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The Ottawa River (, ) is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word "to trade", as it was the major trade route of Eastern Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border between these two provinces. It is a major tributary of the St. Lawrence River and the longest river in Quebec.
From Lake Timiskaming, the river flows southeast to Ottawa and Gatineau, where it tumbles over Chaudière Falls and further takes in the Rideau River and Gatineau River rivers.
The Ottawa River drains into the Lake of Two Mountains and the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. The river is long; it drains an area of , 65 per cent in Quebec and the rest in Ontario, with a mean discharge of . It has a maximum depth of at the Carillon Reservoir and is wide at its widest part.
The average annual mean waterflow measured at Carillon dam, near the Lake of Two Mountains, is , with average annual extremes of . Record historic levels since 1964 are a low of in 2010 and a high of in 2017.
The river flows through large areas of deciduous and coniferous forest formed over thousands of years as trees recolonized the Ottawa Valley after the ice age.Anderson, T.W. 1989. Vegetation changes over 12000 years. Geos (3) 39-47. Generally, the coniferous forests and blueberry bogs occur on old sand plains left by retreating glaciers, or in wetter areas with clay substrate. The deciduous forests, dominated by birch, maple, beech, oak and ash occur in more mesic areas with better soil, generally around the boundary with the La Varendrye Park.Braun, E.L. 1950. Deciduous Forests of Eastern North America. The Blakiston Co., Philadelphia, PA.Keddy, P.A. 2008. Earth, Water, Fire. An Ecological Profile of Lanark County. General Store Publishing House, Renfrew, Ontario. (revised from first edition 1999). These primeval forests were occasionally affected by natural fire, mostly started by lightning, which led to increased reproduction by pine and oak, as well as fire barrens and their associated species.Catling, P. and V. Brownell. 1999. Pages 392-405 in the book Anderson, R.C., J.S. Fralish and J.M. Baskin. 1999. Savannas, Barrens, and Rock Outcrop Plant Communities of North America. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. The vast areas of pine were exploited by early loggers.Hughson, J.W. and C.C. J. Bond. 1965. Hurling Down the Pine. The Historical Society of the Gatineau, Old Chelsea, Quebec. First edition 1964, Revised second edition 1965. Later generations of logging removed Tsuga for use in tanning leather, leaving a permanent deficit of hemlock in most forests.Keddy, C.J. 1993. Forest History of Eastern Ontario. Prepared for the Eastern Ontario Model Forest Group, Kemptville Associated with the logging and early settlement were vast wild fires which not only removed the forests, but led to soil erosion.Howe, C.D. 1915. The effect of repeated forest fires upon the reproduction of commercial species in Peterborough County, Ontario. Pages 116-211 in Forest Protection in Canada, 1913 1914, Commission of Conservation of Canada, William Briggs, Toronto. Consequently, nearly all the forests show varying degrees of human disturbance. Tracts of older forest are uncommon, and hence they are considered of considerable importance for conservation.Henry, M. and P. Quinby. 2009. Ontario Old Growth Forests. Fitzhenry and Whiteside, Markham, Ontario
The Ottawa River has large areas of wetlands. Some of the more biologically important wetland areas include (going downstream from Pembroke), the Westmeath sand dune/wetland complex, Mississippi Snye, Breckenridge Nature Reserve, Shirleys Bay, Ottawa Beach/Andrew Haydon Park, Petrie Island, the Duck IslandsDarbyshire, S.J. 1981. Upper Duck and Lower Duck Islands. Trail and Landscape 15:133-139. and Greens Creek.Brunton, D.F. 1992. Life Science Areas of Natural and Scientific Interest in Site District 6-12. A Review and Assessment of Significant Natural Areas. Report prepared for Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Kemptville, Ontario. Ecosystem Diversity . ottawariverkeeper.ca. Retrieved on 2013-07-12. The Westmeath sand dune/wetland complex is significant for its relatively pristine sand dunes, few of which remain along the Ottawa River, and the many associated rare plants. Shirleys Bay has a biologically diverse shoreline alvar, as well as one of the largest silver maple swamps along the river. Like all wetlands, these depend upon the seasonal fluctuations in the water level.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK High water levels help create and maintain Acer saccharinum swamps,Toner, M, and P. Keddy. 1997. River hydrology and riparian wetlands: a predictive model for ecological assembly. Ecological Applications 7: 236-246 while low water periods allow many rare wetland plants to grow on the emerged sand and clay flats.Brunton, D.F. and B.M. Di Labio. Diversity and ecological characteristics of emergent beach flora along the Ottawa River in the Ottawa-Hull region, Quebec and Ontario. Naturaliste canadien 116: 179-191. There are five principal wetland vegetation types. One is swamp, mostly silver maple. There are four herbaceous vegetation types, named for the dominant plant species in them: Scirpus, Eleocharis, Sparganium and Typha.Day, R., P.A. Keddy, J. McNeill and T. Carleton. 1988. Fertility and disturbance gradients: a summary model for riverine marsh vegetation. Ecology 69:1044-1054 Which type occurs in a particular location depends upon factors such as substrate type, water depth, ice-scour and fertility. Inland, and mostly south of the river, older river channels, which date back to the end of the ice age, and no longer have flowing water, have sometimes filled with a different wetland type, peat bog. Examples include Mer Bleue and Alfred Bog.
