As early as 1929 the OSA was involved with conservation and preservation of the land by negotiating with the government to introduce a special clause into all contracts with companies developing water power or lumbering in Ontario. The clause would give the government "power to restrict any unnecessary destruction of natural beauty." They also requested special attention for "the preservation of trees and the flow of water on the large waterfalls. ”In 1931 to 1933, A.Y. Jackson, F.H. Brigson and Arthur Lismer along with several determined environmentalists, began a campaign to halt the Spanish River Lumber Co. from reaping the benefits of their timber rights along the shore of Whiterock Lake. The 1933 agreement was renewed in 1965-66.In 1961 Whiterock Lake was renamed O.S.A. Lake in honour of the efforts of the OSA to save the Killarney Lakes region from timbering to the shoreline. (According to online tourist information, it was Trout Lake and renamed in 1933.)OSA officers helped create the Killarney Recreation Reserve Act which halted land sale of 4,000 square miles of Great Lake shoreline. (Great Mountain Lake may be the lake referred to here.)1964 Killarney Recreational Reserve Act was amended, and North Georgian Bay Recreational Reserve was developed. In 1965 the OSA renewed the campaign to save Killarney Lakes area from commercial exploitation with Eric Aldwinckle acting as organizer and spokesman. By 1971, partially as a result of OSA campaigning, Killarney Lakes area was designated as Ontario's 2nd "primitive" provincial park.

*Information from the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art, Ontario Society of Arts Timeline ccca.ca