What is a State of the Watershed Report?

A State of the Watershed Report (SOW) brings together the best available information about a watershed to create a shared understanding of its current condition. It compiles existing data, research, and local knowledge to assess the state of: Water quantity, Water quality, Riparian areas and wetlands, Biodiversity and Land use

By presenting this information in a clear and accessible format, the SOW supports informed decision-making among stakeholders, governments, Indigenous communities, landowners, and resource managers.

The State of the Watershed is intended to be:

• Credible – grounded in current science, monitoring data, and local knowledge
• Practical – a tool to guide collaborative watershed planning and management
• Forward-looking – an inspiration for stewardship and action to protect and improve watershed health for future generations

The Lesser Slave Watershed Council partnered with Carson Forestry to produce the first State of the Lesser Slave Watershed report in 2009. This inaugural report evaluated available indicators of water quality, water quantity, and ecosystem health using the best data available at the time. Where possible, conditions were assessed against established targets and thresholds to better understand watershed performance. The SOW also identifies key knowledge gaps and outlines recommended next steps to strengthen watershed management planning, long-term monitoring, and community stewardship efforts.

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.