Healthy Watersheds
Contribute to Healthy Great Lakes
The Great
Lakes/St. Lawrence basin is one of the most important regions on earth.
The five lakes
contain 20% of the entire freshwater on the planet. This area supports
globally significant species and habitats and the Great
Lakes contain the world's largest freshwater fishery.
Gross
production in this bi-national region is fourth only to the economies of
the United States, Japan and China.
The Great Lakes region is also home to more than 40
million people including 11 million Ontarians. That's a lot of people who
have to live in harmony with such a globally important ecological and
economic region.
Paying
attention to what we do on the land helps to keep both water and land
resources onshore and in the Great Lakes
healthy and sustainable.
Through many
partnerships with all levels of government, agencies and landowners, Ontario's Conservation
Authorities deliver programs and services in watersheds
that help to keep our Great Lakes and St. Lawrence
River healthy.
Climate
Change Impacts the Great Lakes
Climate change
will affect the Great Lakes Region by warming temperatures, decreasing lake
levels, increasing weather variability and frequency of extreme weather
events, changes in diversity, behaviour and ranges of plants and animals,
impacts on the economy and elevating the value of the Great
Lakes as a source of fresh water.
A concerted effort by all levels of government, watershed managers, Great Lakes basin residents and stakeholders will
be necessary to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
Everything
is Connected in a Watershed
The Great Lakes
– St. Lawrence basin is a large-scale watershed where all water drains
through the land to end up in the Great Lakes and St.
Lawrence River. In its newsletter, Grand
Connections, the Grand River Conservation
Authority illustrates how our actions on the land can impact the Great Lakes.
More than 70
per cent of Ontario's population uses
the Great Lakes directly as a drinking water source, while 98 per cent of
Ontario's
population depends on the waters of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Basin
for their drinking water. What we do upstream impacts the downstream
quality and supply of this important resource. Our actions also impact
important wetlands, forests, and plants that help to keep our water
clean.
Developing
local watershed plans based on solid science help landowners and industry
to target important conservation and stewardship initiatives to ensure
enough clean water for all our uses today and in the future.
Conservation
Authorities deliver numerous stewardship initiatives in partnership with landowners,
industry, environmental groups and all levels of government to restore
and protect important habitats. The St. Clair
Conservation Authority Habitat Restoration Projects offer
a good example.
Nearshore
Areas Need Our Attention
The nearshore
of the Great Lakes is a vital resource that contributes to the social,
economic and environmental health of the Great Lakes
basin. It is the zone of greatest primary productivity, a location of
diverse habitats for fish and wildlife, and the place where humans
interact most closely with the lake, through fishing, swimming, boating
and other activities.
Threats to the
nearshore areas such as population growth, changing land use practices,
invasive species, and climate change affect fisheries, beaches and
recreational resources, waterfronts and drinking water. Through watershed
planning, Conservation Authorities identify threats and work with other
watershed partners to minimize their impact on our environment.
Similarly, integrated shoreline management plans can bridge the gap
between watershed plans and identify specific actions to benefit the
nearshore. Credit
Valley
Conservation’s Lake
Ontario Integrated Shoreline Study offers an example.
A recent
technical workshop on the Great Lakes Nearshore held by Conservation
Ontario with Environment Canada funding involved key experts from all
levels of government, conservation authorities and other agencies. The
final workshop report, Managing
Watersheds for Great Lakes Benefits: Technical Workshop on Nutrients in
the Nearshore (March 2009) identifies key collaborative
actions for addressing nearshore nutrient issues.
Conservation
Authority Programs Protect the Great Lakes
Areas of
Concern Conservation Authorities work in partnership with many
other organizations to implement programs geared to improve conditions
within some of Canada's
Areas of Concern that have been targeted for clean-up. Projects include
urban and rural pollution control, habitat restoration, stormwater and
wastewater management, and community engagement.
Niagara
Remedial Action Plan (Niagara Peninsula
Conservation Authority)
St.
Lawrence River (Cornwall) Area of Concern (Raisin Region
Conservation Authority)
The Big Clean Up: Bay of Quinte Remedial Action
Plan (Lower Trent Conservation
& Quinte Conservation)
Regulating
Shorelines Water levels in the Great Lakes – St.
Lawrence River system and large inland lakes fluctuate
because of rainfall, evaporation, wind, storms and because of our
activities such as water diversions or control structures. These water
level fluctuations can pose a significant risk to life and property.
Conservation
Authorities regulate shorelines and lands adjacent to the shoreline to
ensure that development does not aggravate existing erosion, flooding or
dynamic beach hazards. They also make sure that new hazards are not
created and that new development is not at risk.
Conservation
Authority shoreline protection policies (Lake Erie
Shoreline Protection Policy – Grand River Conservation
Authority), shoreline management plans (Ausable Bayfield Conservation
Authority Shoreline
Management Plan) and collaborative arrangements (Conservation
Halton) are all important program components to regulate
and protect our Great Lakes shorelines.
Monitoring
the State of Our Great Lakes Watersheds
Healthy land
and water resources ensure safe drinking water and resilient forests,
wetlands and wildlife, enabling us to adapt more easily to climate
change. Ontario's 36 Conservation
Authorities monitor the health of natural resources in Ontario's watersheds because it helps
us to better understand the local environmental issues, to focus actions
where they are needed the most and track progress over time. The Central Lake
Ontario Conservation Authority monitors Great
Lakes coastal wetlands in partnership with Environment
Canada.
The Upper
Thames River Conservation Authority's watershed report cards
illustrate the watershed connections. Reducing pollution in the Thames River
watersheds helps protect the Great Lakes.
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