Category: News

By Jayme Jones

In May 2019, Valencia, Spain became the world capital of wetlands when they hosted the Living Lakes 15^th International Conference on Lakes and Wetlands. As one of the five Living Lakes Canada members who travelled to Spain to attend, there are three key themes from the conference that stood out to me.

Perspectives. This was the first international conference I have attended that was broadly represented with delegates from around the world. The 200 delegates from 41 countries brought diverse perspectives that really increased my understanding on the state of water systems from every corner of this planet. I heard about peatland management in the Broads of England. I heard about the pollution in Lake Chapala – Mexico’s largest natural lake. I heard about projects to strengthen the condition of St. Lucia wetland in South Africa. Each of these perspectives share a commonality we all face: our water systems are challenged by alterations we have made to them. However, there are things we can do improve the situation.

Passion. There was so much passion shared about the projects that the various delegates are working on to improve their local waterbodies. A delegate from India shared a passionate story about her success in working with communities to restore mangroves in 4,500 hectares of important river mud flats. Not only does this project help sequester carbon dioxide to reduce the impact of climate change. It also empowers women to be Mangrove Stewards to support their livelihoods.  A delegate from Columbia shared a passionate story about his organization’s efforts to create green filters to reduce the domestic wastewater inflow to Lake Fúquene. Each conference delegate was passionate about some specific way to protect water.

Paella. Our Spanish hosts gave us a wonderful experience of the local Spanish culture. We had many opportunities to eat the traditional dish of Spain – Paella. Paella is a delicious dish of rice and seafood that is accompanied by a cold Spanish beer. It wasn’t just the Spanish food we were able to experience; we also explored a significant wetland near Valencia called L’Albufera. The Albufera is a managed freshwater lagoon and estuary. It was declared a Ramsar Site in 1990 as a wetland of international importance to birds. The Albufera is surrounded by rice fields that have altered the landscape for centuries. We visited an exciting project within the Albufera that successfully reclaimed some rice fields into wetland habitat. Not only has this reclaimed wetland increased the biodiversity of the landscape, it has also played a key role in purifying the water quality of the lagoon.

Participating in the Living Lakes International conference provided a global vision of water challenges and success stories. The entire Living Lakes Canada team built strong connections with the delegates from around the world. These connections will provide important opportunities for strategic alliances with water stewards around the world. Together, we can do more to conserve the world’s waterbodies, and so we will.

Jayme Jones is a former Program Coordinator for Living Lakes Canada. She now works as a Research Assistant for Selkirk College. 

Valencia, Spain – May 15, 2019: Members of the Living Lakes Canada team just finished attending a Living Lakes International Conference in Valencia, Spain. This was a powerful experience that provided a valuable opportunity to listen, learn, and share experiences around water stewardship, especially around wetlands and climate change impacts. This conference was the 20^th anniversary celebration of Living Lakes and was attended by over 200 delegates from 41 countries.

Living Lakes Canada was represented at the conference by Nelson, BC residents Avery Deboer-Smith, Claire Pollock-Hall and Jayme Jones, and Squamish resident Raegan Mallinson (formerly of Nelson).

“These four young women represented the Columbia Basin and spoke to an international delegation about their water stewardship work, sharing what they’re doing at a grassroots regional and national level,” said Living Lakes Canada Executive Director Kat Hartwig, who also attended the conference. “Climate change adaptation measures for wetlands and all the species that depend on them are a global problem and presented a common bond for all the participants.”

The Living Lakes Canada team learned about climate change impacts and water systems around the world, from peat extraction in England releasing carbon emissions to the mining impacts on lakes and wetlands in Mongolia, to how climate change and population pressures have impacted water quality and invasive species resulting in the population decline the manatee population in Malawi, Africa.

There were many positive and innovative solutions and collaborations presented. One example was how an organization in India trained citizen scientists to monitor and assist mangrove reforestation, as well as developed economic incentives to help support the local economies. An organization from Colombia shared success stories about cost-effective green filters developed to improve water quality in locations around the world.

