Blog Story

Citizen Science with Digital Apps
By Monica MyersWith the support of Alberta Environment and Parks, and funders like the Land Stewardship Centre’s Watershed Stewardship Grant, Kinsmen and RBC Tech for Nature, the Friends of Fish Creek have developed a series of digital apps to collect data about our stewardship projects across the land base. From beaver activity, invasive species, tree wrapping and riparian restoration monitoring, the data helps us to monitor the success of our stewardship efforts.
The Friends will hold volunteer training sessions for:
1. NEW: Weed Watchers Program
- The Weed Watchers program aims to make a more measurable impact on the landscape and implement the important “Early Detection, Rapid Response” process of managing invasive species. Volunteers will use our ArcGIS mapping platform to submit weed observations and locations for FoFC review by our Citizen Science & Stewardship Coordinator and lead volunteers. Once each observation and species identification has been confirmed, trained Weed Watcher teams will be dispatched to the site for manual removal and disposal of the weeds. Teams will be equipped with first aid kits, hand tools, weed bags and approved native seeds for reseeding areas disturbed by manual removal.
2. Beaver Activity and Coexistence Strategy Monitoring
- To mitigate negative effects of beaver impoundments along spring and stormwater drainage channels in Marshal Springs, four flow control devices were installed in September 2020. These flow control devices work to drain excess water from beaver-dammed ponds, alleviating some flooding pressure off the paved and single track pathways in the area. Beaver coexistence monitoring and maintenance volunteers are trained by lead volunteers to inspect the flow control devices and report maintenance requests using our fieldmaps. Maintenance shifts include activities such as wading in beaver ponds to unclog drainage pipes/culverts, re-setting 40 ft. long flow control devices, breaking apart beaver dams, etc. and thus volunteers are recommended to own personal chestwaders if involved in maintenance.
3. NEW: iNaturalist walks through the park!
- Join us as we walk through Fish Creek and submit iNaturalist observations on local flora, fauna, fungi and more! To help out, download the iNaturalist app before you come out, and join the “Fish Creek Provincial Park” project. Logging the organisms around our parks furthers citizen science projects and adds to the pool of data for future research and mapping.
4. Thesium mapping
- Thesium is an invasive species that is rare to Fish Creek and few other locations in North America. This monitoring/mapping program will be conducted using ArcGIS FieldMaps app, to track the spread of thesium throughout Fish Creek. Logging these findings allow for early detection and prevention of spread.
The Friends of Fish Creek train volunteers each spring to use their own digital devices in the field to enter observations about various stewardship projects in the park. The data collected informs and helps us to prioritize our future stewardship efforts.
If you’d like to know more about these volunteer opportunities, please contact Emma Stroud, Citizen Science & Stewardship Coordinator, at emma@friendsoffishcreek.org or 403-238-3841 ext. 3.
To receive email notification when training is ready for sign-up, please check off each Program Interest in your MyVolunteerPage account. You can create an account if you don’t already have one, by clicking the button below.