Story by: Ty Fischer, Freshwater Health Coordinator, Watersheds Canada

Sustaining biodiversity requires us to invest in the critical components of ecosystems that help support population stability in the long-term. One of the most powerful ways of doing this is through delivering habitat restoration projects which bolsters native plant populations and creates the conditions necessary for wildlife to undertake the most important aspects of their life cycles such as feeding, breeding, and spawning.

Watersheds Canada recognizes the incredible power of such projects. As a non-profit environmental organization and registered Canadian charity with over 20 years of boots-on-the-ground experience, Watersheds Canada has become a leader in facilitating and delivering restoration projects to communities across the country. Our restoration work specifically focuses on freshwater areas and their surrounding shorelands, as they are some of the most critical for supporting all life on the planet and can be deeply affected by climate-related changes.

An Ontario lake’s shoreline is restored with native plants thanks to community volunteers.

Watersheds Canada’s hands-on work is balanced by the delivery of a variety of environmental education and outreach programs that strive to instill in the public an appreciation of nature while also inspiring them to take action against issues affecting Canada’s freshwater in their own communities. Much like our restoration projects, this outreach work serves to sow the seeds of change that will grow exponentially of their own accord in the years to come.

Students restore a shoreline with native plants along the St. Lawrence River, Ontario (photo credit: Stephany Hildebrand).

The Natural Edge is Watersheds Canada’s shoreline restoration program. Working with municipalities, grassroots organizations, and private landowners across the country, The Natural Edge facilitates and provides direct support for the delivery of planting projects in riparian areas. Using a mix of native trees, shrubs, grasses, and wildflowers, this program aims to transform shorelines into hubs of biodiversity that support native species from pollinators and amphibians to shorebirds and waterfowl.

This program focuses specifically on shoreline areas due to the vast ecological importance that they hold relative to their size; nicknamed the ‘ribbon of life’, they support many critical functions for aquatic and semi-aquatic species. It is estimated that up to 80% of species of terrestrial wildlife will use these areas at some point throughout their life cycle (Maestas et al., 2023). Moreover, the health of a shoreline is directly tied to that of the freshwater system itself – a natural buffer helps filters out excess toxins and nutrients from surface water runoff before they enter the waterway, stabilizes shorelines and prevents erosion, and improves aquatic habitat structure and food availability for fish due to the presence of natural debris that is swept in from the shoreline (Hawes, Smith, 2005).

With regards to the impact of The Natural Edge, the numbers speak for themselves. To date, over 398,018m² of shoreline habitat have been restored by over 158,184 native plants. The impact of these plantings on biodiversity arises not only from the incredible variety of native plants put in the ground, but from the wide array of species that they attract after they have established. Pollinators, from monarch butterflies to bumblebees to hummingbirds, make good use of the planted wildflowers such as New England aster, wild bergamot, and many more. Amphibians and reptiles use this newly naturalized interface between land and water for many core aspects of their lives, including feeding, overwintering, and nesting (Semlitsch, Brodie, 2002), and likewise do a wide variety of shorebirds and waterfowl.

Watering a new shoreline planting (photo credit: Stephany Hildebrand).

The benefits also stretch beyond the shoreline as countless species of fish enjoy the shade and increased food availability provided by shoreline vegetation (DFO, 2005).  Lastly, the diverse shoreline vegetation increases the resilience of these ecosystems against invasive species, which is the second greatest global threat to biodiversity after habitat destruction according to the The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List. The end result of our restoration projects, therefore, is a more biodiverse and resilient community both in our freshwater and their shorelands.

While The Natural Edge restores shorelines, Watersheds Canada’s Fish Habitat program often ventures out onto, or into, the water itself to restore habitat specifically benefitting native fish species. These projects can take many different forms depending on the target species and their habitat requirements. For example, we deliver brush bundle projects in which weighted bundles of branches and twigs are sunk to the bottom of a lake to bolster critical areas of in-water fish habitat for bass, pike, and perch. There are also cold-water creek restoration projects, involving targeted planting activities to provide eventual overhanging vegetation and shade for brook trout.

Watersheds Canada staff prepare a brush bundle for deployment on an Ontario lake.

Another type of fish habitat restoration project is spawning bed washings, which involve using a water pump to clear off silt from spawning beds in order to incentivize species like walleye and lake trout to utilize them. For the Fish Habitat team, not even the winter can put a stop to the fish habitat restoration work – at this time of year, they trek out onto frozen lakes in order to deposit gravel or washed river rock above previously mapped spawning beds. Then, after the ice melts in the spring, the substrate will sink down to the bed to provide an ideal surface upon which fish can spawn.

Since the inception of the Fish Habitat program in 2014, a total of 55 projects have been completed on 38 separate systems. This includes a total of 22 brush bundle projects, 21 spawning beds restored, 5 spawning bed washing projects, and 7 cold water creek restoration initiatives. Such work stabilizes and supports the regrowth of keystone fish species and those that are important indicators for ecosystem health, which can have trickle-down benefits for the entire freshwater ecosystem. Furthermore, a side-benefit is that it brings the community – often a waterfront association or similar group – together in achieving a shared environmental goal out of a passion for their freshwater. The power of enacting direct change for a native fish species is inspiring to all involved.

Through undertaking these restoration initiatives both on land and in water, Watersheds Canada aims to comprehensively maintain and improve the state of Canada’s freshwater systems and all the incredible biodiversity they support. The end result will be a more ecologically rich, connected, and resilient natural landscape for the benefit of all. To learn more and get involved in protecting Canada’s lakes, rivers, and shorelines, please visit: https://watersheds.ca

References: 

Department of Fisheries and Oceans (2005). The Fish Habitat Primer: A Guide to Understanding Freshwater Fish Habitat in Ontario. Accessed from: https://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2009/mpo-dfo/Fs23-479-2008E.pdf

Hawes E., Smith M. (2005). Riparian Buffer Zones: Functions and Recommended Widths. Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Accessed from: http://bolincreek.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/riparian.buffers.attachment3.pdf

Maestas, J. D., Wheaton, J. M., Bouwes, N., Swanson, S. R., & Dickard, M. (2023). Water is life: Importance and management of riparian areas for rangeland wildlife. Rangeland Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, 177–208. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34037-6_7

Semlitsch, R. D., & Bodie, J. R. (2003). Biological criteria for buffer zones around wetlands and riparian habitats for amphibians and reptiles. Conservation Biology, 17(5), 1219–1228. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2003.02177.x

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (n.d.). https://www.iucnredlist.org/