Summer 2024 with the Athabasca Watershed Council!
AWC-WPAC and Project Update | Outreach | September 2024
Margaret Cross
With Summer tapering off and the new school year upon us, we here at the Athabasca Watershed Council would love to highlight some of our education and outreach programs from the past few months.
The Athabasca watershed encompasses one quarter of the province of Alberta and spans over 100 communities. We had the pleasure of visiting some of these communities this summer, spanning the stretch of the watershed from Fort McMurray to Jasper!
MAY
MAY 8th – Athabasca Career Fair
Our first event of the summer took place in Athabasca proper in the gymnasium of the Athabasca Multiplex. Alongside many other wonderful Athabasca bred organizations such as, but not limited to, the local newspaper, veterinarian, chiropractor, Family & Community Support Services (FCSS), and 26 other exhibitors. We had the opportunity to interact with 254 students, testing the waters of future employment.
MAY 16th – Rainbow Trout Release, X-Stream Science in McLennan
Our next event took us nearly 300 km to the northwest to the Town of McLennan where we partnered with the folks of the Lesser Slave Watershed Council (Meghan, Cal, and Shaunn). 80 Grade 8 students from Slave Lake bussed out to the municipal campground for a rainy, cold day of X-Stream Science. Huddled around a wood-burning stove in the campground’s only covered structure, we ran the students through some benthic invertebrate sampling – collecting “bugs” to determine how healthy the ecosystem is and worksheets calculating pollution tolerance. Meanwhile, out in the pouring rain, half the students, their teacher, and the intrepid folks from the Lesser Slave Watershed Council took part in a native trout release. Baby rainbow trout were taken from their bucket (after being raised by the school in the Fish in School program, until big enough to be released) and placed into plastic bags, where they were allowed to acclimatize to the outside temperature before being set free into the stocked pond at the municipal campground.
MAY 21st – X-Stream Science in Edson
We then travelled south another 350 km to the town of Edson. We met 29 grade 8s from Holy Redeemer High School at Kinsmen Park for some X-Stream Science. Students tried on chest waders and got wet in the local creek. They were asked to identify possible pollutants from their community, test the water quality of a local water body and practice “kicking” – a method used by our watershed technicians to stir up benthic invertebrates for collection. After collecting their invertebrates, the students had an opportunity to make estimates on how healthy the creek was based on what they found.
MAY 22nd – X-Stream Science in Hinton
Safety is paramount at the AWC and when conditions are not ideal for outdoor activities, the versatile Outreach staff can alter programing to make sure students still have an opportunity to learn, even if we can’t get outside. Unfortunately, with the fast-moving water at the site we had picked out and heavy rain, we decided that a classroom presentation would be just as informative for the 35 grade 9 students from Harry Collinge Highschool that were going to join us by the river. With handouts and mock communities, we had a nice rainy day inside learning about water quality and benthic invertebrate sampling.
MAY 23rd – Wetlands and Watersheds near Fort Assiniboine
Back towards central Alberta, we attended the Wetlands and Watersheds Day hosted by the lovely folks at the Nature Alive Adventure Centre just 25 minutes west of Fort Assiniboine. Together with other groups like Alberta Trappers Association and Alberta Invasive Species (AIS), we saw 57 K-5 students. We used a pre-collected stock of benthic invertebrates and access to the stream so students could work at identifying local invertebrate species and try their hand at performing several water quality activities, like testing pH and temperature. A very sweet member of staff named Sulley spent the day helping out and keeping everyone in good spirits!
MAY 29th – Lake Stewardship Community of Practice Meeting
Education and Outreach Coordinator Ashley attended this meeting hosted by the Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS) and the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA) in Snow Valley. Highlights of the meeting include defining stewardship and how establishing a definition can help further initiatives within your watershed, policy recommendations (e.g. building awareness), and gaps in knowledge that can be fleshed out in the future. Meetings like these can be very beneficial for both the non-profit, landowners, and community members wanting to get involved with watershed stewardship. Celebrating our volunteers, turning awareness into action, and networking across communities/groups are some of the AWC’s most passionate pursuits.
JUNE
JUNE 1st – Lake Stewardship in Calling Lake
We started June with a trip to Calling Lake, a hamlet west of Wandering River. Joining 24 members of the community for presentations pertaining to local concerns, we gave a talk about lake stewardship. During the presentation, we highlighted ways the community could get involved with building awareness, knowing what a healthy watershed looks like, and ways to contribute to keeping local water bodies clean and natural.
JUNE 2nd – Environment Day in Lac La Biche
This year during Environment Week we headed to the hamlet of Lac La Biche. With the sun beating down with a high of 34 degrees Celsius, we shared our canopy tent with the lovely folks from the Otipemisiwak Metis Government (previously the Metis Nation of Alberta). We talked to 95 attendees of all ages, highlighting some of the work the Athabasca Watershed is involved in and how communities/individuals can get involved.
JUNE 4th – Pond Days! – Chip Lake
The beginning of Pond Days started off at Chip Lake, where our Outreach team, alongside several other Alberta organizations like Alberta Lake Management Society (ALMS) had the opportunity to see 138 grade 5 students. The kids spent the day out in the sun at the lakeside collecting benthic invertebrates, learning what was an indicator of healthy waters and what was not, what to expect from their local lakes, and trying their hands at identifying some invertebrate species!
