ARICHAT - Ten years after the Bras d'Or Lake received official Biosphere Reserve status from UNESCO, the association overseeing this status is hoping Richmond County's municipal officials and residents can hold a stronger presence on their organization.

Two members of the Bras d'Or Lake Biosphere Reserve Association (BLBRA), board chair Eileen Crosby and St. Peter's-area representative Gordon Kerr, made a presentation to the December meeting of Richmond Municipal Council's Committee of the Whole. The pair's presentation ended with a request that Richmond council consider making one of its elected officials or staff members available to sit on the BLBRA, or designating at least one member-at-large from the general population of the county. 

Noting that the previous council stopped supplying members to the association following the 2016 municipal election, Crosby and Kerr expressed hope that this trend could be reversed with the five new council members that were sworn in this past October following the 2020 municipal elections. However, at the same time, Crosby pointed out that "you all have day jobs" and noted that the association would gladly accept a member of the general public. 

While the Bras d'Or Lake received its official UNESCO designation in 2011, Crosby conceded that there are still misconceptions about the ability of local residents to use the watershed areas of Cape Breton's largest body of water. 

"We don't have any kind of authority," Crosby said of the BLBRA.

"We're not a protected area, we're not a bureaucratic level, we're not a government, we're not a national park. We are really a body that helps to facilitate...learning how to live sustainably within nature, so we don't ruin where we are living. We're keeping a good, clean house, you might say - not necessarily spotless, but a good, clean house."