Gould Lake Conservation Area is a rural

conservation area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

located in the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...

northwest of the community of

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

in the Township of South Frontenac,

Frontenac County Frontenac County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The city of Kingston is in the Frontenac census division, but is separated from the County of Fron ...

, in

eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The area was created to manage water resources, preserve wildlife habitat, and provide recreational and educational opportunities, and is managed by the

Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority is one of 36 conservation authorities in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is headquartered in Kingston, Ontario The authority was established by an Order in Council in December 1964 via the Conserv ...

. The conservation area contains much of Gould Lake. Gould L picnic area and barn DSCN0862r

Geology and geography

The conservation area lies just north of the bedrock scarp that denotes the boundary between the Canadian Shield of the

Frontenac Axis Frontenac may refer to: People *Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Governor of New France Places Canada Quebec *Château Frontenac, hotel in Quebec City *Frontenac, Quebec *Frontenac County, Quebec *Frontenac (Montreal Metro), Montreal Metro station *F ...

with its

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...

bedrock and the

Paleozoic The Paleozoic (or Palaeozoic) Era is the earliest of three geologic eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. The name ''Paleozoic'' ( ;) was coined by the British geologist Adam Sedgwick in 1838 by combining the Greek words ''palaiós'' (, "old") and ' ...

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and System (geology), system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era (geology), Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start ...

formations to the south. The bedrock was significantly eroded by the

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

of the

Late Wisconsinan The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cord ...

age. The headwaters of the

Millhaven Creek Millhaven Creek (french: ruisseau Millhaven) is a stream in the municipalities of Loyalist, Lennox and Addington County, and South Frontenac, Frontenac County, and the single-tier municipality of Kingston in eastern Ontario, Canada. It is a trib ...

system lies within the area. Gould Lake drains south through Silvers Lake and Little Long Lake and then into Eel Bay, an extension of Sydenham Lake. Sydenham Lake in turn drains into Millhaven Creek, which flows to

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

. The park's

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

is thus in the

Great Lakes Basin The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose dir ...

Nature and ecology

Lying within the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest region, tree species that grow in the conservation area include

eastern hemlock ''Tsuga canadensis'', also known as eastern hemlock, eastern hemlock-spruce, or Canadian hemlock, and in the French-speaking regions of Canada as ''pruche du Canada'', is a coniferous tree native to eastern North America. It is the state tree of ...

white cedar White cedar may refer to several different trees: * Bignoniaceae ** ''Tabebuia heterophylla'' - native to Caribbean islands and also cultivated as an ornamental tree * Cupressaceae: ** ''Chamaecyparis thyoides'' – Atlantic white cypress ** ''Cup ...

yellow birch ''Betula alleghaniensis'', the yellow birch, golden birch, or swamp birch, is a large tree and an important lumber species of birch native to northeastern North America. Its vernacular names refer to the golden color of the tree's bark. In the pa ...

white birch ''Betula papyrifera'' (paper birch, also known as (American) white birch and canoe birch) is a short-lived species of birch native to northern North America. Paper birch is named for the tree's thin white bark, which often peels in paper like ...

eastern white pine ''Pinus strobus'', commonly called the eastern white pine, northern white pine, white pine, Weymouth pine (British), and soft pine is a large pine native to eastern North America. It occurs from Newfoundland, Canada west through the Great Lakes ...

red maple ''Acer rubrum'', the red maple, also known as swamp maple, water maple, or soft maple, is one of the most common and widespread deciduous trees of eastern and central North America. The U.S. Forest Service recognizes it as the most abundant nativ ...

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prima ...

, and

black spruce ''Picea mariana'', the black spruce, is a North American species of spruce tree in the pine family. It is widespread across Canada, found in all 10 provinces and all 3 territories. It is the official tree of the province of Newfoundland and Labra ...

. Wildlife include

white-tailed deer The white-tailed deer (''Odocoileus virginianus''), also known as the whitetail or Virginia deer, is a medium-sized deer native to North America, Central America, and South America as far south as Peru and Bolivia. It has also been introduced t ...

beaver Beavers are large, semiaquatic rodents in the genus ''Castor'' native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere. There are two extant species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers ar ...

black bear Black bear or Blackbear may refer to: Animals * American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), a North American bear species * Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), an Asian bear species Music * Black Bear (band), a Canadian First Nations group ...

, and

muskrat The muskrat (''Ondatra zibethicus'') is a medium-sized semiaquatic rodent native to North America and an introduced species in parts of Europe, Asia, and South America. The muskrat is found in wetlands over a wide range of climates and habitat ...

. Species of fish within Gould Lake include smallmouth and largemouth bass,

pumpkinseed The pumpkinseed (''Lepomis gibbosus''), also referred to as pond perch, common sunfish, punkie, sunfish, sunny, and kivver, is a small/medium-sized North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Lepomis'' (true sunfishes), from family Centrarchi ...

, and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

History

Industrial expansion in the 19th century led to the opening of several

mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

mines in the Gould Lake area. A number of old mine pits and other mining relics can be seen. The McClatchy Mine, which operated until 1912, originally mined

phosphate In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

until it was sold and then mined for mica. The Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority bought land that would become the conservation area between 1967 and 1973.

Facilities and activities

Gould Lake Conservation Area is a day-use area; no camping is permitted. Picnicking, fishing, canoeing, wildlife viewing,

cross country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

, hiking, and swimming are the main activities visitors participate in. The Rideau Trail Association maintains about of trails, including a portion of the main trail of the Rideau Trail and many side trails. The

Limestone District School Board Limestone District School Board (LDSB, known as English-language Public District School Board No. 27 prior to 1999) is an English public district school board encompassing a region that includes the City of Kingston and the counties of Frontenac ...

uses the original barn located near the beach as the focus of its

outdoor education Outdoor education is organized learning that takes place in the outdoors. Outdoor education programs sometimes involve residential or journey wilderness-based experiences in which students participate in a variety of adventurous challenges and out ...

programs at the property.

References

Gould Lake Conservation Area
Retrieved December 19, 2013
Gould Lake Conservation Area
Retrieved December 19, 2013
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources – Ontario's Forest Regions: Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Forest
Retrieved December 19, 2013
Gould Lake
Retrieved December 19, 2013
Gould Lake Conservation Area
Retrieved December 19, 2013
Frontenac Arch Biosphere – Gould Lake Conservation Area
Retrieved December 19, 2013 *
Quaternary Geology, Sydenham Area, Southern Ontario
Retrieved December 19, 3013

External links

Map of South End of Gould Lake Indicating Facilities and Trails

Map of Gould Lake Indicating Conservation Area Property, Facilities and Trails
{{Ontario parks Conservation areas in Ontario Protected areas of Frontenac County