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.
Ontario Biodiversity Council welcomes Watersheds Canada
The Ontario Biodiversity Council is a volunteer group made up of conservation organizations, government bodies, academia, indigenous communities, and more. In 2023, the council accepted Watersheds Canada into their ranks. This blog post was written to celebrate this occasion, marking a better means for us to provide policy, education, shoreline naturalization, and fish habitat enhancement programs.
PFAS: The Forever Chemicals
Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large, complex group human-made substances. They are nicknamed 'forever chemicals', as their rate of decay in the environment is so slow - and throughout this long period of decay, they can cause significant damage to our environment. Read this blog post to find out about our exposure to PFAS, about PFAS in Canada’s drinking water, about their environmental consequences, about their impacts on us and the environment, and more.
Pine Lake In-Water Fish Habitat Enhancement - Watersheds Canada
Funding from the LUSH Charity Pot has allowed for the in-water fish habitat enhancement in Pine Lake, about 60 minutes west of Perth in the Township of North Frontenac, Ontario. The project was completed thanks to twelve members of Watersheds Canada and local volunteers. Twelve bundles of brush were built and deployed on Tuesday, October 15, 2019. Underwater woody debris is a healthy component of lake environments. Sunken logs, trees, branches, and root balls provide excellent habitat for wildlife, including fish, turtles, birds, invertebrates, and more. Brush piles can provide fish, such as perch, bass, and walleye, with a food source, as well as shaded areas to rest, spawn, and escape predators.
Planting Your Own Pollinator Garden
Planting a pollinator garden is one of the easiest (and most beautiful!) direct changes that you can make to your property to benefit the environment. Read this blog post to find out the best way to approach such a project and about some of the species you can include in your garden.
Process and Maple Syrup
This reflection from past executive director Barbara King tells of her experience making maple syrup and ties it into our work at Watersheds Canada. She shares what makes our approach so unique and powerful.
Reclaiming our Refuse: The Power of Community Shoreline Cleanups
Shoreline cleanups are an example of a direct, powerful, community-led initiative that has lasting positive impacts for our freshwater. Read this blog post to learn about the powerful benefits of these projects in the way of diverting plastic pollution, and about why it is a greening project offered by the Ottawa Faith Community Capacity Building Program.
Relationships and Water
This personal reflection from former executive director Barbara King shares her views on freshwater protection and what is missing in the modern age. Learn from her stories and ideas about freshwater stewardship, and about how we need to work harder to convert our big ideas into direct action to create real change.
Restoring In-Water Fish Habitat on Mazinaw Lake
Watersheds Canada, with the help of the Mazinaw Property Owners Association, Lanark County Stewardship Council, Conservationists of Frontenac Addington, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada – Recreational Fisheries Conservation Partnerships Program, deployed 24 brush bundles around Mazinaw Lake in August 2018. In 2020 – two years after the initial project – individuals from Watersheds Canada, Ainley Group, and Mazinaw Property Owners Association checked up on some of the brush bundle sites. All bundles visited were inhabited by several species of fish!
Restoring a historic trout spawning bed on Diamond Lake, Ontario
The actual video description is: Diamond Lake, located near Combermere, Ontario, is one of only twelve trout lakes in Renfrew County. Over several months, a community-led effort ensured the historic lake trout spawning bed was restored. The Bass Pro Shops & Cabela’s Outdoor Fund donated critical funds to launch the restoration process of the trout spawning bed. The project was possible because of Diamond Lake property owners and volunteers, the Madawaska Fish and Game Club, Watersheds Canada, Bathurst Burgess Drummond and Elmsley Fire/Rescue Station, the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry (MNDMNRF) Pembroke, and the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) – Zone F. This project has been in the works since 2015 when Kirby Punt, now retired MNDMNRF Biologist, observed the noticeable decline in the trout population and poor quality of the historic spawning bed. Kirby approached Watersheds Canada to see if there was anything that could be done.