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. Funding support thanks to Peterborough K.M. Hunter Charitable Foundation, and S.M. Blair Family Foundation.
Love Your Lake Blog Posts
The article discusses the decline of Common Loons in Canada, citing data from the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey. It highlights the impacts of several perceived threats to loon productivity, including shoreline development and boats, early spring temperatures, eagles and cormorants, acid rain, mercury, and climate change. The article suggests that a combination of these factors is affecting loon productivity and proposes ways to reverse the trend, such as creating or enhancing shoreline buffers, leaving overhanging vegetation, and being careful boaters.
Love Your Lake Testimonial - John McAllister
A healthy lake starts with healthy shorelines. That starts with, you and we’re here to help. Let us evaluate your shoreline or perform your own self-assessment. Either way, you’ll get helpful tips for improving the quality of your shoreline and your lake.
Love Your Lake Testimonial - Watersheds Canada
A healthy lake starts with healthy shorelines. That starts with, you and we’re here to help. Let us evaluate your shoreline or perform your own self-assessment. Either way, you’ll get helpful tips for improving the quality of your shoreline and your lake.
Love Your Lake – Microgrant impact report
The Love Your Lake microgrant program connects shoreline property owners with information to make smart land management choices. The program has assessed 44,274 properties on 187 lakes since its inception in 2013. The microgrant recipients implemented various projects, including shoreline restoration, native plant giveaways, and contests to promote shoreline health and biodiversity. The projects demonstrated the importance of naturalization and the benefits of community involvement in lake health.
Macroinvertebrate Biomonitoring: Small Creatures, Big Impacts
Biomonitoring involves using living creatures (bioindicators) to determine changes in water quality. It is especially important in rivers in streams, where rapid changes in hydrology make typical water quality measurements less indicative than in still waters. This blog post provides an in-depth overview of macroinvertebrate biomonitoring and provides you some options for you to get involved in this important endeavour yourself.
Maintaining your Septic System
Maintaining a septic system is crucial to prevent costly repairs and environmental damage. Improperly treated wastewater can contaminate groundwater and aquatic ecosystems, posing significant health risks. To ensure a septic system functions properly, it's essential to choose the right type of system for your home, considering factors such as size, household needs, and budget. Learn more in this blog post!
Managing Water Runoff
The water flowing off our properties can carry with it all the nutrients, pesticides, bacteria, and other harmful substances that it picks up along the way. This blog post provides an overview of some of the most impactful changes you can make to your property to manage surface water runoff properly, including using riparian buffers, eavestroughs, alternative lawns, and rain gardens.
Marshes are some of my favourite places - Jennifers Natural Edge testimonial
Jennifer was one of many volunteers who recently helped renaturalize two shoreline properties on the St. Lawrence River. Using native plants in and around a marsh area, the shoreline property will now be more resilient to flooding events and erosion.
Mary Janes Creek Walleye Spawning Bed Restoration - Watersheds Canada
Funding from Cabela’s Canada Outdoor Fund and the LUSH Charity Pot has allowed for the restoration of a historic walleye spawning bed in Mary Jane’s Creek near Westport, Ontario. The project was completed thanks to Watersheds Canada, the Westport Area Outdoors Association, local volunteers, and Tackaberry G & Sons Construction Co Ltd. One hundred and eight tonnes of washed river stone was placed in the creek and along the banks on October 3, 2019. Silt curtains were hung to minimize impacts on the system. The rocks will be critical to walleye spawning because typical spawning sites include gravel shoals or rocky, wave-washed lake shallows.