Watersheds Protect Water Quality – Get Involved Here

Gray Merriam and Bernie Dertinger | Jun 17, 2010

Here in the Land O’ Lakes, many of us know that water was somewhere else before it comes out of a tap. The real source of water is the watershed - that area of the landscape that gathers all the water together into one river valley and all the lakes and wetlands in it.

Watersheds are about more than just water coming from taps. They are about rainfall and how fast it runs off the land, sending a peak of flow down the river and raising the levels of lakes. Watersheds affect the quality of the water in your river or lake and how algae, aquatic plants, fish and other living things respond to that water quality.

Actions of people affect the amount of runoff and the quality of water flowing down a watershed. By decreasing the watershed’s forest we can increase runoff and decrease the proportion of rain that soaks into the ground. By changing wetlands, we change how much water is stored and how much runs off quickly.

A watershed is a sensible land unit for land stewardship projects. How well a watershed is functioning can be monitored. Best management practices can be recommended for maintaining good functioning.

First, one needs to know as much as possible about the watershed. This is the goal of the Friends of the Salmon River. The highest priority is to learn about the top of the watershed – the area that supplies Kennebec Lake and then flows down the watershed.

The top end of the Salmon watershed is from north of Cloyne down to Kennebec Lake. This is the Kennebec Lake subwatershed. It is the most important part of the watershed because every place downstream, all the way to Shannonville and the Bay of Quinte, is affected by the amount and quality of water coming from this top end.

The Friends of the Salmon River and the Kennebec Lake Association have launched a survey to learn all the details of water flow and storage in the creeks and wetlands of the upper Salmon watershed, and we need volunteers for the survey. If you care about water, here is a chance to help protect it. Some work has already been done but more is needed.

Volunteers will be given a map square to survey and will be trained in how to do it. The work can be done from your car. A digital camera and a hand-held GPS unit would be most helpful. Instructions in using the GPS will be provided. And best of all, you will be caring for the land that we all are so very fortunate to enjoy.

Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Bernie Dertinger at 613-293-1795 or Gray Merriam at 613-335-3589.