Help identify ecological changes that may be affecting our lakes.
IceWatch, a program of NatureWatch, is a volunteer monitoring program that collects freeze and thaw data from lakes across Canada. Our lakes can act as important sentinels of climate change, so every data point we collect can add valuable information to our climate record. In addition, the timing of freeze and thaw events may have important implications on the growth of algae in our lakes. Already, arctic researchers have linked earlier ice-off dates to earlier spring algal blooms. This information can also prove valuable in interpreting the data LakeWatch collects from your lake.
Becoming involved with IceWatch is simple! Visit the New User page to create your account, then read through the short How To and Identifying Ice sections for instructions on recording your observations. When ready, download the printable field sheet and start recording! Your data can be loaded directly to the IceWatch website or you can mail your observations to ALMS.
Have historical data you would like to upload? IceWatch wants that too! Just fill out a field sheet with your historical data and submit it as you would your current data. Currently, IceWatch has very little freeze and thaw data from Alberta, but we can change that! If you are interested in getting involved, let Bradley know so we can add you to our IceWatch mailing list, and don’t hesitate to contact us with any questions.
Happy IceWatching!
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).
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