Living Lakes Canada

Water Resource Mapping for Wildfire Suppression in Winlaw, B.C.
2025-06-11 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | SIFCo Resiliency Centre, 6841 Appledale Park Road, Winlaw, B.C., Canada
Living Lakes Canada, in partnership with Slocan Integral Forestry Cooperative (SIFCo), invite you to share your local knowledge on water resources in the Slocan Valley. By applying our data, in tandem with community knowledge, we aim to help communities better prepare for wildfire response efforts.
To share information about water sources for this project, complete this form.
Contact email: wildfire@livinglakescanada.ca

Water Resource Mapping for Wildfire Suppression in Red Mountain/Enterprise Creek
2025-06-10 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Vancouver) | Silverton Memorial Hall, 203 Lake Avenue, Silverton, B.C., V0G 2B0, Canada
Living Lakes Canada, in partnership with Red Mountain Road and Enterprise Creek Emergency Preparedness Society, invite you to share your local knowledge on water resources in the Slocan Valley. By applying our data, in tandem with community knowledge, we aim to help communities better prepare for wildfire response efforts.
To share information about water sources for this project, complete this form.
Contact email: wildfire@livinglakescanada.ca

East Kootenay Water Monitoring Workshop
2025-06-09 - 2025-06-10 | B.C.
Living Lakes Canada is delivering a water monitoring training workshop to Wildsight’s Youth Climate Corps (YCC) in partnership with Columbia Lake Stewardship Society (CLSS) and Lake Windermere Ambassadors (LWA). This training will allow YCC staff to assist CLSS and LWA in annual water quality and quantity monitoring. This event is invite-only.
Contact email: georgia@livinglakescanada.ca

Without Water ʔat snaǂ su·kinkiǂ wuʔu “Every Drop Counts” Public Symposium
2025-06-05 16:30 - 20:30 (America/Edmonton) | Grasmere, B.C.
It’s Your Water. Share a community meal and learn about water in Qukin ʔamakʔis, the Elk River Watershed. This public symposium focuses on how we value, understand, and manage our water. After a keynote speaker, a panel of Indigenous Knowledge Holders, scientists, and decision makers will discuss water quality and quantity issues and how we can work together towards protecting our water.
Email contact: sally.turnbull@livinglakescanada.ca

Without Water ʔat snaǂ su·kinkiǂ wuʔu: A Symposium to Address Watershed Knowledge and Decision Making in Qukin ʔamakʔis, the Elk River Watershed
2025-06-05 | B.C.
Qukin ʔamakʔis, the Elk River watershed, has been central to the ʔakanuxunik’ people of Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it First Nation and all Ktunaxa peoples, since time immemorial. In the face of growing environmental stressors, there is an urgent need for informed, collaborative decision making to safeguard the future of this vital watershed. We envision this event as an opportunity to bring together Knowledge Holders, decision makers, and community members to develop a shared understanding of watershed challenges and current decision making processes. We want to create an understanding of ongoing monitoring in the region, and determine crucial future steps needed to protect the water in this region.
Sharing ʔakanuxunik’ perspectives on water is an important component of the symposium. This event makes space for both First Nations knowledge, culture and values, and western science. Thus, there is the potential for this gathering to be an important pathway for key decision makers from local, provincial, federal, and international governments to learn from Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it First Nation’s perspectives on watershed management and sustainability. The daytime section of this event is invite only. If you would like to attend the public evening portion of the symposium please register at the link here: https://elkrivercollaborative.ca/without-water/
Contact email: sally.turnbull@livinglakescanada.ca

Nechako Watershed Roundtable Spring Technical Event
2025-06-02 - 2025-06-03 | Fort St. James, Fort St. James, B.C., Canada
Living Lakes Canada’s Foreshore Integrated Management Planning (FIMP) team will be attending the Nechako Watershed Roundtable and Nak’azdli First Nation’s Spring Technical meeting entitled, “Action in the Nechako: Progress and Potential Across the Watershed” on June 2nd & 3rd in Fort St. James. Lakes Program Manager Georgia Peck will be presenting on the Francois Lake FIMP project. This event is invite-only.
Contact email: FIMP@livinglakescanada.ca

Senior Lunch & Learn at Kaslo Community Centre
2025-05-27 12:00 - 14:30 (America/Vancouver) | B.C.
Living Lakes Canada is hosting a lunch & learn to introduce Kaslo seniors to the Lake Blitz citizen science program, with a focus on its history, recent data, and activity within the West Kootenay region. After the talk, interested participants will have the option to participate in a hands-on Tier 1 monitoring session and plant ID activity. This event is invite-only.
Contact email: kaite.martin@livinglakescanada.ca

