Rideau Lakes

Portland is a police village and unincorporated place located in the municipal township of Rideau Lakes, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in eastern Ontario, Canada. The community is on Ontario Highway 15 about 60 kilometres (37 mi) northeast of Ontario Highway 401 at Kingston by road, and is situated in geographic Bastard Township on the southeast side of Big Rideau Lake.Portland was first settled in the early 19th century as one of the first settlements along the Rideau Waterway. The original seven houses in Portland, informally known as "The Landing", were a transfer point for passengers travelling from Brockville and continuing by barge to Perth. With the completion of the Rideau Canal Waterway in 1832, steamboats and barges carrying raw materials such as cordwood, maple syrup, potash, cheese, tanned hides and salt beef were a common sight. Portland became a thriving village of trade with Kingston, Montreal and Ottawa. The village of Portland took its name in 1843 from William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. By the 1860s, the settlement had expanded considerably to require five hotels and, by the early 20th century, cottages were springing up around the lake and the tourist trade had begun. Advances in rail and road travel and increasing tourism offset a decline in the role of agriculture in the economy of Portland. Tourism then began to lead the economy of Portland, and still does to this day.An international speed skating tournament called Skate the Lake is held each winter by Portland Outdoors on the Big Rideau Lake.

Grindstone Island is an 11-acre (4.5 ha) island in Big Rideau Lake, Ontario, Canada.

Murphys Point Provincial Park is a provincial park near Perth, Ontario, Canada. The 1,239-hectare (3,060-acre) park features natural areas prepared for hiking and skiing as well as access for day-use camping and water sports at Big Rideau Lake. Facilities include a park store, visitor centre and several "comfort centres", with flush toilets, showers and laundry facilities for the multi-day camper. The park also contains the restored early 20th-century "Silver Queen" mica mine, the ruins of a sawmill and several historic pioneer buildings including the Lally Homestead. This area was mined in the early 20th century, for mica, feldspar, and apatite. During the summer season, guided tours are offered to visitors who would like to see the inside of a pioneer-style mine. Lantern-lit evening ghost walks to the mine are also offered. The park includes five nature trails varying in length from the 1-kilometre (0.62 mi) Loon Lake Trail to the 6.5-kilometre (4.0 mi) Rideau Trail. The park is home to a variety of mammals, including deer, fox, mink, beaver, coyote, porcupine and otter. Many loons inhabit Big Rideau Lake along with five species of turtles, eight species of amphibians, and eight species of snakes, including Canada's largest, but harmless, black rat snake.

Black Creek is a stream in the municipalities of Tay Valley, Lanark County and Rideau Lakes, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It flows from an unnamed lake in Rideau Lakes to the west shore of Big Rideau Lake in Tay Valley. Big Rideau Lake, on the Rideau Canal, flows via the Rideau River and Ottawa River to the Saint Lawrence River. The stream has a drainage basin of 94 square kilometres (36 sq mi).

Sand Lake is a lake on the Rideau Canal, located in the Township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario, Canada, in the ward of South Crosby. It is 891 hectares (2,202 acres) in surface area, with a maximum depth of 14.3 metres (47 ft) and a shore length of 65.5 kilometres (41 mi)

Jones Falls Dam is a dam on the Rideau Canal located in Rideau Lakes, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada, that was built between 1828 and 1831 to tame the mile-long series of rapids and falls that flowed from Sand Lake and into the White Fish River (now drowned).

The Rideau River (French: Rivière Rideau, Ojibwe: Pasapkedjinawong) is a river in Eastern Ontario, Canada. The river flows north from Upper Rideau Lake and empties into the Ottawa River at the Rideau Falls in Ottawa, Ontario. Its length is 146 kilometres (91 mi). As explained in a writing by Samuel de Champlain in 1613, the river was given the name "Rideau" (French for 'curtain') because of the appearance of the Rideau Falls. The Anishinàbemowin name for the river is Pasapkedjinawong, 'the river that passes between the rocks'. The Rideau Canal, which allows travel from Ottawa to the city of Kingston, Ontario on Lake Ontario, was formed by joining the Rideau River with the Cataraqui River. The river diverges from the Canal at Hog's Back Falls in Ottawa. In early spring, to reduce flooding on the lower section of the river, workers from the city of Ottawa use ice blasting to clear the ice which covers the river from Billings Bridge to Rideau Falls by cutting "keys" through the ice and using explosives to break off large sheets of ice. This practice has been going on for more than 100 years. The regulatory authority charged with protecting the Rideau River and its tributaries is the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority.

Upper Rideau Lake is a freshwater lake located in the municipality of Rideau Lakes, United Counties of Leeds and Grenville in Eastern Ontario, Canada. A part of the Saint Lawrence River drainage basin, the lake has the highest altitude of any body of water within the Rideau Canal system.

Hotel Kenney is a hotel near Jones Falls on the Rideau Canal in the township of Rideau Lakes, Ontario, Canada. Parks Canada describes the hotel as having been built as a fishing lodge in a period when excursion steamers operated along the canal.The hotel was built in 1888, on the site of an earlier building which had been destroyed in a fire. It is open early May to late October. The hotel was owned by members of the Kenney family for many years. In 2008, Franklin Folts, a clothing store owner and resident of Martha's Vineyard, bought the hotel at an auction.The hotel was nominated in Today magazine as "Best Small Hotel in Canada," the hotel's website claims.

