Youth and senior Lake Blitz volunteers get a headstart in Kaslo, BC
Lake Blitz Program Manager Camille LeBlanc (left) with Kaslo volunteers (l-r) Sonya Franz, Bill Wells (back), Manon van Tuyl (front), and Jon Atwell.
In 2022, the National Lake Blitz partnered with the Kaslo Community Services Society to help seniors get involved in lake monitoring in the Kootenay Lake watershed. This Kaslo group collected four complete data sets on Kootenay Lake, Fish Lake and Mirror Lake last year.
On April 13, 2023, Lake Blitz Program Manager Camille LeBlanc returned to the Village of Kaslo, this time to train both youth and senior volunteers in preparation for the 2023 monitoring season. A new partnership with the “Kaslo Up the Lake Network” is encouraging younger volunteers to monitor as well as help seniors with data entry. The youth gained hands-on experience exploring the shoreline and learning how to accurately collect air and water temperature data, and to use the Lake Blitz Field Guide and Lake Blitz Observation Form.
As an added bonus, Bill Wells, a volunteer with the Kaslo seniors monitoring group, spoke to the youth about his experience studying forest soils and being involved in watershed conservation in the Kaslo and Argenta areas. Bill will be joining the 2023 Lake Blitz for another year of monitoring and will be sharing his knowledge of environmental monitoring with the new group of Kaslo Seniors. These seniors attended a morning training session that included lots of great discussions and the same hands-on training the youth and kids received. These new Lake Blitz volunteers will be helping collect data on Kootenay Lake and Duncan Lake in 2023.
The deadline to sign up as a volunteer for the 2023 Lake Blitz has been extended to May 8! Visit lakeblitz.livinglakescanada.ca for more info and to register.
