Watershed Stewardship Network

The annual CWMN July training sessions will be held at the below dates and times:

• Thursday, July 25 – 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm at the Bowen Park Lower Picnic Shelter off Wall St, Nanaimo
• Friday, July 26 – 10:00 am to 12:30 pm at French Creek Hatchery on Miller Road (815 Miller Rd, Parksville)
• Monday, July 29 – 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm at Rose Park Road (Nile Creek; https://maps.app.goo.gl/bD5rFNqcDwtKWdzY8)
• Tuesday, July 30 – 10:00 am to 12:30 pm at French Creek Hatchery on Miller Road (815 Miller Rd, Parksville)
• Wednesday, July 31 – 10:00 am to 12:30 pm at the Bowen Park Lower Picnic Shelter off Wall St, Nanaimo

Please rsvp by emailing Lauren Fegan at lfegan@rdn.bc.ca with the results session that you will be attending.

On Tuesday, July 9th the RDN’s Drinking Water and Watershed Protection (DWWP) service hosted our annual Community Watershed Monitoring Network (CWMN) Results Session. The session was held at Nanoose Place Community Centre, with approximately 45 participants in attendance. Participants included: volunteer stewardship organizations, representatives from BC Ministry of Environmental and Climate Change Strategy and Ministry of Water Lands and Resource Stewardship, Islands Trust, Island Health, other RDN departments, and participants in DWWP’s volunteer observation well program.

At this years’ session, we invited guest speakers from the Province who spoke on benthic invertebrate monitoring and water quality monitoring in stormwater management. We also hosted a presentation from BC Conversation Foundation on a tire wear toxin monitoring program working to track levels of 6PPD-Q, a compound responsible for ‘urban runoff mortality syndrome’ to coho salmon in streams across eastern Vancouver Island.

A core component of this session was to present data results from the 2023 sampling year and prepare stewardship groups for water quality sampling in the 2024 season.

We also introduced our CWMN Strategic Planning initiative and provided an opportunity for participants to provide feedback on the initial proposal for the planning; the feedback that we received will inform future engagement sessions to collaboratively develop and implement a 5-year CWMN Strategic Plan that builds on objectives within the 2020 10-Year DWWP Action Plan to integrate various types of watershed data collection across the region to support stewardship, outreach, and policy.

The Strategic Planning initiative is being proposed for 2025 and will produce an implementable plan that outlines priorities for monitoring on each system that has community stewardship support. Currently, the CWMN focuses on surface water quality monitoring, but it has been identified that integrating more diverse monitoring objectives will ensure that the DWWP is supporting stewardship groups in their key objectives while ensuring that the monitoring that is occurring is addressing identified gaps that will inform longer-term planning and policy advocacy for stream protection, restoration, and enhancement.

Engagement with monitoring partners will happen at several stages during the strategic planning process, with each engagement building on learnings and shared priorities from previous sessions, established relationships with partners, and through referencing the multi-year data and knowledge established on stream systems.

At this stage, the DWWP team is preparing for the Strategic Plan slotted to take place over the course of the 2025 calendar year. During Strategic Planning, regular stream water quality monitoring may be paused to focus on engagement with community stewardship groups and volunteers.

Thank you to all who attended and participated in discussion on the proposed CWMN Strategic Planning initiative!

If you were unable to attend or have further feedback you'd like to share with us at this initial stage, we welcome you provide your input here.

You are invited to the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN)'s 2024 Community Watershed Monitoring Network (CWMN) Data Results Session!

The Regional District of Nanaimo's Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Program is inviting you to the annual Community Watershed Monitoring Network surface water quality results session on Tuesday, July 9 at Nanoose Place (2925 Northwest Bay Road) from 11:00 am until 2:30 pm.

The session agenda will include:

• guest speakers sharing information on benthic invertebrate monitoring and tire wear toxin sampling,
• results from the data collected through the Community Watershed Monitoring Network in 2023, and
• planning for the surface water monitoring program in 2024 and beyond.

Please note:

• if your organization would like to bring materials to share and display, please email Lauren Fegan at lfegan@rdn.bc.ca to secure table space at the event,
• refreshments and lunch will be provided, and
• bring your questions, ideas and collaborative solutions-based mindset for the facilitated group discussion that will take place after lunch.

We look forward to seeing you there!

New funding opportunity available through the Province!

On March 6, 2023, the Province of BC made a historic investment by announcing an initial $100 million to ignite the formation of the Watershed Security Fund. Established through a collaboration between the Province of BC and the BC First Nations Water Table, the Watershed Security Fund represents a significant milestone in safeguarding the health of our province’s invaluable watersheds.

In this first year, the Fund’s Grants Program will start flowing commitments of $7-$10 million to communities, spread across two grant intakes in 2024/25, to address urgent and long-term watershed security needs. Together with the Grants Working Group, the Province endeavors to build a foundation of work, systems, and approaches that transfer over and evolve into the long-term multi-year grants program offered through the Watershed Security Fund.

Grant funding will support projects and initiatives that prioritize reconciliation, ecosystems health and climate resilience. Across a range of themes, funded projects will support healthy communities and sustainable economies. The Province recognizes the holistic, interwoven aspects of watershed work and understands that most projects will connect across several areas.

Funding Themes (Areas of work) include:

• Watershed Collaboration, Planning and Governance
• Watershed and Ecosystems Restoration
• Nature-based infrastructure
• Watersheds & Food Systems
• Monitoring and Assessment
• Land & Water-based Learning, Intergenerational Knowledge

The first intake opens June 3-26, 2024, for grants approved in September. The second intake is planned to open in late 2024/ early 2025 for grants approved in Spring 2025.

Learn more and submit an application at https://watershedsecurityfund.ca/grants/

Join RDN Parks in planting trees within the Nanaimo River Regional Park on Friday, November 17th. Details in the poster below!

