Castor. subwatershed report card

Transcription

1 subwateshed epot cad JANUARY 2014

2 SOUTH CONSERVATION South Nation Consevation woks with patnes to conseve, estoe, and manage natual esouces in local watesheds. Wateshed monitoing helps us bette undestand ou wateshed; focus ou effots whee they ae needed most; and tack changes ove time. The is an impotant subwateshed within the lage South Nation Wateshed, compising pats of the City of Ottawa, Russell, Noth Dundas, and Nation. This epot is a snapshot of 2010 conditions, using key indicatos such as wate quality, foest, and wetland esouces. Resouce conditions will be eviewed again in five yeas (2015) and changes and tends will be povided at that time. Rideau Noth METCALFE South East South Nation LAND COVER URBAN AGRICULTURAL WATER WETLAND FOREST SAND & GRAVEL ROAD FUN FACT The was named fo the many beaves found in the wateshed. is the scientific name fo beave. SUBWATERSHED AGE AREA 739 km 2 catchment aeas uppe casto,,,, COVER IMAGE: Leitim Wetland

3 SNC maintains and potects 4,200 squae kilometes of Easten Ontaio Wild ice havesting on South, nea Russell. What is south nation CONSERVATION doing? Potecting the South Nation Wateshed South Nation Consevation (SNC) is a local oganization with a mandate to conseve, estoe, and manage the wate, land, and natual habitats of the South Nation Wateshed, a 4,200 squae kilomete wateshed. SNC woks closely with patne municipalities, govenment agencies, individual landownes, and community goups to maintain and impove the natual envionment. Flood Foecasting, Waning, and Low Wate Response Data, including weathe infomation, wate levels and flows, snow pack, and ice conditions, ae used to help potect life and popety fom natual hazads such as high and low wate conditions. Fo wateshed conditions, visit envionmental Planning and Regulations Land use planning input and administation of Ontaio Regulation 167/06 (Development, Intefeence with Wetlands and Alteations to Shoelines and Watecouses) ensues that development does not negatively impact wetlands, shoelines, o wateways. Education, Outeach, and Stewadship Public wokshops, school pogams, and fais povide envionmental education oppotunities. Pogams exist to povide technical advice and financial assistance to landownes to implement stewadship pojects that enhance and potect the wateshed. envionmental Monitoing and Repoting Data collected though a vaiety of monitoing activities, including suface wate, goundwate, and fisheies sampling, is used to evaluate and epot on existing wateshed conditions, identify changes, and taget consevation activities. Foesty Pogam SNC has planted 2.5 million tees locally to act as windbeaks, contol eosion along steam banks, and efoest idle land. Moe than 1,000 landownes in the South Nation Wateshed have been seved by ou tee planting pogam. South Nation Consevation is a patne in the management of ove 20,000 aces of community foest land in Easten Ontaio. SNC encouages esponsible, eceational use of ou foests.

4 snc SUBWATERSHED epot cad Foest Conditions Foests ae an essential pat of a healthy wateshed. Tees filte ou ai and wate, pevent flooding and eosion, and povide food and habitat fo wildlife. They also povide many economic, eceational, and aesthetic benefits. The quality of foest conditions ae based on: Foest Cove the total aea in a wateshed that is coveed in tees; Foest Inteio the wooded aea that is moe than 100 metes fom a foest s edge (equied by many species fo suvival); and Foested Ripaian Zone the amount of foest within 30-metes on eithe side of a watecouse. Envionment Canada ecommends 30% Foest Cove, 10% Foest Inteio, and that 75% of steam length should be natually vegetated on both sides of the steam. WATERSHED Rideau Noth METCALFE South East South Nation FOREST CONDITION EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY POOR total foest cove 19 % FOREST INTERIOR 4 % ipaian cove 14 % Total Foest Cove in the Wateshed is 19%. Thee is 4% Foest Inteio, and 14% of the ipaian zone is foested. Oveall, foest conditions need to be impoved, especially within the Yok Dain, Lowe, and Main subwatesheds. South Nation Consevation is helping landownes and municipalities incease foest cove though pogams such as the Tee Planting Pogam, the Woodlot Advisoy Sevice, and Clean Gant Wate Pogams. Ove 600,000 tees have been planted in and aound the subwateshed, while ove 20 woodlot ownes have patneed with SNC fo the Woodlot Advisoy Sevice. Ash (Faxinus pennsylvanica) Ash (Faxinus pennsylvanica) is abundant in the Wateshed. In 2008, a hamful invasive insect to the Ash the emeald ash boe (EAB), was discoveed in the City of Ottawa and is now pesent thoughout the Wateshed. South Nation Consevation is able to assist municipalities and landownes with the theat of EAB and othe invasive pests.

