Are you interested in collecting data that helps us to monitor water and environmental quality? Get involved in local conservation through our citizen science program.
Citizen science is the practice of engaging members of the public to collect data which can be used to increase scientific knowledge and inform decision making. It is a method that is widely used in various environmental monitoring projects and programs such as water quality, frog and amphibian surveys, bird surveys and many other applications.
Current projects
Learn about the current citizen science conservation projects.
Kawartha Water Watch |
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Participating in the Kawartha Water Watch program includes collecting water samples from various locations across the Kawartha Conservation Area. This data is used to create our watershed reports. |
Nearshore water quality monitoring project |
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The nearshore water quality monitoring project focuses on collecting important data about the nearshore areas of each lake within the Kawartha Conservation jurisdiction. The data is then analyzed and compared to open water data, providing an indepth approach to monitoring the health of lakes in the Kawartha Conservation watershed. |
Links to external Citizen Science programs
Walleye Watch |
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Walleye Watch is a program developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry. Trained citizen scientists go out during the walleye spawning window and document fish presence throughout Lake Scugog. |
Lake partner program |
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The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has partnered with the Federation of Cottagers Association to collect important water quality data on inland lakes from May to October of each year. This long term monitoring program has been ongoing since 2002. |
Christmas bird count |
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Ontario Nature is the leader in this citizen science based data collection program. The program welcomes birder skills of all levels to count as many different species, and individuals of those species, as possible over the course of a single day. The data is entered into a provincial database. |