For more information or to register to volunteer, contact invasivespecies@rdn.bc.ca

Join us on Thursday, November 23^rd, from 12:00 – 3:00pm at the Nanoose Place Community Centre for a catered lunch, door prizes, activities, and an opportunity to introduce your stewardship group to potential new volunteers.

The RDN’s Drinking Water & Watershed Protection team is grateful to be partnered with environmental stewardship groups from across the region, whose dedicated volunteer work make the Community Watershed Monitoring Network program a possibility. We are delighted to host an in-person event to express our appreciation and gratitude for your participation.

This event will also be open to the public, so those who may be interested in learning more about volunteering with a stewardship organization and participating in the Community Watershed Monitoring Network can connect with you and get involved. There will be opportunity to introduce your group to potential new volunteers by having a display table, providing a short presentation, and/or sharing your stewardship story!

Please register to attend by emailing waterstewardship@rdn.bc.ca by November 10^th, 2023.

In your email, let me know:

1. If your organization would like to have a display table at the event. We will provide tables for display materials and are happy to offer assistance with developing and printing materials that highlight your group. The venue is booked for a couple of hours before and after the event, so there is plenty of time for setting-up and taking-down displays.
2. If you would like to give a short 5-minute presentation about your group and the important work you do. There will be a projector, screen, and microphone available at the venue for presentations, if desired. If you are planning to present with PowerPoint slides, we will also have a computer available so you may bring your presentation on a USB or email your presentation to waterstewardship@rdn.bc.ca prior to the event.
3. If you have photos that you’d like to share of watersheds and water stewards. We will be putting together a photo slideshow of local streams and the folks who work hard to care for them. If you have any photos that you would like to share, please don’t hesitate to send them now and throughout the monitoring season to waterstewardship@rdn.bc.ca.
4. If you would like to share your Stewardship Story. We will have an open-mic session, where participants will be invited to share their Stewardship Stories, such as how they became involved in stewardship work, what motivates them as an environmental steward, and how they are connected to the watersheds they care for. If you wish to share, you may let me know and prepare your story beforehand, but impromptu stories are also welcome!

We are very much looking forward to seeing you there!

"The Art of Nurturing Nature" is something to celebrate on BC and World Rivers Day September 24, 2023! Hand painted wooden salmon will be on display near the Qualicum Beach Visitors Centre (2711 Island Hwy W, Qualicum Beach). This event will feature a hands-on paper fish decorating activity. All ages welcome.

Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Forage Fish Demonstration at 10:00 am.

Yellow Fish & You - A look at Mid Vancouver Island Habitat Enhancement Society (MVIHES). Join MVIHES at Adam Walker's MLA community office on September 24th for a fun an informative talk, display and meet and greet. Learn what you can do to conserve water and protect salmon habitats in our community.

For full event series details and info on how to participate, visit the event webpage here.

Thank you to all those who attended and participated in the 2023 Data to Action - Community Watershed Monitoring Network (CWMN) Results Session!

This year's CWMN Results Session was hosted in person at Nanoose Place Community Centre on July 12th.

It was great to get to meet in-person again after years of webinars! The 2023 Results Session was a well-attended event that inspired some great discussions.

An information graphic was created by Fuselight Creative Inc staff over the course of the event on the theme of Data to Action to capture the input and discussion from participants in the room, including citizen scientists and volunteers, experts and technical staff, and members of the public. The graphics linked below were created in several different formats that you are welcome to use:

1. Information graphic summarizing the data to action dialogue that took place at the Results Session.
2. Data to action information graphic that incorporates the different avenues of watershed monitoring and protection.

Presentations included a summary of 2022 monitoring results by RDN staff and guest presentations by Ministry of Forests, BC Conservation Foundation, and Weaver Technical Corp.

• 2022 Data Summary - Results Session RDN Presentation Slides
• 2023 Results Session Guest Presenter - Ministry of Forests Hydrometric Monitoring
• 2023 Results Session Guest Presenter - BCCF Hydrometric Community Flo-Mo Network
• 2023 Results Session Guest Presenter - Weaver Technical Stream Mapping

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us at watermonitoring@rdn.bc.ca or waterstewardship@rdn.bc.ca

You are invited to the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN)'s 2023 Community Watershed Monitoring Network (CWMN) Data Results Session!

On Wednesday, July 12^th from 11am to 2:30pm at Nanoose Place (2925 Northwest Bay Road), join the RDN’s Drinking Water and Watershed Protection team to engage with the theme of Data to Action: from boots and monitoring equipment in the creek, to policy actions and water stewardship outcomes!

The session agenda will include:

• summary of the water quality data results from the 2022 sampling periods and trends observed over time,
• presentations by technical experts on hydrometric monitoring and physical stream mapping, and
• a live graphic artist recording of the event including a facilitated discussion.

Please note:

• if your organization would like to bring materials to share and display, please email watermonitoring@rdn.bc.ca to secure table space at the event,
• refreshments and lunch will be provided, and
• bring your questions, ideas and collaborative solutions-based mindset for the facilitated group discussion that will take place after lunch.

IMPORTANT: RSVP to lfegan@rdn.bc.ca by Sat. July 1^st to indicate your attendance.

Join us on Saturday April 29 from 11:00am to 3:00pm at Kinsmen Park and the Kin Hut in Departure Bay, Nanaimo for a community event that celebrates local stewardship organizations from across the region who are taking action to restore, protect, and safeguard our environment - from caring for our local waterways, to removing invasive plants, and much more! Check out some interactive activities for all ages and learn how you can get involved.

Live music, food trucks, native plant sales, interactive booths and activities, and more!

Contact waterstewardship@rdn.bc.ca with any questions. Hope to see you there!