A river runs through it

The Salmon River flows southwest from its source near the town of Arden in Ontario’s Frontenac County. It meanders through several small lakes, bisecting a handful of villages on its way through Hastings County until it meets the Bay of Quinte near Shannonville, between Kingston and Belleville.

Every watershed is unique, and this one has at least two qualities that make it a valuable data mine for researchers and students.

Firstly, the headwaters lie in a relatively pristine area, but as the Salmon makes its way toward Lake Ontario, the soil becomes more fertile and easier to work. Agriculture intensifies and the consequent runoff affects the surface and groundwater quality in the watershed.

Secondly, the Salmon flows initially over the tough igneous rock that gives the Canadian Shield its rugged reputation. But as it nears its mouth, volcanic bedrock gives way to the softer, more porous metasedimentary and sedimentary rocks deposited as ancient seabed, layer by layer, over millions of years. Different rocks with different cracks mean different hydrology.

Almost exactly halfway along the Salmon’s course, near the sleepy town of Tamworth, lies the 59-hectare Kennedy Field Station. It’s operated by the Department of Civil Engineering at Queen’s, and, thanks to support from the RBC Blue Water Project, it’s becoming the home base for real-time monitoring of the entire river system.

“The Kennedy site is the central nucleus of what we call the model watershed,” says Queen’s Researcher Dr. Geof Hall. “We’re instrumenting the whole Salmon River from top to bottom with flow sensors, water-quality sensors and weather stations to really understand the hydrological cycle. Imagine watching the response of the watershed as a whole as a storm passes through.”

Hall is associate director of the Water Research Centre (WRC) and oversees Kennedy with Civil Engineering Professor and WRC Director Kent Novakowski. Hall says there are research projects beyond the model watershed underway at Kennedy now. But the other key value of the field station, he adds, is as a real-world classroom. The site is equipped with wetlab and lecture facilities, as well as other structures and equipment, also fitted out with support from the RBC Blue Water Project.

“The hands-on experience is the critical part of this whole facility,” says Hall. “We have students take soil samples to understand the makeup of

the sediment and the soil that’s here. We drop cameras down the wells so they can see what the groundwater environment looks like and have them conduct experiments so they can see that there are, in fact, channels through which contaminants move back and forth. We bring them down to the river so they can

“The Kennedy site is the central

nucleus of what we call the model watershed... We’re instrumenting the whole Salmon River from top to bottom with flow sensors, water-quality sensors and weather

survey fish, invertebrates, the aquatic ecosystem and the river itself.” Hall says Kennedy is developing according to a 10-year plan, but he notes the facility is available to any Queen’saffiliated group that has a good idea for it. ” stations to really understand the hydrological cycle.

“We can function as if we were at Queen’s for the classroom or lab work and then simply step outside for access to the river,” says Hall. “The value in that is enormous.” Geof Hall teaches a watershed course at the Kennedy Field Station.

Equipment/features list:

140-acre scientific station (Tamworth, ON) 2 km of river frontage on Salmon River Six ground water wells and monitoring instrumentation Control dam operated by the Napanee Conservation Authority Instrumented model watershed in development Log cabin lodge Classroom seating for 25 Wet laboratory Outdoor pavilion Tractor with several attachments for site maintenance

Principal investigators include:

Dr. Kent Novakowski

Dr. Geof Hall

Multi-discipline group of researchers from Queen’s and the Royal Military College of Canada