Frontenac Natural Heritage Study

Frontenac’s Natural Heritage Study is a long-term initiative focused on protecting the landscapes and ecosystems that define the region. Using a landscape ecology approach, the study will identify and evaluate important natural features and ecological functions across the entire county, with a planning horizon of 100 years. Guided by the principles of precaution, connectivity, and conservation, the goal is to establish a clear vision for protecting natural areas and the connections between them, ensuring they remain healthy and resilient for future generations.

Natural heritage includes the land, water, air, plants, and animals that make Frontenac unique. This encompasses biodiversity such as rare species, significant landforms like wetlands and lakes, and the broader ecosystems that support life. With approximately 73% of the County remaining natural and undeveloped, and thousands of lakes and waterways, these systems play a critical role in filtering water, improving air quality, supporting food systems, and reducing flooding. The map below highlights the extent of water features within Frontenac’s natural heritage system. The three images show waterbodies (lakes), watercourses (rivers and streams), and wetlands. Protecting these features now helps maintain the environmental, social, and economic benefits they provide, while avoiding the long-term impacts of overdevelopment seen in other regions.

Rather than focusing on isolated features, the study looks at how entire ecosystems function together across the landscape. It will identify core natural areas, connections and corridors, and opportunities for restoration, while also helping guide where development can occur in a sustainable way. The results will inform updates to the County Official Plan, strengthen watershed-based planning, and support climate resilience by protecting systems that can adapt over time. Ultimately, this work will help balance growth and conservation, ensuring Frontenac’s natural heritage continues to thrive well into the future.

Frontenac’s Natural Heritage Study is a long-term initiative focused on protecting the landscapes and ecosystems that define the region. Using a landscape ecology approach, the study will identify and evaluate important natural features and ecological functions across the entire county, with a planning horizon of 100 years. Guided by the principles of precaution, connectivity, and conservation, the goal is to establish a clear vision for protecting natural areas and the connections between them, ensuring they remain healthy and resilient for future generations.

Natural heritage includes the land, water, air, plants, and animals that make Frontenac unique. This encompasses biodiversity such as rare species, significant landforms like wetlands and lakes, and the broader ecosystems that support life. With approximately 73% of the County remaining natural and undeveloped, and thousands of lakes and waterways, these systems play a critical role in filtering water, improving air quality, supporting food systems, and reducing flooding. The map below highlights the extent of water features within Frontenac’s natural heritage system. The three images show waterbodies (lakes), watercourses (rivers and streams), and wetlands. Protecting these features now helps maintain the environmental, social, and economic benefits they provide, while avoiding the long-term impacts of overdevelopment seen in other regions.

Rather than focusing on isolated features, the study looks at how entire ecosystems function together across the landscape. It will identify core natural areas, connections and corridors, and opportunities for restoration, while also helping guide where development can occur in a sustainable way. The results will inform updates to the County Official Plan, strengthen watershed-based planning, and support climate resilience by protecting systems that can adapt over time. Ultimately, this work will help balance growth and conservation, ensuring Frontenac’s natural heritage continues to thrive well into the future.

  • The Landscape Ecology Approach: The Kennebec Wetland Complex

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    A map showing the location of the Kennebec Wetland Complex.The Kennebec Wetland Complex covers areas of North and Central Frontenac. It spans from Kennebec Lake in the south to Big Gull Lake in the north, and from Hungry and Mink Lakes in the east to Highway 41 in the west.

    It includes three types of wetlands: fens, swamps, and marshes. These wetlands capture rainfall over a 2,500 hectare area. That is enough water to attenuate flooding peaks on the Salmon River up to four days after a major storm. Long-term water quality improvement by nutrient removal – the positive water purification effects of the complex – are so important

    A map showing the location of the Kennebec Wetland Complex.The Kennebec Wetland Complex covers areas of North and Central Frontenac. It spans from Kennebec Lake in the south to Big Gull Lake in the north, and from Hungry and Mink Lakes in the east to Highway 41 in the west.

    It includes three types of wetlands: fens, swamps, and marshes. These wetlands capture rainfall over a 2,500 hectare area. That is enough water to attenuate flooding peaks on the Salmon River up to four days after a major storm. Long-term water quality improvement by nutrient removal – the positive water purification effects of the complex – are so important that the lakes in the complex area are protected by the province as provincially significant.

    But the largest portion of the complex that includes most of the wetlands has limited protections. Without a sensible plan to manage these unprotected areas, the natural qualities of the whole complex may not be sustainable. Part of the reason for this is that the approach and scoring methodology used to protect the lakes, does not consider the larger interconnected ecosystem. A landscape ecology approach to the entire Kennebec Wetland Complex would increase the chance that it and its natural qualities will be protected for future generations.

Page published: 14 May 2026, 08:31 AM