Fire, Water, Land and Air: Piikani Climate Risks and Strategic Workshop
2025-05-27 10:00 - 14:00 (America/Edmonton) | B.C.
Living Lakes Canada will be presenting at the Fire, Water, Land and Air: Piikani Climate Risks and Strategic Workshop hosted by The Resilience Institute. This workshop will include presentations and handouts on the climate risks facing Piikani and open up discussion around what is currently being done to address these risks as well as new potential risk mitigation strategies. This event is invite-only.
Contact email: kat@livinglakescanada.ca

Canadian Water Resources Association National Conference
2025-05-25 09:00 - 2025-05-29 16:00 (America/Vancouver) | Penticton, Penticton, B.C., Canada
The theme of the Canadian Water Resources Association’s 2025 national conference is “Living Between Waters – Connecting Water & Resilience.” The focus will be on collaborating across silos, respecting and upholding Indigenous rights; and the roles of municipalities, governments, and industry play in advancing resiliency.
Representing Living Lakes Canada, Arlo Bryn-Thorn, Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework Program Manager, and Braeden Toikka, Water Monitoring Coordinator, will present “Water security through community-directed monitoring in the Canadian Columbia Basin: Democratizing watershed data.” This presentation will take place on May 27th at 3:30pm PDT and will detail the methods behind the development of this community-driven project, and share some of the preliminary findings and outcomes for integrated water management.
Email contact: arlo.bryn-thorn@livinglakescanada.ca

NatureKidsBC Virtual Explorer Day: Become a Lake Detective & Help Care for Wildlife
2025-05-10 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Vancouver) | https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/kvFCCCgdQqaJsYLOwZjfxQ#/registration
Join Living Lakes Canada’s Kaite Martin, Lake Blitz Program Lead, for a fun and interactive virtual event where kids become Lake Detectives! Explore the wonders of lake ecosystems through games, storytelling, and sound-and-sight challenges. From guessing wildlife calls to identifying mystery animals and plants, we’ll use our senses to uncover clues about lake life.
Contact email: lakeblitz@livinglakescanada.ca

Living Lakes Canada 2025 Virtual Annual General Meeting
2025-05-08 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Vancouver) | https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/csDvPaiMRM-EURTmo7-bFQ#/registration
Join us for the 2025 Living Lakes Canada Annual General Meeting on Thursday, May 8th, 2025 at 5 pm PT / 6 pm MT / 8 pm ET for a 90-minute overview of our impactful projects from 2024 and glimpse into our future endeavours.
This year’s special presentation will focus on our growing groundwater monitoring programs in BC and Alberta. Come and submerge yourself in the fascinating world of groundwater as we dive deep into its vital role and how we’re keeping tabs on this subterranean lifeline. Everyone is welcome to join!
Agenda Overview

Chair’s Report
Financial Statements and Treasurer’s Report
Election of Directors
Executive Director’s Report
Feature Presentation: Beneath the Surface: Mobilizing Communities for Watershed Resilience from the Ground Up

REGISTER HERE
Contact email: info@livinglakescanada.ca

Alberta Groundwater Program Community Meeting in Lethbridge
2025-05-01 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Edmonton) | Southern Alberta Ethnic Association (421 6 Ave S, Lethbridge), Southern Alberta Ethnic Association (421 6 Ave S, Lethbridge)
REGISTER
Southern Alberta residents are invited to share their water concerns and priorities for a new community-based groundwater monitoring initiative. Your input will directly contribute to the development of this program.
Register for the community meeting in Lethbridge and/or complete the online survey here.
Contact email: abgroundwater@livinglakescanada.ca

5th Annual National Lake Blitz
2025-05-01 00:00 - 2025-09-30 23:59 (America/Vancouver) | https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1mirA1wKaAUmnPYkPNuX_0JxzU3CbJg_D59HL9mdR9KI/edit
The National Lake Blitz is an annual volunteer program that empowers people across Canada to monitor lake health and biodiversity using simple tools, such as iNaturalist. Open to all, no scientific background is required. Volunteers receive step-by-step guides on data collection and entry, making participation easy and accessible.
From May to September, volunteers gather valuable information on their chosen lakes, including wildlife and invasive species observations. All the data that’s collected is added to the interactive Lake Blitz Observation Map and iNaturalist project page. By taking part, volunteers gain a deeper understanding of lake ecosystems and play an active role in helping to steward local lakes.
Registration is now open. Sign up today!
Contact email: lakeblitz@livinglakescanada.ca

Ember Stomp
2025-04-25 11:00 - 19:00 (America/Edmonton) | Jaffray Community Hal, 7369 Jaffray Village Loop Rd, Jaffray, B.C., V0B 1T0, Canada
Ember Stomp 2025 is the second annual Wildfire Community Preparedness Event hosted by the East Kootenay FireSmart Program in Jaffray, British Columbia. The event will include educational presentations, interactive exhibits, and family activities suitable for all ages. Living Lakes Canada will be hosting a booth at this event.

