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.
Seed and Genetic Diversity
Genetic diversity in plants is crucially important; a large enough gene pool is necessary to ensure offspring have the best chance of survival. One way that nurseries, greenhouses, and growers ensure they have the best seed possible to grow their plants is by working with seed collectors. Read this blog post to hear from a seed collector about the topics of seed collection and maintaining genetic diversity!
Shoreland resilience under a changing climate
Climate change is a threat can can cause real devastation to our waterfront properties that we hold so near and dear. It's important to take steps to boost shoreline resilience that will help your property adapt to the changing conditions and prevent damage. This blog post provides an introduction to shoreline resilience, giving you a review of what is is, the main factors that influence it on a shoreline, and how you can boost it for your own waterfront property.
Shoreline Summer
Step out into the field with one of our past shoreline assessors with our Love Your Lake program! Hear about his experience with lake communities in Central-eastern Ontario that are passionate about bringing real change to their beloved waterbody.
Species-Specific Resources From the Invasive Species Centre handout by Watersheds Canada
This document appears to be a collection of fact sheets and posters for various invasive plant species. The species listed include Autumn Olive, Black Locust, and many others. Each fact sheet likely provides information on the species' characteristics, impacts, and management practices. The document also mentions the Invasive Species Centre as a resource for species-specific information.
Supporting Canadas freshwater this Rivers to Oceans Week
This blog post was written in celebration of Rivers to Oceans Week in 2021, an annual celebration that recognizes the connectivity of our watersheds and reminds us that taking care of our water is a shared responsibility. It also shares some of the impacts that our organization was able to create that year through our shoreline restoration projects.
Sustaining our Freshwater - A special World Water Day presentation
Protecting your community’s freshwater and shoreland areas is very important but it can be hard to know where to start. You may have trouble understanding technical documents, or figuring out the “best” first step when you have limited resources. The good news is you don’t have to figure this out alone. Join Watersheds Canada's staff for this interactive session as we share some of our free freshwater stewardship resources and how they can help you take action.
Thank you for a great year!
This blog post was written as a thank you to all the staff, board, volunteers, and financial supporters that supported our work in 2016.
The Benefits of Vegetated Riprap
Riprap is a type of shoreline structure that uses piles of rocks to strengthen the shoreline against erosion. While it is far from the best option for mitigating erosion, removing riprap can be complex and even require permitting. Instead, you can consider planting vegetation in the riprap, which will help build up valuable wildlife habitat. Read this blog post to find out why, how, and what plants you can use for such a project!
The Dynamic Coastlines of the Laurentian Great Lakes – Part 1
Reaching up to hundreds of kilometers wide and hundreds of meters deep, it is perhaps not surprising that the Laurentian Great Lakes share many geological similarities with saltwater oceans. They have high winds, large waves, and even complex current systems that in many ways make them dynamically closer to being inland seas than typical freshwater lakes. This blog will provide an introduction to the physical processes in these vast bodies of water, describe how they manifest physically on their coastlines, and propose how climate change is expected to alter these areas in the future.