5 snc Subwateshed epot cad wetland cove Wetlands povide natual flood contol duing peak flows and act as wate esevois duing dy weathe. They filte pollutants befoe they ente steams; povide impotant habitat fo plants and animals; and povide numeous economic, eceation, and aesthetic benefits. Wetland Cove is the total aea in a wateshed that is coveed in swamp, mash, fen, and bog habitat. Envionment Canada ecommends 10% wetland cove. WATERSHED Noth METCALFE total wetland cove 7 % South East WETLAND CONDITION Rideau South Nation EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY POOR Total wetland cove is 7% in the Wateshed. Wetland cove is excellent thoughout most of the Wateshed, but thee is oom fo impovement in the Main subwateshed. Wetland cove should be maintained thoughout the wateshed, and wetlands should be estoed whee possible. WETLAND Leitim Wetland is a Povincially Significant Wetland that feeds the headwates of Findlay Ceek, eventually daining to the Noth. Leitim Wetland is home to hundeds of species of floa and fauna, including 90 esident bid species and appoximately 130 bid species duing migation.

6 snc Subwateshed epot cad suface wate quality Healthy ive systems povide invaluable sevices and benefits that sustain life and fuel human economies. Suface wate quality is essential to healthy ives; two indicatos that help detemine wate quality ae: Total Phosphous is a natually occuing nutient in ives, but can be elevated due to detegents, fetilizes, and sewage. Although it is equied fo plant gowth, too much can esult in algae blooms and loweed oxygen levels in the ive, affecting fish and othe animals. Benthic Macoinvetebates ae small ceatues (bugs) without backbones that live in the sediment on the ive bottom, and include insects, mollusks, and woms. They ae vey sensitive to pollution and ae good indicatos of wate quality and steam health. Oveall, wate quality in the is fai fo phosphous. Sites in good steam health ae located in aeas with good foest cove, especially along the banks of the (Ripaian Cove). Sites equiing impovement geneally have low foest cove and little to no ipaian cove. Total phosphous is elevated in this subwateshed (0.06 mg/l) 1. South Nation has a Total Phosphous Management Pogam, and Clean Wate Pogam that offe gants to landownes to help impove the quality of ou local wate esouces. These pogams have eceived national and intenational ecognition as effective tools to impove wate quality. Good suface Noth wate quality is essential to healthy ives. METCALFE INSECTS (NO. OF SITES) Rideau South East 1 Guideline value 0.03 mg/l, 75 th pecentile ( ) South Nation WATER QUALITY CONDITION GOOD FAIR POOR MONITORING STATION TOTAL PHOSPHORUS BENTHIC INVERTEBRATE Refeence Condition Appoach GOOD 2 7 fai 2 5 POOR 2 7 fish The Ontaio Steam Assessment Potocol was used at all monitoing stations in A total of 2,440 fish epesenting 29 species wee captued and eleased. A species of inteest that was found the bown tout is a popula game fish of the salmon family. It is a cold wate species that likes clea, cool, well-oxygenated steams.

