State of the Lesser Slave Watershed

The State of the Watershed Report (SOW) is a compilation of current knowledge about the watershed, and is intended to create a common understanding of the current condition of watershed resources among stakeholders, governments, and landowners. It summarizes existing knowledge and data to assess the current understanding and state of water quantity, water quality, riparian areas and wetlands, biodiversity and land use in the watershed. Indicators of watershed condition were used to measure and assess conditions using established targets and thresholds where possible. The SOW also identifies gaps in the current understanding of watershed resources, and recommends next steps that may be taken with respect to to watershed management planning, monitoring and stewardship activities.

The State of the Watershed is intended to be:
• A credible resource that reflects current science and knowledge about the watershed.
• Used as a tool to support collaborative watershed management and planning
• An inspiration to readers to maintain and improve the state of the watershed for future generations.

The LSWC worked with Carson Forestry to produce the first State of the Lesser Slave Watershed report in 2008. Since then, the LSWC is working to fill data gaps and update the state of the watershed as resources permit.

Throughout 2014 the LSWC worked with Hutchinson Environmental Science Ltd. and other partners to complete a technical update for the Lesser Slave Watershed.

The report includes:

• An aquatic assessment of rivers and the lake, including information on flow and water quality;
• a Phosphorus budget for Lesser Slave Lake based on different methods, a summary of paleolimnological data collected from two studies describing historical lake quality, including previously analyzed (geochemistry, pigments) and raw (organic contaminant, diatom) data;
• a BATHUB modeling exercise to predict lake water quality based on the P budget and development and restoration scenarios, prepared by AEP (formerly ESRD) and NSWA;
• and a summary of fisheries status and human limitations that affect them, prepared by AEP (formerly ESRD).

This report provides stakeholder and governments with important information based on the most current science and data available and has been in the works for several years. The LSWC completed nutrient monitoring on tributaries of Lesser Slave Lake throughout 2012 and 2013. AEP (formerly ESRD) staff collected sediment cores from LSL twice in the past 10 years and had them dated and analyzed. Fisheries information is based on 2012 surveys done by local fisheries biologists. AEP (formerly ESRD) staff and staff from the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance helped set up and calibrate the BATHTUB model for our lake and input the data sets.

In addition to the 170-page technical report Hutchinson has produced a summary document for the public that explains the project and presents the findings to a non technical audience. Both documents are listed above.