Long Lake is a lake in eastern Ontario, Canada in the municipality of Tay Valley in Lanark County. The lake is nearly 3 km long and about 600m wide at its widest. Long Lake is fed by a number of small tributaries leading to intermittent lakes. It is drained by an unnamed creek leading to Adams Lake. Long Lake has five islands, the largest and only named one, being Farry Island. It is located in the east end of the lake and is uninhabited. It is about 400m long and 200m wide. It is a fairly steep island, rising about 20m above the level of the lake, its highest point being over 150m above sea level. The lake has a number of cottages lining the northern and southeastern shores. The nearest community is Stanleyville, 5 km west of the lake.

Otter Lake is located within the Township of Rideau Lakes. The lake lies close to Highway 15 between the villages of Lombardy and Portland. Because Otter Lake lies more or less in a north-south direction, there are often some spectacular sunrises and sunsets that can be viewed from property owners docks, balconies, and decks.From the 1870s to the 1950s, the catchment basin was farmed. Some of the first families to settle the area during this period included Anderson, Frayn, Looby, Gillespie, and Wills. Igor Gouzenko, a cipher clerk at the embassy of the Soviet Union in Ottawa, is believed to have hide at a cottage on Otter Lake during October 1945 during his defection to Canada. Between 1953 and 1991, a large degree of naturalization took place with airphotos showing farmland being abandoned and shrub and tree cover replacing open fields. Camp Otterdale was founded in 1955 by the Harrisons at their family cottage on Otter Lake. Today, the development pressure is relatively high on Otter Lake with approximately 330 cottages and 4 commercial properties Otter Lake is not part of the Rideau Canal system. It is part of the Otter Creek / Hutton Creek Complex which is an area with a large north-eastern drainage pattern towards the mid-part of the Rideau River.The catchment area draining into the lake is about 36 square km and the shoreline length is about 20 km. The lake is 124 meters above mean sea level and is part of the Rideau River drainage basin. There are several parent streams flowing into Otter Lake and one primary outlet, which is Otter Creek, which meanders about 33 km before flowing into the Rideau River south of Smiths Falls.Despite its relatively small size, Otter Lake holds a large volume of water and is quite deep, up to 36 m at its deepest location and generally exhibits the characteristics of a mesotrophic lake although the deep bathymetry of the central and southern areas of the lake is more typical of an oligotrophic lake. As a result of its depth, the lake is one of the last lakes in the Rideau Lakes region to freeze in winter, and as a result, the lake is home to a large variety of water fowl.Lake Trout experienced extirpation from Otter Lake likely in the 1970s. There was a few attempts at stocking Lake Trout but they failed and the program was switched over to Splake in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the 2000s, the lake is no longer stocked with Splake primarily because of low oxygen in deep waters during the summer months. Otters experienced extirpation from Otter Lake in the first half of the twentieth century likely post 1930s. Anecdotal sightings suggested otters returned to Otter Lake in the mid-2010s with confirmed sightings in 2019 and 2020.Black rat snakes also experienced extirpation from Otter Lake in the fIrst half of the twentieth century likely post 1930s.There are numerous natural wetland areas around the lake that are important habitat. Most of these wetlands are classified as "Locally Significant" however some have not yet been evaluated or classified. Wetlands to the east of Otter Lake are classified as "Provincially Significant" and represent an example of "linked wetlands" which allow a more diverse population of wildlife.Otter Lake abuts the Frontenac Axis of the Canadian Shield on the southwest with part of the lake being underlain by carbonate rock. The carbonate rock on the northeastern shore of Otter Lake is some of the only examples of Cambrian rock in Ontario. Parts of Nepean Sandstone found at surface near Otter Lake form Significant Groundwater Recharge Areas Otter Lake is also fed by numerous springs although little is known about the volume or source of these springs. Overall, the water in Otter Lake replenishes about every four years by surface runoff, precipitation and springs.

The Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located in southeastern Ontario, Canada. The biosphere reserve was designated in 2002, and is one of 16 biosphere reserves in Canada. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere operates primarily within a 2,700 km2. region from Brockville to Kingston, extending north to Verona and Perth. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere is located in the Thousand Islands - Frontenac Arch area, in one of the great crossroads of Eastern Canada. An ancient granite bridge, called the Frontenac Arch, runs from the northern Canadian Shield in Algonquin Park to the Adirondack Mountains in the United States. The granite arch intersects with the St. Lawrence River in the southernmost part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere boundary, as the St. Lawrence River runs southwest to northeast from Kingston to Brockville. The Biosphere Reserve operates as a not-for-profit network, called the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Network, with over 100 regional partners, and a suite of programs aimed at encouraging the community to become a global model for sustainable development. The Frontenac Arch Biosphere’s activities are guided by three core functions as set by UNESCO and the Man and the Biosphere Programme: Conservation: To contribute to the protection of cultural diversity and biodiversity through sharing of knowledge and best practices concerning the conservation of ecosystems, species and the natural biodiversity of the region. Sustainable Development: To foster and promote human development that is socially, culturally, economically and ecologically sustainable for all time. Capacity Building: To facilitate dialogue and information-sharing between communities, resource sectors, governments and researchers, for the purpose of education, training, research and/or monitoring projects.