The young delegates left the conference feeling more connected and empowered due to support from the global Living Lakes network, which connects concerned and engaged water stewards from around the world who are addressing water and climate issues.

“The Living Lakes Canada team will continue to work with and learn from water champions from other countries as well as share our citizen science success stories that have taken place right here in the Columbia Basin,” said Hartwig.

“We were very grateful that Kicking Horse Coffee helped support our participation in this important international wetlands conference,” she concluded.

 

 

 

The “Elevating CBWM in Canada” webinar is an overview of a year-long collaborative initiative designed to celebrate and promote community-based monitoring of freshwater ecosystems in and across Canada. 

ACCESS THE WEBINAR RECORDING HERE
(An audio transcript is also available.)

In November 2018, a national roundtable discussion on the topic of “Elevating community-based water monitoring in Canada” was convened by Living Lakes Canada, WWF-Canada and The Gordon Foundation. All three organizations engage with Community-Based Water Monitoring (CBWM) in different ways and are committed to advancing collaborative and evidence-based water stewardship across Canada. The aim of the roundtable was to identify actionable steps the federal government can take to show leadership and support in advancing CBWM in Canada.

Out of that Roundtable came the following resources:

• FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
• ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION PAPER
• Community-Based Water Monitoring in Canada at a Glance – Featured Case Studies

The “Elevating CBWN in Canada” webinar was hosted in April 2019 by WWF-Canada, during which the history and the process behind the initiative was revisited, the final recommendations were presented, and next steps were discussed.

By Raegan Mallison, Living Lakes Canada Program Manager

A group of students who recently completed their first year in Selkirk College’s Integrated Environmental Planning Program attended a riverbed sample collection for DNA metabarcoding at Pass Creek, outside of Castlegar, B.C. last weekend (April 27-28).

The Living Lakes Canada demonstration was a taste of what is to come this fall when the students, as part of the program, will be certified in the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABiN) field practicum.

Living Lakes Canada has been training water stewardship communities, government, industry, academia and First Nation communities in the CABiN protocol for the last 6 years; and using the CABiN protocol for stream water monitoring efforts over the last decade. The CABiN protocol is a standardized method for collecting benthic invertebrates — the small animals on the bottom of the stream that are indicative of the water quality — to provide stream health assessments.

Selkirk College, with guidance and training from Living Lakes Canada and Environment and Climate Change Canada, has been able to integrate this certification through the Integrated Environmental Planning Program.

During the demonstration, students were able to participate in the collection of the benthics in Pass Creek and learned about the new updated technology for the analysis of the benthics using DNA metabarcoding, which is a combination of DNA identification and automated DNA sequencing to generate biodiversity data for freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates. Changes in the makeup of these invertebrate communities can be excellent indicators of pollution and other environmental stressors.

Compared to current monitoring methods, which can be slow and costly, DNA metabarcoding technology has the potential to produce biodiversity data more quickly, more affordably and at a higher resolution. The results of DNA-based biomonitoring will support better environmental assessment, planning and regulatory decisions, which is essential as population growth, agricultural activity, resource development and climate change all put increasing pressure on Canada’s freshwater ecosystems.

The new partnership between Living Lakes Canada, World Wildlife Fund Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Dr. Mehrdad Hajibabaei of the University of Guelph, with funding from Genome Canada, will bring this new DNA metabarcoding technology to Canadian communities. Called Sequencing the Rivers for Environmental Assessment and Monitoring (STREAM), this project will pair the power of DNA metabarcodingtechnology with community groups across the country to allow for faster sample analysis of benthic invertebrate data that can be collected year-round while developing a national citizen science program.

As one of the groups participating in this national project, Selkirk College students will learn the CABiN techniques through collecting real samples for real analysis by the University of Guelph. These fall samples will be compared to the samples collected so far this spring to begin establishing baseline data and potential for seasonal variability.

If you are interested in taking part in the STREAM project and submitting benthic samples free of charge to the University of Guelph, and/or receiving CABiN training to learn methods for stream health assessments, please contact Living Lakes Canada Operations Manager Raegan Mallinson at raegan@livinglakescanada.ca.

