Welcome to the Watersheds Canada Resource Library!
Here you will find a comprehensive collection of free educational resources dedicated to helping rural shoreline property owners, families, municipalities, lake groups, and educators protect their lakes and restore natural habitat. Explore guides, best practices, case studies, lesson plans, and tools to become a freshwater protector. All resources are freely shareable so please include them in a newsletter, on social media, or printed for a community booth!
Funding support thanks to Peterborough K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation, and S.M. Blair Family Foundation.
Celebrate World Wetlands Day with these 4 Resilient Shorelines Resources!
Wetlands are important natural features that provide critical habitat for endangered and at-risk species. They also benefit people and our well-being, such as providing clean water for us to drink and swim in. World Wetlands Day is a celebration of these incredible ecosystems that do so much for us and for our wildlife. This blog post helps celebrate this national holiday by sharing 4 resilient shorelines resources that will help bolster your understanding and appreciation of these areas!
Cities In Bloom
Urban areas don't need to be concrete jungles: amidst the structures of human civilization are endless opportunities for nature to thrive, from pollinator gardens to mini forests. These spots of urban flora provide so many benefits to both us and the environment. Read about them in this blog post about urban flora!
Cold-Water Creek Enhancement video
This document outlines planning and implementation guidelines for cold-water creek enhancement projects. It provides information on evaluating success, planning, obtaining necessary permits, choosing a project site, and implementing the project. The toolkit also includes resources and acknowledgments for the project.
Do a Bio-Blitz activity by Watersheds Canada
A BioBlitz is a volunteer-led count of the biological species found in an area. Using identification guides, you can get a snapshot of the species and biodiversity in your area. This activity can be done in 30 minutes or an hour. It involves counting species such as trees, birds, animal tracks, wildflowers, dragonflies, and freshwater invertebrates.
Donor Spotlight - Annabel
As a nonprofit organization, we rely on the generosity of our donors to do the work that we do. This blog post shines a spotlight on Annabel, one of our donors that first heard about our organization when seeking ways to improve the health of her lake, Lake Simcoe. Read on to find out more.
Dragonflies as a Bio-indicator of Water Health
Biomonitoring involves surveying macroinvertebrates (often the larval form of insects) that are sensitive to environmental changes, immobile, and widespread. Such traits allow these creatures to integrate and represent long-term water quality changes more effectively. This blog post centers on one important bio-indicator: dragonflies! It tells of the important roles they play in freshwater ecosystems and in our monitoring activities.
Eastons Creek Brook Trout Enhancement Project - Watersheds Canada
Funding from Cabela’s Canada Outdoor Fund and the LUSH Charity Pot has made it possible for the planting and caging of 73 black willow and silver maple trees along Easton’s Creek, about 45 minutes northwest of Perth. This project addresses declining near-shore fish habitat quality by restoring in-water structures, spawning areas, and shoreline fish habitat. Waddle Creek is one of the few cold water brook trout creeks in the Mississippi Valley Watershed, flowing into Easton’s Creek and then into the Clyde River. By enhancing and restoring the habitat in this cold water creek, we will help restore and improve this brook trout population. The planting and caging on August 12-13, 2019 was a tremendous effort from: the Lanark County Stewardship Council, the Lanark & District Fish & Game Conservation Club, the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, and Watersheds Canada.
Economic Value of Green Infrastructure
Green infrastructure involves building with nature, incorporating green elements into our city landscape for ecological, economic, and social benefit. This powerful trend has gained increasing attention in recent years as a key strategy for achieving sustainable and climate change resilient environments. This blog post provides a thorough overview of green infrastructure, including the benefits it provides, the types of green infrastructure that can exist, case studies of different projects and their impacts, and much more.
Finding Optimism this International Youth Day
Many youth these days struggle with ecoanxiety: that is, the worry of climate change and it's impacts on our society. This inspirational blog post is a reflection from one of our past interns on this topic. It provides a look into his experience with ecoanxiety, and how he strives to maintain his optimism and make changes in his own life towards sustainable living.