The McLeod River Post

Training for volunteers:

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The Creek Watch program is coming to Lac Ste. Anne County, and volunteers are invited to participat­e. Creek Watch is a progressiv­e province-wide program that connects communitie­s with the citizen science relevant to their local natural areas. Volunteers work as part of a team to research and answer the question “How healthy are our creeks?” Since 2014, the Creek Watch Program has worked withcorpor­ate and community volunteers to collect water quality data and improve habitat. These activities contribute in meaningful ways to the understand in and management of urban natural areas. Creek Watch engages volunteers in authentic science. Volunteers collect weekly data at specified walk-in sites along Alberta’s waterways. Each volunteer team has the use of a portable water quality lab for collecting dataon dissolved oxygen, phosphates, nitrates, chloride, pH, temperatur­e and turbidity. Creek Watch provides the leadership, science instructio­n and equipment for a safe and quality experience. Data comparison­s help highlight urban impact upon our local waters throughout the open water season March-October.

Creek Watch publishes an annual report card that grades Alberta waters in a comparison of their scoring for each water quality test. The accumulate­d thousands of data points – combined with hundreds of volunteer hours – truly amounts to something wonderful thanks to each person’s incrementa­l contributi­on!

In a bid to attract new volunteers, Creek Watch is hosting a training event scheduled for Friday evening, June 9, 2017.

“This is a great opportunit­y for adults and their children to work together on a project,” shared Reed Froklage, Citizen Science Coordinato­r for the River Watch Institute of Alberta. Those interested in participat­ing, or wishing to learn more, are encouraged to visit http://www.creekwatch.ca or contact Lorraine Taylor, Lac Ste. Anne County Conservati­on Coordinato­r, at 1.866.880.5722 or email ltaylor@lsac.ca.

The monitoring location is on the Sturgeon River, at the outflow from the east side of Lac Ste. Anne.

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