Each year, ALMS hires field technicians to conduct LakeWatch’s water quality monitoring. Field technicians have a technical diploma or degree in environmental sciences or a related field, and receive a month of training with ALMS and Environment and Parks Environmental Monitoring and Science Division.
Brittany Onysyk, Program Manager
Growing up in a rural setting in Alberta, Brittany developed a great adoration of the environment. She has fond childhood memories camping around the province, and spent many summer days at lakes in the greater Edmonton region (especially Miquelon!). Having a deep appreciation for the environment and a desire to conserve it, Brittany graduated from the University of Alberta in 2018 with a B.Sc. in Environmental & Conservation Sciences, majoring in Land Reclamation. Brittany has held various field-based positions throughout the province and is looking forward to expanding her knowledge on lake ecosystems as the Program Manager at ALMS. When she’s not out on the lake, you’ll find her out exploring with her dogs!
Jordyn Lajeunesse, LakeWatch Technician
Jordyn’s passion for the outdoors developed while growing up in Saskatchewan, spending most of her time at the lakes. She was immersed in numerous activities, including camping, fishing, and other water recreational activities. She continues pursuing outdoor activities like backcountry camping, hiking, and exploring Alberta’s vast nature. This past winter, Jordyn completed the Te Araroa trail, a 3000 km through-hiking trek across New Zealand. She graduated from MacEwan University in 2023 with a B.Sc. majoring in Biology, and worked as a Satellite Technician for ALMS in the 2023 field season. She is excited to be back as a LakeWatch Technician this year and to spend time outside sampling and exploring more of Alberta’s beautiful lakes.
Parker Myschuk, LakeWatch Technician
Parker completed a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences at MacEwan University, with a strong interest in ecology and animal sciences. His passion for the outdoors and aquatic environments developed through years of exploring Alberta’s lakes, rivers, and natural areas, and continued through wildlife rehabilitation work and environmental monitoring projects across the province. Parker is especially interested in wildlife, lake ecology, and community-based programs focused on protecting Alberta’s ecosystems. Outside of work, Parker enjoys spending time outdoors with his two dogs, hiking local trails, camping throughout Alberta, and snowboarding in the winter. He also enjoys cooking and experimenting with new recipes after long days spent outside.
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.
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.
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.
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 
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.
There is no limit to the number or types of lake management actions, but they typically fall into the categories on the right.
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).
Helpful resources