Your Lakes. Your Rivers. Your Future.
Love Your Lake
Healthy Shorelines for Healthy Lakes
Love Your Lake is a shoreline evaluation and stewardship program that provides individuals with a property specific report outlining voluntary actions that can improve the health of your lake and shoreline property. It was developed, and is managed, by the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Watersheds Canada.
The Natural Edge
Shoreline Naturalization Program
Does your waterfront property have a Natural Edge? Waterfront properties are among the most beautiful, and valuable, places to live. We offer free site visits in our delivery region. We work with you to create a plan that works for you including selecting native species to plant based on factors like soil type and sun conditions.
Fish Habitat Programs
With the steady increase in development along Canada’s lake and rivers, critical fish habitat is being compromised and degraded. Watersheds Canada, in partnership with local organizations, is working to protect, enhance, and restore various freshwater fish habitats. Some of our projects include walleye spawning beds restoration, cold-water creek habitat enhancements, as well as adding woody debris back into our lakes with our brush bundle projects.
Freshwater Stewardship Community
Fostering community relationships and connecting with nature have become more difficult in this time of physical distancing. Watersheds Canada is excited to launch a new online freshwater stewardship community that will connect waterfront communities and individuals through free webinars, education resources, and networking opportunities.
Planning for our Shorelands
Responsibility for conserving shorelands in Ontario is shared across a diversity of stakeholders, including municipal councillors, planners, and lake-river associations. Watersheds Canada and its project steering committee are striving to produce a Best-Management Practices resource and forum related to shoreland policy and land-use which inform and unify municipalities in their efforts to conserve critical shoreland habitats. By doing so, we will be working towards collaborative, science-based solutions to the most persistent barriers to preserving ecosystems upon which both wildlife and people rely.
Lake Links
Lake Links is a collaborative, one-day workshop held every October. It attracts citizens and scientists to share ways we can help sustain our lakes and rivers. Individuals spread across five watersheds in Eastern Ontario (and beyond) attend this day-long event to learn, network, and see what’s new.
The Lake Links Planning Committee has representatives from Cataraqui Conservation, Friends of the Tay Watershed, Lake Networking Group, Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, Rideau Valley Conservation Authority, Watersheds Canada and other local environmental agencies and organizations. This Committee is fundamental to the success of Lake Links each year.
Nature Discovery Programming
Nature Discovery programming is about getting kids and youth outside in local nature areas, whether they live in the city or the country. This Ontario-curriculum linked programming was created to decrease financial, geographic, experiential, and knowledge-based barriers for the next generation to participate in citizen science, species identification, and environmental stewardship. Nature is for everyone, at all learning levels! Discover videos, lesson plans, handouts and more to help your family or classroom identify local species, explore and connect with nature, learn about water quality, and lead local stewardship projects.
Blue Lakes
Blue Lakes is an eco-label program that provides a template for action and education, and is delivered in partnership with The Land Between and Watersheds Canada. It is a label and a portfolio of tools, resources, and activities that can be tailored to your lake’s needs. The label also comes with access to real-time data about your lake. The Blue Lakes eco-label is provided in recognition of your commitment to stewardship and education. The label is not provided because of a lake’s environmental conditions, but instead as a testament to your care.
Resources
If you are looking for information on planting native vegetation, maintaining a shoreline buffer, invasive species, engaging your community in stewardship projects or something else that’s impacting your shoreline and lake, chances are we have it here! These resources are free to share and distribute thanks to the input and support of granting organizations, private foundations, steering committees, and community partners.