JUNE 5th – Pond Days! – Lac La Nonne
The next day we travelled 130 km southwest to Lac La Nonne for our second Pond Day! Along with several other Alberta organizations ALMS and Alberta Trappers we spent the day by the lake with 78 grade 4s and 5s that came out for some summer water fun. Watershed Technician Shayla and our own Executive Director Petra came out for the day as well to run the Athabasca Watershed Council’s watershed model and show kids how pollutants make their way from surface water into groundwater from different human activities and how this affects drinking water and the health of our water bodies. Our Outreach team took the kids out onto the dock to collect invertebrates once again where we saw our first scuds (freshwater shrimp, usually green to brown but in our case blue) of the summer!
JUNE 6th – Pond Days! – Thunder Lake
Our third and final day for Pond Days took us 60 km northwest to Thunder Lake in the County of Barrhead, where we spent the day with another 101 grade 5 students! We used the time at the lakeside collecting benthic invertebrates, letting kids get familiar with what lives in their local lakes. Meanwhile, our other summer water technicians Shayla and Ethan worked the kids through our watershed model, showing how pollutants travel through a watershed and things we can all do to help prevent contamination of our water bodies.
JUNE 8th – AGM in Fort McMurray
This year the Athabasca Watershed Council’s Annual General Meeting was held in Fort McMurray. The AWC tries to move annual meetings around for board members, employees, and other attendees to experience the vast diversity of the communities within the Athabasca Watershed (last year the meeting took place in Lac La Biche). There were 19 attendees this year, including guest speaker Elliot White with the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo for an excellent presentation on flood mitigation, highlighting many of the ways Fort McMurray has implemented flood resistant infrastructure to save on damages and danger to the community.
The notes from this meeting will be available for public perusal on the AWC website soon.
JUNE 11th – X-Stream Science in Swan Hills
After an enriching weekend up in Fort McMurray, our Outreach staff was raring to go for more programing. Taking advantage of the nice weather, we rode out to Freeman River campground where we met with 16 Grade 8 students from Swan Hills High School. The Freeman River runs right by the campground, where we performed sampling and getting kids into chest waders to let them try their hands at being Water Technicians for the day.
JUNE 12th – X-Stream Science at Heart River Dam – CANCELLED
The safety of our staff and students is very important to the AWC and sometimes cancelling an event is the safer option. With too much rain and high-water levels, we felt it safer for all parties to forgo the event for the day. Fortunately, we made it out to the site the following day!
JUNE 13th – X-Stream Science at Heart River Dam
With improved weather, we made it out to our final X-Stream Science event this year with the lovely folks from the Lesser Slave Watershed Council. Just north of High Prairie, the Heart River Dam is a Provincial Recreation Area, and campground. Joined by 16 Grade 8 students and a couple teachers from Prairie River Junior High, we could put on some chest waders and get into the water. Students were asked to do benthic invertebrate sampling and try out different water quality sampling methods used by the AWC and LSWC. Tests included pH, temperature, and conductivity. We also practiced some Riparian area identifications, looking at native grasses and shrubbery found along our shorelines.
JULY
JULY 1st – Canada Day Open House
Back to where it all began! One of our final few events this summer took place during the Canada Day parade and celebration in Athabasca. Our Outreach staff opened up the doors of the AWC’s office in the old Athabasca Train Station for the day to engage with the community during the celebrations. A group of local artists put on an art show, showcasing their work, including the AWC’s Outreach and Education Coordinator Ashley Johnson. We saw nearly 70 community members and heard many stories of lives lived in Athabasca and fostered an interest in AWC initiatives.
JULY 20th – Parks Day in Jasper
Our final July event and a close to our summer programming took us all the way to the southern edge of the watershed to the town of Jasper. At the invitation of Friends of Jasper Park, our Outreach staff had the opportunity to connect with over 70 people enjoying the 36-degree weather during this year’s Parks Day. With a wetlands activity set up, we supplied buckets of water for kids (and adults) to cool off with some educational fun. The local dogs also enjoyed the free water! We talked to lots of enthusiastic folks, handed out packages for land, lake, and acreage owners, and got to network with many of our fellow environmental groups like the Lakeland Industry & Community Association (LICA) and Parks Canada.
Unfortunately, two days after we departed, the town of Jasper was hit with some pretty severe wildfires and suffered an evacuation, as well as quite a bit of damage to infrastructure and much of the Park itself. As of August 12th, 2024, the government of Canada released a notice on their website saying that by the 16th the Re-entry Criteria for safe return of residents will be met! Welcome home to the people of Jasper.
Here are some helpful links on details of the fires, damages, and how to get involved with supporting the community.
Alberta Wildfires 2024 – Canadian Red Cross
Donate to the 2024 Alberta Wildfires Appeal (redcross.ca)
Municipality of Jasper – Home (jasper-alberta.ca)
Jasper National Park (canada.ca)
These events are part of the AWC’s Watershed Education Initiatives, generously funded by the Alberta Conservation Association, Canada Summer Jobs, and the TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.
