Message from the Chair This has been a good year for FSC. One of several in a row. We have landowners interested in joining the Council sitting in on trial meetings and it appears that we will have strong representation from Plevna to Wolf Island (the length of the County that we serve) in a strengthened Council. That enhanced Council will also include greatly strengthened representation of the youthful demographic. A strong diversity of interest will be represented from forestry, to farming, to science, to tourist operators, to cottagers and lake associations. We will move forward with strength. This year we have delivered help in stewardship, both as projects on the ground and as information sessions, workshops and public talks, from Northbrook to Wolf Island. One of those talks drew over 200 interested land users. Thanks to support from the Frontenac Community Futures Development Corporation, we were able provide some new stewardship services. With much help from one of our interns, we assisted lake associations with workshops on lake management planning, consultations with individual associations, and preparation of aids to beginning ‘lake stewards’. Our other intern established a program on the ground to prevent the loss of the genetic stock of our butternut trees, a species endangered by a canker that could otherwise mean extinction of the genotype. Thanks to this intern we also were able to complete an application for incorporation and charitable status for a Foundation which can enhance our fund-raising capabilities significantly. The only down-side this year was the loss of our coordinator, Bret Colman for at least a year. He has been the source of the rejuvenation of this Council but meantime we will have a new face and we have an enhanced Council waiting to support our new coordinator. Bret will join the Council as a sitting member ensuring both continuity and his continued input of ideas and knowledge. Gray Merriam | 
