula-based company Fathom Paddle Guiding was not conducting at the time. And Flowerpot Island was ranked on a “top ten” list of places to visit early last summer— at a time when Fathom Five National Marine Park (which manages the island) hadn’t yet decided whether or not to open it due to the pandemic. I don’t believe we are loving the Bruce Peninsula to death. The way in which we’re collectively befouling the beaches and wild spaces, leaving more than footprints behind, isn’t what I would call the touch of love. The rampant online promotion of the region isn’t loving it to death—it’s selling it down the river. There are folks who love the Peninsula and contribute to taking care of it. But we can no longer ignore what’s happening. To love the Peninsula is to nurture the wild spaces, not defile them. We need to take better care of this “almost island” and the water that surrounds it. So what can we do? Tourism operators and promoters need to know when to apply the brakes. When informing visitors about natural areas we depend on, all of us need to emphasize a more meaningful connection—what this means and how to achieve it— over Instagram-centric commodification. I think three key considerations should be applied when making future decisions about Bruce Peninsula tourism: 1. If tourism doesn’t increase the quality of life for the locals, it isn’t working. Our local population is greater than its tourism sector. Tourism operators have to ensure their contribution actually enhances life for everyone. 2. As travellers, we have to assume we’re guests in someone else’s home. Respecting the local areas and customs is a sure way to be welcomed back time and time again. 3. We have to protect and care for the environment that attracts people in the first place. The water is already polluted and the trails and beaches need our help. If you come paddling with Fathom Paddle Guiding, you can expect we’ll be picking up trash along the way. This isn’t a solution, but just one small act. We need to reframe our experience of the wild places we love and recognize that we’re nothing without them. We need to take better care of this “almost island” and the water that surrounds it. ABOVE Scott Matheson of Camp Celtic leads a beach cleanup with Ocean Bridge students at Black Creek. BELOW Plastic waste drifts over the Alice G shipwreck, Little Tub Harbour,Tobermory.