To learn more about DNA metabarcoding and STREAM, visit https://livinglakescanada.ca/new-edna-project-stream-launching-summer-2019/.

 

 

Living Lakes Canada is heading to Valencia, Spain for the 15th International Living Lakes Conference on May 7-9, 2019.

The conference, titled the “World Congress for Wetland and Lake Restoration”, will mark two other milestones: the 20th anniversary of the international Living Lakes network, and 15 years since an International Living Lakes Conference was held in Fairmont Hot Springs, B.C., which led to the formation of Living Lakes Canada in 2010.

“We’re very excited to be participating in this international wetlands event. We are able to do so thanks to the interest of Kicking Horse Coffee, which was a sponsor and participant in the Fairmont conference 15 years ago and has provided support for increased stewardship for our local wetlands,” said Living Lakes Canada Executive Director Kat Hartwig.

The 2004 International Living Lakes Conference in Fairmont showcased the Columbia River headwaters and Columbia Wetlands, a RAMSAR-designated Wetland of International Importance. The CEO of Kicking Horse Coffee, Elana Rosenfeld, addressed the conference theme of engaged corporate and social responsibility for the environment. The CEOs of Mountain Equipment Co-op and Unilever Canada also spoke about the significance of the Columbia River headwaters and wetlands on a global scale.  

“It feels like we have come full circle in a way,” said Heather Leschied, Operations Director for Living Lakes Canada, “so it is quite meaningful that Living Lakes Canada will be travelling to Spain, not only to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the International Living Lakes network, but 15 years since the International Living Lakes Conference was held in Canada and was the inspiration for all of our Living Lakes Canada water stewardship work. These conferences support engaged, passionate people to share how their contributions to the health of watersheds are making a difference, and are incredibly motivating and impactful.”

Five of Living Lakes Canada’s team members will be attending the Valencia conference and highlights will include visiting local wetland restoration sites and connecting with Living Lakes International partners to share best community­-based water stewardship practices.

Living Lakes Canada will reciprocate by presenting on some of the exciting work currently underway in the Columbia Basin and across Canada:

• The national stream health assessment protocol, the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN), and testing new eDNA technology developed by the University of Guelph.
• Groundwater monitoring and aquifer mapping in the Columbia Basin.
• Projects that collaborate or are in partnership with First Nations, academia,  community members and all levels of government to restore and establish wetlands in the headwaters of the Columbia Basin, in Canada.
• How the transboundary Columbia Basin water monitoring collaborative will make water monitoring information open, accessible and available for engagement, education and management decisions in support of watershed stewardship.

Several of the Living Lakes Canada team members will be staying after the conference to join Living Lakes International on a trip to Sierra de Mariola and the ecological cellar as well as a trip to Marjal dels Moros Coastal Wetland. The team hopes to bring back lessons from this experience and integrate it into the work they are doing in Canada.

“Having the opportunity to showcase our work to international partners is invaluable. Our team works so hard and is so passionate about the change we are making through our projects,” said Living Lakes Canada Program Coordinator Avery Deboer-Smith. “We are also looking forward to learning from our international partners and creating new relationships that will advance Living Lakes Canada.”

Access the 15th International Living Lakes Conference website here. 

 

Description

Please join us for a presentation and discussion about the exciting outcomes of a year-long collaborative initiative designed to celebrate and promote community-based monitoring of freshwater ecosystems in across Canada. We are pleased to present final recommendations developed to identify actionable steps the federal government can take to show leadership and support in advancing community-based water monitoring (CBWM) in Canada.

During this webinar we’ll revisit the history and the process behind the initiative, dive into the recommendations and discuss next steps.

Space is limited, so register today!

Ahead of the webinar, be sure to explore the final recommendations and discussion paper.

