Giant Floor Map-

Step into the watershed

Walk alongside a water walker as she welcomes you to the watershed. Marvel at the vibrant, deepening blues of the lakes’ bathymetry. Read the names of the languages that have been spoken on the land for years untold. See how the land is being used in the network of waterways that flow across the landscape. Find your home — and be inspired by the places you could go.

Photograph by Scott Parent

Stories from the watershed

People
Person standing on cliff overlooking rapids
Place
Moose swimming
Wildlife

Great Lakes Untamed

Experience the Great Lakes as you’ve never seen them before

Accomplished documentarians Merit Motion Pictures and Oak Island Films have set their eyes on bringing the Great Lakes watershed to the world through the landmark documentary series Great Lakes Untamed. These awe-inspiring films enrich the Biinaagami initiative and remind us of what we have to lose if we fail to protect the waters of the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes Untamed takes us on a journey through this constantly evolving world that shapes the lives of millions of animals, plants and humans. Carved by the retreat of a two-million-year-old glacier, North America’s five great lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario — form the largest freshwater ecosystem on Earth and contain one-quarter of the world’s entire supply of fresh water. As wide as the Atlantic Ocean, this enormous watershed is now revealing new mysteries: rocks that glow in the dark on Superior’s shore, Canada’s longest underwater cave system beneath the Ottawa River and fish that feed in the sky. Here, life has adapted to an extreme climate on land and underwater to survive. Marvel at never-before-filmed footage of freshwater cod singing beneath the ice to find a mate, flying squirrels that glow in the dark, beautiful salamanders that use plants to breathe and the last wolverines in eastern North America.

Watch the full documentary series.

Swim Guide

Swim Guide was launched in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed more than a decade ago to help address water quality concerns and answer your question: Is it safe to swim here? Swim Guide is now international yet continues to help people around the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed connect to their local water and understand health risks associated with recreating in the water.

People swimming at Gord Edgar Downie Pier

Photograph by Geoff Coombs

Explore the watershed