Do you need help looking after your favourite lake?
The BC Lake Stewardship Society can help! We are excited to announce the launch of our new program, The BC Lake Stewardship Engagement Initiative. The BCLSS received funding from LUSH to assist us with revitalizing and enhancing the lake stewardship sector in British Columbia.
A BCLSS representative will travel the province and offer presentations to engage lake stewards and potential stewards and support environmental lake activities, including water quality monitoring. Services offered include technical training; safety training; auditing of monitoring to ensure high quality, usable data is being collected; and support and advice on stewardship activities and/or starting and operating a stewardship group. Follow-up webinars and ongoing support are also part of this initiative.
The BCLSS provides province-wide support for lake stewards in many capacities and facilitates a communication network through our website and newsletters. We provide guidance to stewardship groups as well as safety and technical training for monitoring water quality. We summarize and report on volunteer collected data and assist government with monitoring, data compilation, data entry, and presentation of BCLSS Lake Reports. Our activities are not exclusive to lakes (include watersheds).
In 2018 the BCLSS, in partnership with Living Lakes Canada, completed a project for the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy entitled An Integrated Lake Monitoring Framework for British Columbia. This report identified a number of needs of the volunteer lake stewardship sector including:
In-person contact for training and other aspects of lake management
Lake monitoring training and assistance designing an appropriate monitoring program
Auditing to correct monitoring procedure issues and maintain quality assurance of data
Information on lake ecology including enhanced training such as LakeKeepers
Timely reporting (annually in some cases) on volunteer-collected data
In-person presentation and delivery of lake reports when completed
Assistance with resolution of lake management issues
Communication and connection with specific government agencies or representatives involved in managing certain aspects of lakes (or BCLSS directing them to proper agencies that can assist)
Connections with other groups who may have experience with similar lake management issues
Assistance with identifying funding sources for projects and equipment
Offering equipment to borrow (i.e. dissolved oxygen & temperature meters) and/or assistance with purchasing equipment (i.e. type of meter needed, potential funding sources, and where to purchase)
Regular communication through the BCLSS Loonie News, quarterly newsletters, website, and social media
BCLSS and other stewardship-based conferences held in communities throughout the province
These needs have been partially addressed using generous funding from the Government of British Columbia. The BCLSS plans to fully address these needs through our new program.
If you are interested in meeting with the BCLSS as part of The BC Lake Stewardship Engagement Initiative, please contact the office at info@bclss.org or 1-877-225-2537.
