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.
The Benefits of Aquatic Vegetation for Wildlife and Freshwater Health
Despite being referred to as 'weeds', aquatic plants are actually incredibly important for freshwater ecosystem health. In fact, aquatic plant communities serve many of the same ecological functions that terrestrial plant communities do and are just as important for the health and proper function of the ecosystem in which they are found. Learn more about the benefits of aquatic plants with this informative blog post!
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 Benthic Zone
The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water. It plays a vital role in the health of aquatic ecosystems. Benthic organisms are very important as they are good indicators of water quality. They act as a source of food for bottom feeding animals and contribute to nutrient cycling and pollutant and sediment removal.
The Brrrrd Club: Cold-weather birding in Muskoka, Haliburton, and Agonquin with Rebecca Krawcyzk
The leafless season is a great time to improve birding skills and learn more about the birds that can be attracted to feeders and found in the branches beyond. Presented through the filter of an amateur birder and community scientist, this webinar focuses on species identification and personalities, tips to help you bring more birds into to your backyard, and tricks to find more bird species in the field throughout the colder months of the year. Birding makes winter so much more enjoyable. Through photos, video, and sound, you will learn how biodiversity in the forest, at the water’s edge, and in your backyard can bring more birds right to you.
The Consequences of Cyanobacteria on Freshwater Ecosystems
Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are having a significant impact on freshwater ecosystems in Canada due to their rapid reproduction and production of toxic compounds. These organisms can cause a range of effects on our native wildlife, from reduced survival and swimming movements to impaired reproduction and population growth. Read more about this issue in this blog post!
The Doug Smith story
Doug Smith was an avid freshwater enthusiast who became our organization's first ever legacy gift donor. Through the funds generously donated in his will, he has personally helped ensure that our habitat restoration, shoreline restoration, and education and outreach work can continue in the years to come. In such a way, his legacy will show in all the freshwater systems that we improve through our programs, with benefits that will echo throughout time. Read his full story in this blog post written by executive director Robert Pye.
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.
The Dynamic Coastlines of the Laurentian Great Lakes – Part 2
With water level fluctuations operating on daily, seasonal, and annual cycles, and with frequent disturbances from high winds, large waves, seiches, and storms, the Laurentian Great Lakes are truly dynamic freshwater systems. In this blog, part 2 of a series on the dynamic coastlines of the Laurentian Great Lakes, we will discuss the mechanisms by which erosion can occur on these coastlines, look into why hardened shoreline structures are an inadequate and potentially ecologically harmful option for managing such issues, and provide an introduction into the best options to implement instead.
The Dynamic Coastlines of the Laurentian Great Lakes – Part 3
Erosion is a common problem on coastal bluffs and beaches on the Great Lakes’ coastlines. Despite the ubiquity of hardened shoreline structures in the region to manage these issues, such options are often not ideal since they are prone to failure and can disturb important natural processes and native species. In this blog post, the third and final part in a series on the Laurentian Great Lakes, we will detail a few strategies for shoreline naturalization on the coastal bluffs and beaches of the dynamic Great Lakes.