Review-Mirror profiles RLEF activities
RLEF activities are featured in an article in the Westport Review-Mirror, September 18, 2025…
News
Can Pressure Washing Restore a Bass Nursery?
Restoring degraded aquatic habitat is one of the most appealing tools in freshwater conservation.
A study on Big Rideau Lake, published in 2024, tested one such intervention for smallmouth bass spawning habitat — and the results illustrate how difficult translating that logic into practice can be.
Long Island acquired by Rideau Waterways Land Trust
With the support of our community, including the Rideau Lakes Environmental Foundation, the Rideau Waterways Land Trust has completed the acquisition of a significant portion of Long Island in Big Rideau Lake. The generous donation of 33 acres of land on Island 186 had ensured the future protection of one of our lake’s special places. This land supports many species…
Bass Spawning Survey – Swimmers in the Water
There’s a new “live” report up on Facebook from researchers at Carleton University, reporting on survey of showing a bass on a nest, and talking about ideal temperatures for bass spawning from May 2025. Hook wounds are a real indication of angling pressures.
RLEF-Funded Research Links Ecological Change to Climate
Layer by layer, sediment cores reveal centuries of biological and chemical change in lake-bottom sediment. This study looked back more than 200 years — far enough to capture the disruption of canal construction beginning in 1828 — but the most striking finding concerns the past 25 to 30 years. Despite significant improvements in phosphorus levels since the 1970s, the lakes…
President’s Letter 2024
I am writing on behalf of the Rideau Lakes Environmental Foundation (RLEF) to ask for your support…
Do you fish for bass in Eastern Ontario?
If so, please complete this survey for Dr. Steven J. Cooke, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Canadian Centre for Evidence-Informed Conservation Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Your knowledge of the state of bass populations in key lakes/rivers and perspectives on bass management will supplement traditional fisheries sampling conducted by MNR. Survey results will build an undertanding of current angler attitudes towards existing…
RLEF supports Long Island Conservation
Help us preserve a very special place on Big Rideau Lake …
Bass Spawning Sanctuaries Save Fish Populations
Did you know that even with “Catch and Release” taking a bass off his nest will likely result in the death of his brood? Bass spawning sanctuaries have proven successful in ensuring the survival of young by preventing all fishing in sensitive areas while fish are spawning. The Fisheries Conservation Foundation is exploring Innovative Solutions for Large mouth and Smallmouth…
Bass Spawing Sanctuaries – an Interview with the RLEF President
RLEF President Hansen Downer was interviewed on 88.1 myFM (previously Lake 88.1) about Bass Spawning Sanctuaries. Listen to the recording.
RLEF Funds Study Tracking Movement of Lake Trout within Big Rideau Lake
Big Rideau Lake is one of the few lakes in Eastern Ontario deep enough to support a Lake Trout population. There is a concern that the this population is declining, but there is no statistical information to support that theory. Telemetry studies will allow researchers from the Fisheries Conservation Foundation (FCF) to track the movement of Lake Trout, identify…
RLEF Supports Bass Spawning Sanctuaries
The expansion of Bass Spawning Sanctuaries (BaSS) will help regenerate the declining bass populations in our lakes. BaSSs are areas of the lake in which all fishing is prohibited but only until the first week of July. Angling in BaSSs is permitted during the rest of the year. The Fisheries Conservation Foundation is leading a local effort to expand BaSSs…