Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources partners with DESC on a number of different efforts.  Most prominent among these currently are the long term ecosystem monitoring conducted in Algonquin Park and the Broad Scale Monitoring Program.

OMNR currently provides approvals and flight support that allows DESC's long term aquatic ecosystem monitoring program to continue in the park - home to important reference ecosystems that help define recovery targets and baseline condition for Muskoka lakes.

Similarly, DESC plays a critical supporting role in the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Broad Scale Monitoring program by analysing spring water samples taken from lakes all across the province in the Dorset Water Chemistry Laboratory. Broad Scale Monitoring (BSM) is an important aspect of MNR’s Ecological Framework for Fisheries Management adopted in 2004 as the plan for managing the province’s fisheries resources.

The BSM sampling design is based upon five year cycles calling for the sampling of up to 1500 lakes in each cycle. Half of the lakes are “fixed” lakes which are sampled on a long term basis, once during each cycle and the other half are “variable” lakes which are randomly selected at the beginning of each five year period. The sampling conducted on both groups of lakes is designed to provide information on three issues: Water quality, fish community and fishing pressure. The fixed lakes support populations of walleye, brook trout or lake trout. The status of these top predator populations are good indicators of the health of cool and coldwater lakes in the province and yield trend through time data on the state of the fisheries resource. They will also give feedback on the effectiveness of management and regulatory decisions. Information gathered from the variable lakes provides a broad picture of the state of the province’s fisheries resource during each five year cycle.