Kawartha Conservation launches multi-partner research collaboration

MARCH 29, 2021 – Kawartha Conservation is partnering with citizen scientists, post-secondary institutions and lake associations to undertake a collaborative project to improve the health of water quality and aquatic plants in the nearshore environment of the Kawartha Lakes.

“The area of this collaboration collectively represents 11.4 per cent of the local surface area of the Lake Ontario basin,” explained Kawartha Conservation aquatic biologist Brett Tregunno. “This project will provide direct benefits to the health of the Lake Ontario drainage basin, in particular to the several large inland 'Kawartha' lakes and connecting waters that are the headwaters of the Trent River.”

The Trent River is one of the largest tributaries of Lake Ontario representing 20 per cent of its local drainage area and to the Bay of Quinte which has been listed as a Great Lakes Area of Concern.

The health of nearshore environments will be enhanced by this project in two key areas: water quality and aquatic plant management.

“This project will bring together 60 citizen scientists across multiple lakes to collaborate with academia and local water resource managers to regularly track and communicate to the public, water conditions adjacent to their shoreline properties,” explained Tregunno. “Community volunteers will conduct water sampling for key indicators of aquatic health including nutrients, sediments, clarity, and invasive plants, and the data will be used to identify priority areas on which to focus best management practices to improve nearshore water and habitat conditions.”

As a project outcome, water quality and aquatic plant management will be improved in the waterbodies through tracking of local conditions and undertaking shoreline enhancement projects.

This project is made possible, in part, through the provincial Great Lakes Local Action Fund Grant, and will help facilitate a collaboration between Kawartha Conservation, Ontario Tech University, Finger Lakes Institute, Carleton University, Kawartha Lake Stewards Association, Scugog Lake Stewards and citizen scientists.

The project features a number of objectives that, combined, will provide an invaluable amount of knowledge, data, analysis and future directions for improving lake and water health.

Objectives include:

• Recruit and train a network of Citizen Scientists to track and better manage nearshore water quality and invasive aquatic plant conditions along their waterfront properties.
• Evaluate aquatic thrusters as a cost-effective approach for use by waterfront property owners to control nuisance aquatic invasive plant populations.
• Strengthen relationships between waterfront property owners, local community groups, universities, and water management organizations to focus attention towards improving the health of nearshore areas.

“This project promotes innovative approaches to addressing environmental needs by utilizing Citizen Scientists as an engaged and invested approach to environmental monitoring and researching the practical uses of aquatic thrusters as a potential approach for controlling local invasive aquatic plants,” said Tregunno. “It also promotes innovative collaboration between groups, including using an aquatic plant monitoring App for mobile devices as a tool to collect and share data.”

The project is scheduled to begin later this spring and wrap up early in 2022.