What makes a resilient watershed?
Watersheds are complex systems involving social, economic, and ecological dimensions that constantly interact and influence each other. Resiliency is the ability to adapt to change, and recover after major incidents, a resilient watershed is a healthy watershed, full of diverse species and healthy riparian areas. Understanding how to improve a system to adapt to disturbances is increasingly important, especially when considering the uncertainties brought on by a changing climate and incidents of flood and drought events.
LSWC's Watershed Resiliency Program
The LSWC engages with local land owners to support the implementation of projects that conserve, protect or create riparian areas and wetlands. We provide support from early planning and budgeting to funding applications, providing resources and offering financial support. By utilizing the collective knowledge of our network of partners we want to ensure the success of projects in our watershed.
Opportunities to work with the LSWC:
Links to More:
Partners and Supporters
2016-19 Watershed Resiliency Journal
Why Riparian Areas Matter
Riparian areas are the lands adjacent to streams, rivers, lakes and wetlands, where vegetation and soils are influenced by the presence of water. Although they make up only a small fraction of the land, they are among the most productive and valuable of all landscape types and are often the focus of conflicts between resource users.
Ecosystem or ecological services are the benefits derived from physical, chemical, and biological functions of healthy ecosystems. These services contribute in many ways to making life possible, that is why we value them! For example carbon capture, the process of removing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, is an important ecosystem service provided by healthy vegetation that ensures air quality. A healthy riparian buffer has the potential to sequester a large amount of carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. This is just one of the many ecosystem services that healthy riparian areas can provide.
The Alberta WPAC Riparian Web Portal
The Riparian Web Portal was designed to support Albertans build healthier riparian areas by providing:
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access to condition assessments
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summary statistics for waterbodies
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resources for conservation and restoration
Check it out HERE