The board administers services in the geographic townships of Blair, East Mills and Wilson and parts of the geographic townships of Hardy, McConkey and Pringle, including the communities of Arnstein, Bear Valley, Ess Narrows Landing, Fleming's Landing, Golden Valley, Loring, Port Loring and Spring Creek. The ghost town of Lost Channel is also located within the board's jurisdictional area.
Loring was named in 1884 by Member of Parliament William Edward O'Brien after his wife's maiden name, and the nearby community of Port Loring was named in 1922 for its position on the shore of Wauquimakog Lake in the Pickerel River system. Historically, Port Loring was an important logging centre. Currently, the community is known for its tourism industry, which is focused primarily on camping, deer hunting, fishing and snowmobiling. Along with the nearby community of Restoule, the area promotes itself as the Loring-Restoule tourist area.
Golden Valley was named in 1878 by pioneer settler and Huron County native Barnard Fagan. He called to friends from a hilltop that he was seeing the 'golden valley' as he observed it below, ablaze with the golden colours of autumn. The post office was opened ten years later.[5]
Hardy Township was named in 1887 for Arthur Sturgis Hardy (1837–1901), provincial secretary, 1877–89, commissioner of crown lands, 1889–96, and Premier of Ontario, 1896-9.[6]
Loring was first known in the mid-1870s as McConkey Corners after McConkey Township. It was renamed in 1884 by William Edward O'Brien (1831–1914), Conservative member for Muskoka in the House of Commons, 1882–96, for his wife, Elizabeth (Loring) Harris, whom he had married in 1864. She was the daughter of Colonel Robert Roberts Loring (1789-1848),[7] a descendant of United Empire LoyalistJoshua Loring.[8] She was the widow of J.F. Harris of London, Ont.[9] Port Loring was named so in 1922.
Wilson Township was named in 1877 for Sir Adam Wilson (1814–91), a Reform politician who became chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas, 1878–84, and of the Court of Queen's Bench, 1884-7.[11]