Grenville Volunteer Award winners: Llewellyn Matthews and Jonathan Edwards

At the heart of the Georgian Bay Land Trust’s volunteer program are our property stewards, who together help us look after the 88 properties under our care. This year, we’re delighted to recognize two exceptional stewards with the Grenville Volunteer Award.

Llewellyn Matthews and Jonathan Edwards are both volunteer stewards in the Wah Wah Taysee community, and have both taken lead roles in the stewardship of American Camp Island. As our busiest public-access property, this can be a demanding job, with new challenges often requiring a quick response.

For our small staff team, having dependable and willing volunteers like Jonathan and Llewellyn to help with stewardship tasks makes an enormous difference – likely more than they know. We are so grateful to both of them and to all the Land Trust’s volunteer stewards for the work they do to care for these amazing natural places.

Llewellyn Matthews

Llewellyn has served as our Lead Steward at American Camp for the past nine years, and has always been a reliable presence on the ground. He has provided valuable local support to our Conservation Interns, and is very helpful in coordinating stewardship tasks and responding to last-minute needs.

Llewellyn’s love of Georgian Bay comes from a long family history here: he is a fourth generation Georgian Bayer, who spent childhood summers at the Tadenac Club and Go Home Bay and after 1972 a family cottage in Wah Wah Taysee.

Llewellyn’s passion for nature and the outdoors led him to study Wildlife Biology followed by an environmental management career. His senior year wildlife project was a proposal to reintroduce Canada Geese to the Tadenac area in the days when the only time you saw geese was migrating overhead in the fall!

“One of the primary attractions of Georgian Bay is the ability to connect with nature in semi-wilderness. Wah Wah Taysee is blessed in this regard, as a lesser developed area of the southern Bay, however the development pressure is relentless. The numerous Georgian Bay Land Trust properties in the area are an essential part of preserving what we have. Volunteering as a steward is my way to participate in this effort.

One of the main benefits of being a steward is the opportunity to regularly visit the properties and meet interesting people. On the public access properties, I enjoy sharing what the Land Trust accomplishes with other visitors. As a steward, it is a privilege to visit the restricted properties, see undisturbed habitat and participate in the monitoring effort.

It is my fondest hope that future generations of my family will have wild spaces to treasure in Georgian Bay.”

— Llewellyn Matthews

Jonathan Edwards

If there’s one thing that characterizes Jonathan Edwards’ volunteer work, it’s enthusiasm. Over the past few years, he has quickly become one of our most dependable and willing helpers, always stepping up when needed and asking what more he can do.

On top of his frequent stewardship visits to American Camp, last summer Jonathan single-handedly took on the task of installing new property signage throughout the Wah Wah Taysee and Go Home Bay communities – a huge job! This summer, he’s already volunteered himself to help transport a visiting researcher around the islands.

Also a long-term cottager in Wah Wah Taysee, Jonathan is motivated by a love for Georgian Bay and a belief in our responsibility to care for the lands we enjoy.

“Did you know there is a species of carnivorous plants on American Camp? One day while out stewarding the island a visitor pointed out Sundews to me. I have walked past that particular patch of vegetation for five decades, and not until then did I actually stop, bend down, and really look. Yes, that does look like a carnivorous plant. Does it eat mosquitoes? 

Volunteering as a Georgian Bay Land Trust steward allows me to see the bay afresh with every new visitor I meet. I enjoy hearing their stories and learning what captivates them. At the same time I get to expound on the conservation needs to protect the world’s largest freshwater archipelago, and how the Land Trust (and other organizations) are working to keep it wild for generations to come.   

You will find me out and about in a green kayak. Flag me down! There is not much better than hanging around talking about this amazing place.”

—Jonathan Edwards

Thank you Jonathan and Llewellyn for all the ways you’ve helped us look after Georgian Bay!