7 snc R IVER Subwateshed epot cad Goundwate Conditions Goundwate, which is found in aquifes below the suface of the Eath, is an impotant and vital natual esouce in the South Nation Wateshed. Appoximately 42% of the population within the South Nation Wateshed ely on goundwate fo dinking wate supplies, with 12% of public supplies fom municipal wells, and 30% fom pivate wells. Goundwate povides dinking wate to moe than 95% of the ual population in the South Nation Wateshed. South Nation Consevation monitos fou Povincial Goundwate Monitoing Netwok (PGMN) wells in the Wateshed in patneship with the Ministy of the Envionment (MOE). Data collection stated at most of the wells in The pupose of the goundwate monitoing pogam is to collect and manage baseline goundwate levels and goundwate chemisty data fom key aquifes acoss the wateshed. This baseline goundwate infomation helps identify tends o emeging issues and povides a basis fo making infomed esouce management decisions. Fo example, South Nation Convesation investigates how goundwate affects land use and development and implements wate management pogams. South Nation Consevation also assesses applications fo wate takings and makes decisions in esponse to dought conditions. Goundwate povides dinking Riv asto scto tt EEaass a So uth N 0 Kilometes Bedock SURFSuficial ICIAL N h P BEDROCK ut So ve Ri n io at i ve Mountain nr ti o Hallville Lowe Wincheste GROUNDWATER Goundwate MONITORING Monitoing Station STATION Reiv e s to Ca Ca e R ive Riv P RRivi v ee o as t ve Ri ne y eau Rid Pa Riv Wateshed. au R ive R id e 416 SS o Cental Venon tthh o uu West Osgoode the South Nation Main Sping Hill to as Maionville Kenmoe C Embun P Russell Mi dd le St. Onge Metcalfe to as CC P Uppe METCALFE ual population in ivvee RRi Yok Dain Geely asstoto C Ca than 95% of the t hh NNoot wate to moe Vas Leitim 417 CITY OF PGMN data (wate levels and wate chemisty) can be accessed though the MOE s website: on.ca/envionment/ en/monitoing_and_ epoting/povincial_ goundwate_ monitoing_netwok/ Pivate well testing If you have a pivate well, then egula wate quality testing should be impotant to you and you family. It is impotant to test you wate fo bacteia and othe common impuities found in well wate. Fo moe infomation on wate testing, visit en/subject/wells/stdprod_ html o talk to you local health unit.

8 Canoeing on the. Togethe we can impove the casto ive wateshed Be a Wateshed Stewad By woking togethe, we can make a diffeence. Impoving the health of the Wateshed equies us to make choices that balance envionmental concens with eveyday life. Hee ae some examples of stewadship activities that we can help you undetake to enhance you popety and potect human and envionmental health. Clean Wate Gants Thee is funding available to wateshed landownes fo cost-shae pojects that help impove wate quality, such as steam bank eosion contol and decommissioning abandoned wells. South Nation Consevation also delives the Ottawa Rual Clean Wate Gants Pogam in patneship with the Ontaio Soil and Cop Impovement Association and the City of Ottawa. Tee Planting Pogam Eveyone can benefit fom plating suitable tees on thei popety. South Nation Consevation patnes with Tees Ontaio to offe seedlings, planting, and site pepaation/tending fo a subsidized fee to wateshed landownes. The City of Ottawa s Geen Aces pogam povides ual landownes with advice and assistance in setting up a pope planting plan fo thei popeties and a souce of suitable planting stock. Funding is povided up to a 50 pe cent cost-shaed basis. Visit fo moe infomation on Geen Aces pogam. TOTALLY TURTLES South Nation Consevation speaheads on-the-gound monitoing pogams aimed at the pesence, abundance, and longevity of six ae tutles in the wateshed: Spiny Softshell, Spotted, Blanding s, Easten Musk (Stinkpot), Nothen Map, and Snapping. South Nation Consevation elies on the public to help potect species at isk with photos and location desciptions of tutles obseved in the wateshed. Woodlot Advisoy Sevice Would you like to save up to 75 pe cent on you popety taxes, while maximizing the potential of you woodlot? SNC s Woodlot Advisoy Sevice pomotes efficient and sustainable management of foests and establishes additional foest cove acoss the Wateshed. A bilingual Woodlot Advisoy Sevice technician will assist you in becoming awae of the value of you foest and the benefits it can povide. Steam Watch The Steam Watch pogam uses a maco steam assessment potocol and local voluntees fo suveying steams. Voluntees ae guided by an expeienced coodinato to help collect field data in shallow steams. Voluntees paticipate in activities, such as fish sampling; aquatic invetebate sampling; steam clean-ups; and habitat ehabilitation pojects. This subwateshed epot was pepaed following the 2012 Consevation Authoity Wateshed Repot Cad Guidelines. Katheine Watson, Wate Resouces Specialist T: ext. 298 kwatson@nation.on.ca South Nation Consevation 38 Victoia Steet, Finch, ON K0C 1K0