Today is a special day – today is World Rivers Day. As the program manager of Watersheds Canada’s program, The Natural Edge, I have helped landowners, students, community partners and volunteers, and municipalities plant over 104,000 native species to bring nature back to severely degraded shorelands. That work is happening right now!

However, our fall planting season is tall on restoration site demands and short on funds. You help us get more plants in the ground by donating $70, $130, or $205.

Over 8,000 river systems define our nation as well as our small towns. The mighty MacKenzie, Yukon, Fraser, and thousands of other rivers are the precious places that Watersheds Canada wants people to think about on World River Day.

What is your favourite river? I’d like to tell you about mine because it shows how Watersheds Canada supporters are making a difference.

For the past two years, the shoreline along the St. Lawrence River has had a nature-based makeover thanks to the Natural Edge Program and hundreds of our volunteers. Native species of plants like Sweet Gale, Snowberry, and Fragrant Sumac have been used to stabilize shorelines, improve water quality, provide wildlife habitat, and mitigate erosion on steep slopes.

The size of the St. Lawrence River always makes me stop and take a moment to appreciate the beauty of our freshwater areas; I’m sure you feel the same when you are beside a treasured river of your own. I have had the pleasure of coming back to this river multiple times, planting alongside passionate shoreline property owners, students, municipal staff, and community partners and volunteers who are ready to take action to protect their local river health.