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Board Meeting: Integrated Watershed Management Plan Approved!
AWC-WPAC and Governance | February 2022

Ashley Johnson, Education and Outreach Coordinator

The Athabasca Watershed Council had our first board meeting of 2022! It started off with a call to order from our President, and a land acknowledgment from our Executive Director. We proceeded into introductions, starting with a warm welcome to Jennifer Knievel, our new Board Alternate for forestry. 

From there, we dove straight into business, reviewing and approving the agenda and the minutes from the previous board meeting. Petra gave her Executive Director’s activities and financial report, which was approved, along with our 2022 Employee Handbook, which will come in handy for staff.  

The most exciting moment for me was the approval of our Integrated Watershed Management Plan! We’re all very excited to do the last round of copy edits before sharing it with the public, and working on its implementation. Part of this implementation will be guided by the 2022-2023 Strategic Plan, which was also approved by the board.  

From there, the board meeting shifted to the broader WPAC collaborative. All 11 WPACs are part of the Water for Life partnership; the Water for Life Action Plan is in review, and the Alberta WPACs have put forward a memorandum of understanding to help guide future collaborations. 

One current collaboration is the Alberta WPAC Legislation and Policy Project, which is happening via funding from the Alberta WPACs and Alberta EcoTrust. The aim is to develop a collaborative and inclusive decision-making process for collective decisions. Susanna Bruneau, who has been borrowed from the Battle River Watershed Alliance for the project, and Shannon Frank, the Executive Director of the Oldman Watershed Council presented to the board on the project. 

All in all, the meeting was a great start to 2022!