As the glacier began to retreat at the end of the last ice age, the Ottawa River valley, which, along with the St. Lawrence River valley and Lake Champlain, had been depressed to below sea level by the glacier's weight, filled with sea water. The resulting arm of the Atlantic Ocean is known as the Champlain Sea. Fossil remains of marine life dating 12 to 10 thousand years ago have been found in marine clay throughout the region. Sand deposits from this era have produced vast plains, often dominated by pine forests, as well as localized areas of sand dunes, such as Westmeath and Constance Bay. Clay deposits from this period have resulted in areas of poor drainage, large swamps, and peat in some ancient channels of this river. Hence, the distribution of forests and wetlands is very much a product of these past glacial events.
Large deposits of a material commonly known as Quick clay also formed. These deposits become highly unstable after heavy rains. Numerous have occurred as a result. The former site of the town of Lemieux, Ontario collapsed into the South Nation River in 1993. The town's residents had previously been relocated because of the suspected instability of the earth in that location.
As the land gradually rose again the sea coast retreated and the fresh water courses of today took shape. Following the demise of the Champlain Sea the Ottawa River Valley continued to drain the waters of the emerging Upper Great Lakes basin through Lake Nipissing and the Mattawa River. Owing to the ongoing uplift of the land, the eastward flow became blocked around 4000 years ago. Thereafter Lake Nipissing drained westward, through the French River which later became a link in the historic canoe route to the West.
.]]Some early European explorers, possibly considering the Ottawa River to be more significant than the Upper St. Lawrence River, applied the name River Canada to the Ottawa River and the St. Lawrence River below the confluence at Montreal. As the extent of the Great Lakes became clear and the river began to be regarded as a tributary, it was variously known as the Grand River, "Great River" or Grand River of the Algonquins before the present name was settled upon. This name change resulted from the Ottawa peoples' control of the river circa 1685. However, only one band of Ottawa, the Kinouncherpirini or Keinouch, ever inhabited the Ottawa Valley.
In 1615, Samuel de Champlain and Étienne Brûlé, assisted by Algonquin guides, were the first Europeans to travel up the Ottawa River and follow the water route west along the Mattawa and French Rivers to the Great Lakes. See Canadian Canoe Routes (early). For the following two centuries, this route was used by France , voyageurs and coureurs des bois to Canada's interior. The river posed serious hazards to these travellers. The section near Deux Rivières used to have spectacular and wild rapids, namely the Rapide de la Veillée, the Trou, the Rapide des Deux Rivières, and the Rapide de la Roche Capitaine. (These rapids are now submerged under the reservoir of Holden Lake.) In 1800, explorer Daniel Harmon reported 14 crosses marking the deaths of voyageurs who had drowned in the dangerous waters along this section of the Ottawa.Ontario Heritage Foundation, Ministry of Culture and Communications
The main trading posts along the river were: Lachine, Fort Coulonge, Lac des Allumettes, Mattawa House, where west-bound canoes left the river and Fort Témiscamingue. From Lake Timiskaming a portage led north to the Abitibi River and James Bay.
In the early 19th century, the Ottawa River and its tributaries were used to gain access to large virgin forests of white pine. A booming trade in timber developed, and large timber rafting were floated down the river. A scattering of small subsistence farming communities developed along the shores of the river to provide manpower for the in winter. In 1832, following the War of 1812, the Ottawa River gained strategic importance when the Carillon Canal was completed. Together with the Rideau Canal, the Carillon Canal was constructed to provide an alternate military supply route to Kingston and Lake Ontario, bypassing the route along the Saint Lawrence River.
Today, Outaouais Herald Emeritus at the Canadian Heraldic Authority is named after the river.
| Installation | Type | Generating cap. | Year built | Name of reservoir | Operator |
| Bourque Dam | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Rapide-7 | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Rapide-2 | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Rapides-des-Quinze | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Rapides-des-Îles | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Première-Chute | Hydro-Québec |
Lower Ottawa (in downstream order):
| Installation | Type | Generating cap. | Year built | Name of reservoir | Operator |
| Otto Holden | Ontario Power Generation | ||||
| Des Joachims | Ontario Power Generation | ||||
| Bryson | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Chenaux | Ontario Power Generation | ||||
| Chute-des-Chats (Chats Falls) | Hydro-Québec and OPG * | ||||
| Hull-2 | Hydro-Québec | ||||
| Carillon | Hydro-Québec |
In Quebec, there are 3 national parks directly along the Ottawa River (Oka National Park, Plaisance National Park, and Opémican National Park), as well as one major nature reserve through which the river runs (La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve). Several ZECs (zone d'exploitation contrôlée) also line the Ottawa River.
Ontario has 7 provincial parks along the banks of the Ottawa River: Voyageur Provincial Park, Fitzroy Provincial Park, Ottawa River Provincial Park, Westmeath Provincial Park, Petawawa Terrace Provincial Park, Driftwood Provincial Park, and Alexander Lake Forest Provincial Park).
The park is a non-operating park, meaning that there are no services and facilities for visitors. The park can be used for backcountry camping, whitewater canoeing, swimming, hunting, and fishing.
Some of the islands included in the park are Big, Butternut, Cedar, Hazelton, and Lorne Islands, in addition to many unnamed islands. They consists of marble bedrock or low-lying alluvial sands and silts. A total of sixteen regionally significant plant species, such as little bluestem ( Andropogon scoparius), cordgrass ( Spartina pectinata) and Indiangrass ( Sorghastrum nutans) have been found in the park, as well as the nationally significant lake cress ( Rorippa aquatica).
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