Written By: Barbara King Water is vital to life and well-being. We know that water resources have a finite capacity to support development and land use changes. 95% of the worlds water is saltwater 5% is freshwater. Of this freshwater: 69% is found in ice 30% is found in groundwater less than 1% of the Earth’s water consists of surface water, only 1% of this is renewed by snow melt and rain each year Source: Environment Canada, 2009 As executive director of an ... Read More
Natural Edge Contest Winner!
Over the summer, Watersheds Canada held a contest for the Natural Edge program. Contest participants had to send in photos of their shoreline and a story of why their shoreline is so important to them. Through the fall, Natural Edge staff read through every single entry, some more than once, and narrowed the entries down to 3. And after much deliberation, a winner was chosen! It is my great pleasure to announce that Rick and Debbie Zabloski of Graham Lake are the winners of the 20” x 17.5” ... Read More
Three Summers with Watersheds Canada
Written By Emily Bacon I have had the privilege of working for Watersheds Canada for the past three summers while studying at Queen’s University. I am writing this blog, reflecting on my three wonderful summers, on my very last day with them. I have grown and learned so much which has truly been a one of a kind experience. It was an odd match at first – I’m in geological engineering and Watersheds is a non-profit organization dedicated to our lakes and rivers, but I wasn’t going to pass up ... Read More
New App for Algae
New App for Algae EASTERN ONTARIO, August 24, 2015 — Algae and aquatic plant observations can now be made on your smart phone. The People, Aquatic Plants and Healthy Lakes Project has just released an Android app for lake and river users to report any algae or aquatic plants that they observe on their waterbody. The Android app called Citizen Water Watch can be downloaded for free at the Google play store. App users will be asked to take a photo of what they are reporting, provide a ... Read More
Natural Edge – Spring Planting Success!
As summer approaches and the spring planting season comes to a close, Watersheds Canada is proud to continue working towards shoreline rehabilitation through our Natural Edge program. This spring, we planted 21 sites on 9 lakes working alongside home and cottage owners in the rehabilitation and naturalization of their shorelines. Through these efforts, the Natural Edge staff have successfully planted a combined total of over 6121 square metres of shoreline with 1839 native plants. The program ... Read More
Process and Maple Syrup
I just had the most amazing experience from the simple task of making maple syrup from the trees around our property with our kids. It was an incredible feeling to make our own syrup even though it took 2 days, 5 trees, 10 hours of boiling, a million questions from my kids, and about $20.00 worth of propane to literally boil down to less than a litre. So how could this bring me so much joy! Maple syrup making reminds me of our work at Watersheds Canada in so many ways; the best part of a ... Read More
Maude Barlow at the Watersheds Gala
On January 22nd, 2015, we hosted our first fundraiser, the Watersheds Gala. We were honoured to have renowned author and citizens’ advocate, Maude Barlow, as our keynote speaker, and the energetic and revered Canadian professor and naturalist, Michael Runtz, as our Master of Ceremonies. With the generous support from our sponsors, Freshwater Future, Leo Adams Investments, McIntosh Perry, MEC, the Sharbot Group Inc., and TD Canada Trust, and several kind silent auction contributors, we could ... Read More
It’s all about the WHY!
I can honestly say I LOVE My job. How many people can say that about where they work? We have such a great team and workplace atmosphere here at Watersheds Canada… I wake up excited for my day. We actually have it backwards in the office and call it “Happy Monday” because we are all together and “Grumpy Friday” because we know we will miss our team and the great times we have together as we leave for the weekend. Canada businesses . Now, don’t get me wrong, we actually DO work in between ... Read More