Advantages of Participating in a Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SMART)

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1 September 29, 2009 Advantages of Participating in a Stream Monitoring and Research Team (SMART) Background: The factors that influence the condition of a stream operate in a hierarchical manner. Decision makers need access to the best information and science possible. Further, management decisions often require a landscape perspective to ensure appropriate actions are taken. Fortunately many agencies, researchers and private citizens are engaged in conducting or mandating the collection of data on flowing waters. Thousands of site visits are carried out annually to evaluate the biophysical properties of these systems using techniques that vary from being cursory to in-depth. To a large extent the properties of the systems being evaluated are similar (i.e., fish/benthos, water quality/quantity, and habitat). Unfortunately, there is at present no mechanism to manage this information to ensure widespread access and as important the data tends to collected in ways that limit their value in developing new science and management support tools. To address these challenges a network approach is being applied in many parts of the world and several networks have emerged in Southern Ontario. These networks provide a forum for exchange of ideas, data and science. They facilitate collaborative study design development that enable broader questions to be answered and are resulting in better decision making capabilities for all participants. The first SMART group was formed in 2000 and covered the Lake Ontario basin. Key deliverables from this initiative have included: Science Development: 1. Integrated study designs for biophysical properties of streams that have generated a world class dataset for developing new science about landscape influences on stream properties. These datasets enabled several models to be developed that can be used to predict changes to stream properties (fish, habitat, benthos, baseflow) from altered land use or barrier management (see list of papers in Appendix I). 2. More recently, a study design has emerged and is being implemented for eastern Ontario that will quantify the effects of land use and barriers on Eastern Ontario streams. Key to this effort is identifying least impaired sites. The project is being led by the Ministry of the Environment, with full participation of all the partners in the SMARTER network. It was only possible to obtain the funding with the existence of the network as collateral.

2 Decision Support Tools: 3. Guidelines for inventorying and classifying landscapes have emerged from this initiative that provided the impetus for the Great Lakes Biodiversity blueprint project. 4. The landscape tools and models were integrated into a decision support tool (Landscape stream assessment tool) which formed the foundation of the newly developed Stream Attribution tool. Both of which were required to help develop the science above. These tools provide the means of predicting impacts from future land cover conversions. Influencing Policy Direction: 5. The SOSMART meetings have provided both a forum for the discussions and the participants to solutions for several major gaps in provincial or regional policies. It was in this forum that the importance of headwater streams was identified as a gap which resulted in two major studies to date (more are in development) to both develop methods for evaluating headwater systems and to quantify how land use influences them. This also facilitated the development of a headwater steering committee and a team to develop a new module for evaluating headwater streams for the OSAP manual. Model results which show a threshold effect on streams are being considered in watershed planning studies throughout the study area. Training and Science Transfer: 6. Participation in s SMART provides a forum for interacting on a regular basis between those generating and those implementing science and between all levels of government and key stakeholders in the community. No other similar forum exists to fulfill this need. Finally, training needs can be identified by the group and courses developed. Such was the case in 2009 as a study design course was developed and delivered this spring. Roles of Partners: Support for the network approach is wide within the public service. Aquatic Research and Development Section provided the support for MNR involvement throughout the initial 9 years of the SOSMART work and continues to support the initiative. Brian Maloney (Director Science and Information Division) has directed the managers in SSIS to provide logistic and other support as required to these initiatives in Southern Ontario. Water Resources Branch and Fisheries Branch have both provided funding to support staff involved in the setting up of the various Southern Ontario nodes and the tools being developed on their behalf. Finally, each district office has participated in the nodes that cover their jurisdiction. Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Environment Canada have both had staff participate on the SOSMART group and have provided funding for various initiatives that have emerged from this approach.

3 Synergism: The true benefit of the network approach is that the results of collaborating have been invariably greater than expected and are certainly better than any one agency could provide on their own. One partner in the SOSMART group said it well when looking at the data points, when they said: None of us could have afforded to collect this data alone, but collectively our data and the science generated from it is irrefutable.

4 Appendix I Reports that are the direct result of participation in SMART teams Jones F.C., Reference Conditions and Biocriteria for South-eastern Ontario, Study Design. Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Dorset,ON. Kilgour, B. W. and L. W. Stanfield, A protocol for delineating, characterizing and classifying valley segments. A report to the Region of Ottawa Carlton and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora. 50 pp. Kilgour, B. W. and L. W. Stanfield, A framework for incorporating the science of impact, risk and state of resource assessments into management decisions for flowing waters A report to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Burlington, Ontario. 37 pp. Kilgour, B. W. and L. W. Stanfield, Hindcasting Reference Conditions in Streams. Special Publication of the American Fisheries Society. Proceedings of Robert M. Hughes, Lizhu Wang, and Paul Seelbach. Special Publication of the American Fisheries Society. Proceedings of Special Symposium: Influences of landscape on stream habitat and biological communities, Madison Wisconsin Stanfield, L. W. and R. Kuyvenhoven Protocol for Applications used in the Aquatic Landscape Inventory Software Application for Delineating, Characterizing and Classifying Valley Segments within the Great Lakes Basin. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Glenora, internal report Stanfield, L. W., S.F. Gibson and J. A. Borwick Using a landscape approach to predict the distribution and density patterns of juvenile salmonines in the Lake Ontario basin. Canada-Ontario Agreement (COA) project L09, Technical Report, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Lake Ontario Management Unit, Peterborough, On.31+pp. Stanfield, L. W., S.F. Gibson and J. A. Borwick Using a landscape approach to identify the distribution and production of tributary habitats for juvenile salmonids Pages in R. M. Hughes, L. Wang, and P.Seelbach. Landscape influences on stream habitats and biological assemblages. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 48, Bethesda Maryland. Stanfield, L. W., and B. W. Kilgour Effects of percent impervious cover on fish and benthos assemblages and in-stream habitats in Lake Ontario Tributaries. Pages in R. M. Hughes, L. Wang, and P.Seelbach. Landscape influences on stream habitats and biological assemblages. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 48, Bethesda Maryland.

5 Stanfield. L. W., B. Kilgour, K. Todd, S. Holysh A. Piggott and M. Baker Estimating Summer Low-flow in Streams in a Morainal Landscape using Spatial Hydrologic Models. Canadian Water Resources Journal. 34(3): Stanfield, L. W Understanding the factors that influence headwater stream flows in response to storm events. Masters Thesis, University of Toronto, ON. 75 pp.+ appen.