In 2014 ALMS received support from Alberta ESRD and the University of Alberta Vascular Herbarium to develop an aquatic plant monitoring program, monitor macrophyte diversity and to identify any occurrences of invasive aquatic plants in Alberta’s lakes.
The program involves several components – intensive surveys, high-risk area surveys and workshops for citizen involvement.
Intensive surveys include three rigorous sampling trips to three high-risk recreational lakes.
High-risk surveys can include full littoral surveys of highly recreational lakes or selective surveys focused on areas likely to be exposed to aquatic invaders such as boat launches, inflows and outflows, docks and marinas.
Aquatic Invasive Plants have become a rising concern in Alberta throughout the years. Currently there is only one invasive plant species known in few Alberta lakes – Flowering rush.
In addition there are 3 other aquatic weeds of concern as they have greatly affected lakes throughout the USA as well as BC and Eastern Canada.
- Eurasian Water-milfoil
- Curly leaf pond-weed
- Hydrilla
Other aquatic invasive species of concern including submerged and shoreline plant species and invasive mussels can be seen below:
If you see any of these invasive plants:
- Call the 24/7 AIS hotline 1-855-336-BOAT
- Inform your local county
- Consult local and provincial government about removal of small infestations
- Contact ALMS for an invasive plant survey
In order to prevent the spread of these plants into Alberta lakes we need all eyes on the ground to watch for any occurrences on our lakes. If you would like to volunteer for a macrophyte survey on your lake, let us know!
With the help of our volunteers we were able to survey 10 lakes in 2014!
Read the results of our 2014 intensive surveys here
The members of the steering committee will continue to play a strong role in facilitating and tracking implementation actions. This includes any actions they were responsible for, as well as tracking other committees and sector’s actions and progress made towards achieving the plan’s outcomes. Ongoing communication is essential to successful implementation and achieving outcomes, therefore a regular reporting mechanism could be set up in order to provide regular evaluation of the plan.
Reporting is an essential component of any watershed management planning and implementation process. There are two main types of reporting that should be shared with stakeholders on a regular basis: implementation reporting & effectiveness reporting.
There is no limit to the number or types of lake management actions, but they typically fall into the categories on the right.
Helpful resources
The development of a lake watershed management plan provides the guidance needed to implement activities, but the plan cannot be static. Monitoring the performance of your management actions is essential to understanding whether your goals have been met, and whether further actions are needed. Monitoring and evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of a lake watershed management plan allows assessment of progress towards the goals and objectives of the plan, identification of problems and opportunities, and a collection of critical information required when performing a 5 or 10 year review of the plan.
What has the monitoring results of the plan and of the indicators shown? Is there a need to modify the plan? It is important that the lake watershed management plan does not just sit on a shelf. Information gaps should be addressed, action items need to be managed, completed, and evaluated to best address the needs of the lake. Always keep in mind the vision: if the actions taken are not bringing the lake closer to that vision, then the plan needs to be modified. Consider updating both the state of the watershed and the lake watershed management plans at regular intervals to make sure that the actions taken were achieving the desired outcomes and to evaluate what work still needs to be done.
Once a plan has been approved by all affected sectors and officially endorsed and released by the steering committee, then implementation can begin in full. Action projects can be large and comprehensive, or made smaller by staging projects over time or into modules that can be tackled one at a time. Fundraising is an issue that many community groups may find intimidating, but experience with programs such as the Pine Lake Restoration Program (see 
This graphic describes how the various committees and groups will work and interact together. The circle size depicts the approximate number of people involved, and the circles overlapping indicates that some individuals may reside in all of the circles and participate in multiple committees as part of the planning process. The technical committee is shown as an arrow, indicating that it is independent and has relatively few people, and yet it interacts with all of the groups. This graphic may look different depending on the lake and the people involved, and a detailed structure should be agreed upon and described in the plan’s Terms of Reference (Step 6).