The Columbia Wetland System, which stretches 180 km along the Rocky Mountain Trench from Canal Flats in the south to the head of the Mica Reservoir just north of Donald, is one largest wetland complexes in British Columbia and provides important ecological services to the Columbia Valley and beyond. The land tenure is complex mix of public and private lands. As a result of ecological importance of the Columbia Wetlands and the variety of land tenures, their management is multifaceted involving many different jurisdictions.

The Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partnership (CWSP) has compiled a database of reports related to the Columbia Wetlands. The database and this management plan review have identified almost 100 management plans related to the Columbia Wetlands. These include various land and/or water management, strategy, or action plans such as wildlife management area plans; park plans; invasive plant and pest management plans; official community plans; land use plans; and species management and recovery plans. A holistic review of all of these management plans and their implementation status would help identify which plans have the most impact on wetland protection, gaps and opportunities, and how CWSP Partners can collaborate to support common conservation goals.

The specific objectives of this management plan review were to: create a list of the management plans in the CWSP database and identify any missing plans; identify the key plans that have the most significant potential impact on management of the wetlands; and for the key plans provide a summary of the management goals and objectives, and implementation status.

For more information and to view the Synthesis of Local and Regional Conservation & Management Goals & Objectives for the Columbia Wetlands click on document below.

 

 

 

STREAM (Sequencing the Rivers for Environmental Assessment and Monitoring) DNA, is a new community-based project which involves the collection of eDNA from rivers across Canada. STREAM is a collaboration between Living Lakes Canada (LLC) World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the University of Guelph. The project will work with interested partners including community and water stewardship groups, academia, Indigenous communities, all levels of government and industry to collect data for stream health assessments.

This project will use an updated version of the Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) protocol, developed by ECCC to collect eDNA samples using biomonitoring of benthic invertebrates, or the small animals on the bottom of the stream. Benthic invertebrates are strong indicators of water quality since the small organisms included in that group are highly sensitive to pollutants and other changes that impact aquatic ecosystem health. See infographics below.

The University of Guelph received a $2.6 million grant from Genome Canada to support eDNA sample analysis for communities for 3 years. The goal is to collect 1500 samples from 15 nationally distributed watersheds over 3 years (5 watersheds/year) with community-based water monitoring (CBWM). Participants will learn and build skills for stream health assessments, open sourced data inputs and access while using new, more cost-effective technology. Following the announcement earlier this year, the STREAM project will focus on 5 priority watersheds for Year 1 including the Columbia, Skeena Liard in British Columbia, the Bow Valley in Alberta and Sudbury in Ontario.

Living Lakes Canada will train and certify interested organizations using an adapted CABIN protocol to include eDNA analysis. Participants will receive their 2-day CABiN field practicum certification during the courses. Living Lakes Canada and partners will assist interested organizations in their first year of sampling, offering knowledge in site selection and monitoring. The organizations will then commit to maintaining the project in later years, submitting samples to the University of Guelph and commit to sharing data in open platforms.

Our first CABIN course is scheduled for the Columbia Basin for June 12 and 13 in Nelson, BC.

We also have scheduled courses in:

Canmore, AB July 16 & 17

Sudbury, ON September 17 & 18

If you have questions about this course, please email LLC Program Manager Raegan Mallinson at raegan@livinglakescanada.ca.

For more information on the CABIN protocol and biomonitoring, visit: https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/canadian-aquatic-biomonitoring-network.html

For more information on course costs, modules and levels of training and registration visit:

 http://canadianriversinstitute.com/training/cabin/

These recommendations are the outcome of the national roundtable discussion convened in November, 2018 by Living Lakes Canada, WWF-Canada and The Gordon Foundation. All three organizations engage with Community-Based Water Monitoring (CBWM) in different ways and are committed to advancing collaborative and evidence-based water stewardship across Canada.

The Roundtable was aimed at identifying actionable steps the federal government can take to show leadership and support in advancing community-based monitoring of freshwater ecosystems in Canada.

Elevating Community-Based Water Monitoring in Canada Resource Package:

• FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS
• ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION PAPER
• Community-Based Water Monitoring in Canada at a Glance – Featured Case Studies

Read the LLC blog about the Roundtable here.