approximately 62 acres of wetland. It was donated to HHLT in 2012 by Dennis Barry.
The property is located at the southern end of South Lake, in the Township of Minden
Hills, Haliburton. The area is located at the headwaters of the provincially significant
wetland, the Kendrick Creek Wetland Complex, which feeds into the Irondale and Burnt
Rivers. In 2021, in cooperation with Glenside Ecological Services LTD this wetland
reserve was designated within a large wildlife corridor, The Highlands Corridor, and was
recognized to have features that are resilient to the effects of climate change. The
wetland reserve’s land was donated in 2012 by Dennis Barry through the Government
of Canada’s Ecological gifts program (HHLT, 2023). Unfortunately, due to the relative
sensitivity of the wetland and the mixed terrain that can pose safety risks to humans, it
is not available to the public]]>

Melanie Logan, Fleming College School of Environment and Resource Sciences]]>
Joseph Gentile
Hannah Williams
Stephanie Barrie
Julia Herault]]>

In 2019, The TCCBE applied for a Trillium SEED grant under the Green People category in collaboration with U-Links to launch a pilot project that would address the increasing needs of the local lake associations for regular benthic biomonitoring. The pilot project also facilitated vital
field experience for students enrolled in community-based research courses under the Community Based Education (CBE) program.

The evaluation was completed by systematically reviewing the project records to determine progress towards milestones; first-person observation of program implementation; conducting a series of interviews and online surveys with stakeholder groups that focused on whether any changes should be made to the existing project design in place and whether the evidence
supports an application for funding support; and reviewing the literature in place that supports the project design.

The specific questions that were asked of each group (see Appendix 1) attempted to gauge the progress towards objectives for the pilot submitted in the application for the Trillium SEED Grant.
A total of thirteen stakeholders, including lake association members, students, U-Links staff and faculty from Trent University and Fleming College were surveyed or interviewed. The interviewees represented a range of involvement with the project.

The report concluded that TCCBE and U-Links have made significant and positive progress on every milestone they set out to achieve, much of it earlier than originally anticipated, and that there is confidence amongst stakeholders in the effectiveness of the model. Moreover, the implementation of this project led to some important quality assurance decisions as well as some new partnerships that will ensure the model will continue to align with best practices while scaling up to meet the research needs of community organizations in multiple geographic areas.
]]>
Environmental Education
Higher Education
Environmental Science]]>
Amanda Duncombe-Lee]]>
]]> Host contact: Douglas, Cameron]]> Department: Environmental and Resource Science/Studies]]> Biology
Ecology ]]>

Amphipods were found to be the most dominate species at each site, representing over 50% of the benthic community. Results from functional feeding group analyses revealed that all sampling sites are collector-dominated, representing almost 80% of the benthic community, and were composed primarily of Amphipods. Site 1 was found to have the highest species richness and abundance across the three sites. Sites 2 and 3 species richness and abundance are relatively similar and not far from that of site 1. Based on the results of the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, water quality is "fair" as determined by macroinvertebrate species assemblages. Studies have found that recolonization of other macroinvertebrates was reduced when Amphipod numbers were high indicating predation or some form of competitive exclusion (Waters, 1964) which could potentially explain why there are such large numbers of Amphipods found across sites sampled on Gull Lake. It is important that factors (such as landscape-level factors such as land use/cover, surficial geology, and surface area or geographic factors such as latitude (Richards et al,. 1997)) are further looked into in order to develop the real reasons as to why Amphipods are in such high abundance within Gull Lake.
]]>
Helga Sonnenberg]]>