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.
Coming together to protect the health of Ontarios St. Lawrence River
A three-year, collaborative project between Watersheds Canada, Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, Raisin Region Conservation Authority, River Institute, and Great River Network restored shoreline health in the St. Lawrence River Area of Concern from 2021 to 2024. This project supported important shoreline restoration in the St. Lawrence River AOC. This videos introduces some of these partners and how they became involved with this project.
Community Based Water Monitoring: Getting Started With Water Rangers webinar with Juno Garrah
This is a handout from our webinar, "Community Based Water Monitoring: Getting Started With Water Rangers". Canada has 20% of the world's freshwater resources, but 60% of its subwatersheds are data deficient. This lack of information makes it difficult to steward these waters. The Freshwater Stewardship Community provides a platform for community monitoring and action. Water Rangers offers affordable test kits and an open data platform to support this effort.
Community Climate Data Tracking in PEI webinar with Dr. Xander Wang and Katie Sonier
This is a handout from our webinar, "Community Climate Data Tracking in Prince Edward Island". Climate Trackers is a citizen-science initiative that collects local climate data from the community to better understand the impacts of climate change in Prince Edward Island. The initiative involves registering as a Climate Tracker, receiving a Climate Diary and Nature Guide, and using an online web application to track observations. The data collected will inform local climate science and municipal government climate change adaptation projects. The initiative is a collaborative effort between the UPEI School of Climate Change and Adaptation and the community.
Community Initiatives Handout
This document presents various community initiatives and watershed management projects from different lake associations and organizations in Ontario, Canada. The projects include shoreline protection, invasive species management, water quality monitoring, and community outreach programs. The document highlights the challenges and successes of these projects and provides insights into the importance of community engagement and collaboration in watershed management. The projects showcased in this document demonstrate the efforts of local communities to protect and preserve their lakes and watersheds, and the need for continued support and funding to sustain these initiatives.
Community Monitoring: Taking action with Water Rangers handout by Watersheds Canada and Water Rangers
The workshop is designed to test the water quality in the Tay River. Participants will use Water Ranger's tiny test kits to collect data. The kits contain various tools, including a thermometer, test strips, and a field guide. The workshop aims to educate participants about community science and the importance of water quality testing.
Connected Waters webinar with Lina Azeez
This is a handout from our webinar, "Connected Waters: Restoring connectivity and function to salmon habitat impacted by flood infrastructure". The document discusses the importance of nature-based solutions in protecting and restoring terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. It highlights the issue of outdated flood infrastructure blocking 1,500 kilometres of salmon habitat in the lower Fraser floodplain. The 'Connected Waters' campaign aims to reconnect and restore blocked waterways by upgrading to fish-friendly flood infrastructure. Effective governance requires collaboration between stakeholders and rights holders, such as Indigenous communities, conservation organizations, and farmers.
Conserving the Buzz webinar by Cole Blaire
This is a handout from our webinar, "Conserving the Buzz: A multifacitated approach to conserving Canada’s bumble bees". Bumble bees are important pollinators that support the success of terrestrial ecosystems globally. Unfortunately, North America’s native bumble bees are in decline, with 26% of species assessed as ‘vulnerable’, ‘endangered’, or ‘critically endangered’. Conservation involves breeding at-risk species and improving breeding conditions to ensure the survival of mated queens. Active participation from local communities helps to protect bumble bees through education, outreach, and engagement initiatives.
Continuing Momentum from Ontario's Municipal Elections: One Year Later
There was a particular focus on climate change and freshwater health in Ontario's 2022 election. This blog post, written a year after the fact, looks back at the priorities voters saw going into municipal election time and provides important resources and programs that can be used to impact your elected officials' decisions around these issues. It also shares the results of a question posed to our supporter base in a webinar we hosted at the time: 'what waterfront issues are on your mind?'.
Controlling Canadas worst invasive plant species using bio-control webinar by Claire Schon
This is a handout from our webinar, "Controlling Canada’s ‘Worst’ Invasive Plant Species". Phragmites is an invasive plant species that was introduced in Canada in the early 1900s. It can establish easily, spread quickly, and fundamentally alter wetland ecosystems. The species threatens 1 in 4 species at risk in Ontario and has economic and societal impacts. Biocontrol has the potential to disrupt competitive dynamics between invasive and native plants, allowing for plant community recovery.