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 Memory of the Mud webinar with Liz Factor, PhD
This is a handout from our webinar, "The Memory of the Mud: Paleolimnology reveals the impact of climate change on modern cyanobacterial bloom occurrence". Paleolimnology is a multidisciplinary science that uses aquatic sediments to track past changes in ecosystems. It can be used to study the past when current monitoring data does not exist. Understanding the past is key to putting environmental issues in context. The best way to control algal blooms is through prevention, which includes minimizing nutrient concentrations by reducing nutrient runoff from a catchment.
The Problem with Plastics blog
Plastic has become central to the way humans package, ship, and consume products. This includes everything from electronics, to medications, to baby toys. Plastic was—and still is in some contexts—considered a miracle product which is waterproof, hard-wearing, and easily malleable. However, we have allowed this material with a myriad of unknown adverse health effects to accumulate in Earth’s oceans. Learn more about how this happens and why it's a problem in this blog post!
The Riparian Zone
Riparian areas are very important and valuable habitat for land-based and water-based wildlife. The shoreline area includes the first 30 metres of land around a lake or river. Native wildlife species like birds, mammals, insects, fish, reptiles, and amphibians depend on shoreline habitat for food, water, shelter, and breeding. The riparian zone supports 70% of land-based wildlife and 90% of aquatic species at some point in their lifetime.
The Riparian Zone handout
The Riparian Zone is an area between the upland zone and the shoreline, providing distinct rich, moist soils for diverse plant communities. A healthy riparian zone contains diverse plant species, aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, and helps to maintain water levels, temperature, and prevent erosion. It also provides habitat for plants and animals, and helps to manage storm water and control floods. Additionally, it provides cooling temperature and shade for terrestrial and aquatic wildlife.
The Science Behind Vegetated Shoreland Buffers
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The Science Behind the Ribbon of Life: Why Vegetated Shoreline Buffers Matter webinar
This document outlines the benefits of vegetated shoreland buffers and discusses why local decision makers, landowners, developers, and landscape professionals should maintain or restore native vegetation to achieve holistic protection for water front properties and ecosystems. Vegetated shoreland buffers, also known as the 'Ribbon of Life', are essential to the health and sustainability of Canada's fresh water. According to numerous scientific studies, the restoration and maintenance of vegetated shoreland buffers is widely promoted by scientists as an effective best-management practice for fresh water health. Unfortunately, the removal of native vegetation from shorelands has become a harmful and growing trend across Canada and is a major factor in the decline of water quality and wildlife communities (Hadley et al., 2013). Supporting healthy fresh water ecosystems will depend on policy makers and property owners making sustainable land-use decisions informed by scientific evidence. Using highly-cited and peer-reviewed scientific studies, this document outlines the benefits of vegetated shoreland buffers, and discusses why local decision makers, landowners, developers, and landscape professionals should maintain or restore native vegetation to achieve holistic protection for water front properties and ecosystems. The document also provides a comprehensive overview of the science behind vegetated shoreland buffers, including their role in protecting water quality, mitigating erosion, and providing habitat for wildlife. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of maintaining or restoring vegetated shoreland buffers to protect water quality, mitigate erosion, and support biodiversity in Canada's fresh water ecosystems.
The Threat of Grass Carp to the Great Lakes webinar with Liana Hryniewicz
This is a handout from our webinar, "The Threat of Grass Carp to the Great Lakes". Grass Carp is an invasive species that poses a significant threat to the Great Lakes Basin. It can consume up to 40% of its body weight in aquatic vegetation daily. If established, it would have severe ecological and socio-economic impacts. The Great Lakes are worth $13.8 billion annually and would experience severe economic impacts if Grass Carp were to establish.
The Way Forward for People and Waterfowl
Shoreline vegetation supports so many species, from fish, to amphibians, to mammals, to insects, and yes - even waterfowl! Waterfowl and other bird species rely on these areas for the nesting, foraging, and sheltering opportunities they provide. Learn more about the benefits of shoreline vegetation and how we can work towards supporting waterfowl species in this blog post!
The importance of community
This blog post celebrated the launch of our Freshwater Stewardship Community in 2022. It discusses the many benefits provided by collaboration and community-building, and even provides some speaker highlights from the first year of this program.