Georgian Bay Geopark: and that's a wrap on 2024!

News & Events

Georgian Bay Geopark: and that's a wrap on 2024!

December 31, 2024

As the sun sets on 2024,
we hope you will continue to support our ongoing efforts all
for the love of Georgian Bay!

Georgian Bay Sunset, photo credit Kary Firstbrook

Many thanks for all the incredible support we’ve been shown this year, and looking forward to 2025 and our push to bring this big project closer to fruition.

Here are just a few of the milestones we accomplished this year:

*$250,000 in support from FED DEV, the County of Simcoe and Destination Northern Ontario.
*private multi-year leadership donations equalling over $350,000.
*MITACS grant of $30,000 to support LIDAR work on historic water levels to inform future water level changes*created and conducted a survey of over 1000 Bay landowners, businesses and visitors that produced some incredible data to help us inform our decisions going forward.

Next year we plan to:

Increased Community Partnerships: Our goal is 10 new partners in conservation next year. Only working together can we preserve this place for future generations.
Educational programs: to enhance public school education and resident awareness to deepen understanding of the value of the Georgian Bay resulting in desire to work with us to protect this special place.
The Largest Ecoregional Planning project in Canada: An assessment of water, rivers watersheds and Areas of Environmental sensitivity (ESA’s). Working with NASA, Canada Parks, Fisheries and Oceans and more to create the most detailed mapping ever done of the Georgian Bay. A foundation for all environmental work to be shared with conservations groups and municipalities to ensure a resilient and sustainable future for Georgian Bay.
FIrst Nations Outreach: Working with our Director Ray Hatfield from Sagamok to engage First Nations groups to share their legacy of successful land stewardship of land and water. We have a donor with $50,000 commitment to this project.

There’s still time to donate for this year and help make our 2025 goals a reality!
Please visit:
https://smallchangefund.ca/project/georgian-bay-geopark-an-aspiring-unesco-geopark/
or our website:
https://georgianbaygeopark.com/

Warm regards, and all the very best in the New Year,
The Georgian Bay Geopark Team

Discover the DEEP TIME geology of the Georgian Bay Geopark

DEEP TIME’ is the themed expression of how exploring and understanding the past helps create a better future. The unique DEEP TIME story and its eight geological chapters encourages both visitors and residents to know the past, celebrate the present and help create a more resilient future for the Bay and its many communities.

DEEP TIME Zone 1

The Huronian
Ocean

2.7 billion years
Sault Ste Marie to Serpent River

The ancient mineral-rich rocks of the North Channel record the breakup of the planet’s oldest supercontinent – and the birth of the Huronian Ocean.

DEEP TIME Zone 2

Continents
Collide

1.8 billion years
Serpent River to Killarney

The Group of Seven’s white rolling quartzite hills are the stumps of mountains formed when landmasses collided to form supercontinent Nuna

DEEP TIME Zone 3

The Ancient
Himalayas

1.3 billion years
Killarney to Honey Harbour

The waterscape of the 30,000 Islands exposes the deep crustal roots of the immense Grenville Mountains formed when North and South America collided.

DEEP TIME Zone 4

Tropical
Seas

500 million years
Manitoulin Island

Much of North America was covered by warm shallow seas, teeming with early marine life that left fossil-rich limestones on Manitoulin Island.

DEEP TIME Zone 5

The Limestone
Coast

350 million years
Tobermory to Wiarton

Within the last 2 million years, the Bruce/Saugeen peninsula was scoured by Ice Age ice sheets that cut deep valleys into the face of the Niagara Escarpment such as at Owen Sound.

DEEP TIME Zone 6

Ice Ages &
Early Cultures

13,000 years
Collingwood to Wiarton

The raised beaches of glacial Lake Algonquin surround the coast of southern Georgian Bay like staircases and hosted the camps of caribou-hunting Paleo-Indians 11,000 years ago.

DEEP TIME Zone 7

The Meeting
Place

Last 10,000 years
Collingwood to Honey Harbour

The ancient hard rocks of the Canadian Shield meet the softer limestones of the ancient seas creating a stark contrast in landscapes, ecosystems, and a diverse cultural history unique in North America.

DEEP TIME Zone 8

Mindo Gami Great
Spirit Lake

4,000 years to today
Waters of Georgian Bay

In 1615 Samuel de Champlain called Georgian Bay ‘La Mer Douce’ (the sweet water sea). An early map also portrays it as Karegnondi, derived from ‘lake’ in the language of the Petun First Nation.

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