Turtle Day 2025
2025-04-22 02:30 - 16:30 (America/Edmonton) | Elizabeth Lake, Elizabeth Lake, Cranbrook, B.C., Canada
Come to Turtle Day 2025 at Elizabeth Lake in Cranbrook, B.C. this Earth Day, April 22. At this free, family event, see newly emerged western painted turtle hatchlings and learn about their journey, as well as the efforts of the Rocky Mountain Naturalists to protect this Blue-listed, vulnerable species.
Visit the Living Lakes Canada booth to learn more about our work and how you can contribute to lake stewardship as a citizen scientist!
Learn more about this event.

Dive Into Your Stewardship Toolbox: Tier 2 Training & Q&A
2025-04-16 17:30 - 18:15 (America/Vancouver) | B.C.
This training will help new Tier 2 Lake Health Stewards build confidence in lake monitoring. Volunteers will learn how to properly use a Secchi disk to measure water clarity, identify the best locations for monitoring, and understand key water quality parameters. The session will conclude with an interactive Q&A to address any monitoring questions.
If you’re a Tier 1 Lake Biodiversity Steward, and you’re interested in joining the Tier 2 program, please email LakeBlitz@livinglakescanada.ca.
Learn more about the Lake Blitz, the program tiers and how to participate.

Love Local Lakes Presentation at the Kimberley Library
2025-04-11 15:30 - 16:30 (America/Edmonton) | Kimberley Library, 115 Spokane St, Kimberley, B.C., V1A 2E5, Canada
REGISTRATION
Join us at the Kimberley Library for a fun, informative, and interactive family event all about fresh water and lakes! This free, drop-in session is a great way to learn about Living Lakes Canada’s National Lake Blitz, a volunteer program that empowers individuals to monitor local lakes, track biodiversity, and understand the challenges affecting freshwater ecosystems.
What to expect:

Spot and track wildlife, including fish, birds, mammals, insects and amphibians
Learn how to identify native plants, and invasive species
Get introduced to the iNaturalist app
Learn more about the Lake Blitz program
Prizes & stickers for participants!

College of Applied Biologists Annual Conference
2025-04-10 08:00 - 2025-04-11 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | B.C.
Georgia Peck, Lakes Program Manager with Living Lakes Canada, and Brian Holmes, Upper Nicola Band, will be sitting on a panel and co-presenting on the Nicola and Douglas Lake Foreshore Integrated Management Planning (FIMP) projects. In these projects, Indigenous Knowledge was effectively aligned with Western science through the application of federally-developed FIMP surveys.
Georgia and Bryan will participate in the panel titled “Environmental assessments using Indigenous and Western science,” scheduled from 1:00-2:15 PM PT on Friday, April 11. The panel will discuss best practices for incorporating Indigenous and Western science into environmental assessments. The format will be a 10-15 minute presentation by each panelist, followed by an extended Q&A session.

Groundwater and Agriculture in the Columbia Basin
2025-04-02 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Vancouver) | B.C.
Careful management and allocation of groundwater is becoming increasingly important for agriculture as climate change impacts like drought intensify and demand for water increases. In the Columbia Basin, Living Lakes Canada has led a 400% increase in groundwater monitoring through the Columbia Basin Groundwater Monitoring Program and, more recently, an aquifer vulnerability assessment. Agriculture places significant demand on groundwater in the Columbia Basin and users have had to licence their groundwater wells to continue using the water for irrigation, which has given rise to many questions about groundwater resources.
In this webinar, co-hosted by Kootenay & Boundary Farm Advisors and Living Lakes, producers will come away with an improved understanding of aquifer dynamics, the link between groundwater and agriculture, groundwater rights, the available data and how to access it, and aquifers of concern or significance for agricultural use. Guest presenters include Braeden Toikka, water monitoring coordinator with Living Lakes, and Mike Wei, physical hydrogeologist and groundwater policy expert. This live webinar is also open to interested members of the public beyond the agriculture sector.
Living Lakes Canada gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Province of British Columbia through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, Columbia Basin Trust and RBC Tech for Nature.

Exploring water-based recreation & ecosystem health in the Columbia Valley
2025-03-30 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Vancouver) | Radium Hot Springs Centre
Living Lakes will be presenting on the Foreshore Integrated Management Planning program and Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework. We will also be hosting a booth for visitors to learn more about Living Lakes.
