In 2014, the Miistakis Institute hosted a Citizen Science Conference, exploring this diverse field with sessions on program design, evaluation, policy implications, technology and applications in parks and protected areas. This links to the website that chronicled that event.
Elizabeth Hendriks
Assessing Freshwater Health
Speaker Bio: Elizabeth Hendriks is Vice-President of the National Freshwater Programme at WWF-Canada, one of Canada’s oldest conservation organizations. She has fifteen years of experience working nationally and internationally on water policy and last year, she led the release of the first national assessment of the health and stressors of Canada’s freshwater. With her team she is now working to reverse the decline of freshwater ecosystems across the country with the intersection of policy, technology, and community building. She received her BA in International Development from Dalhousie University and her Masters from the University of Waterloo.
Presentation: Assessing Freshwater Health
Canadians deserve to know the state of their country’s watersheds. Unfortunately, however, Canada does not have an easily accessible, national system for reporting the health of freshwater ecosystems across the country and the threats they face. WWF has been working to address this issue. WWF-Canada, to date, has identified 15 of 25 watersheds as data deficient. To address that, we’re working with a range of partners to develop a national citizen science program. We’re using citizen scientists because, given the complexities of the impacts on freshwater, as well as Canada’s immense size and geographic diversity, citizen scientists are far more nimble and able to do this work. We are doing this to ensure we can address the most pressing issues undermining the well-being of freshwater wildlife and build solutions to ensure the health of freshwater ecosystems across Canada.