FreshWater Catalogue project volunteer roles, both (home)office and field, and what we are actively looking for in our FWC volunteers - who are the Salt Spring Island FreshWater Catalogue (SSIFWC) project.

HOMEOFFICE VOLUNTEERS - NEWS

We have been working on:

• Developing a live FWC interface to the new Freshwater Pacific Datastream (beta), to allow improved data visualisation, and sharing with the wider world!

• Upgrades to our SSIFWC webmap - now with a parallel pre-deployment test area and documentation/actions on “webmap change requests” to make back-end systems management more effective.  On the front-end systems we have fine-tuned the webmap site, improved charting, establishing additional layers in our “Administrative Features” webmap view (LOT boundaries).    If there is anything that you think is missing from our SSIFWC webmap contact the SSIFWC Project Lead and we do need volunteers to do more here...

• Refining our integrated “SSIFWC V3” App - to help capture new field data-add ins including water quality chemistry (eg coliforms), secchi measurements etc.  Additional field data collection is being undertaken as we move to “local detail” field data acquisition at various sites, and we have been incorporating SSI well data collection within our project. For our field volunteers our V3.x App is live and available for download.  A version of our V3 app is occasionally fine-tuned with new field sites(+) add-ins (it automatically updates when you open it).

• Updating a monthly SSIFWC data master spreadsheet, data management, data charting and analysis, and a data compilation and interpretation guidelines manual - to enable review of all our regular field sample site data, for QC and data analysis at each site and for across-island comparisons. Macros are a key part of a "automating data and charting compilation" effort, interested - contact the SSIFWC Project Lead.

• Reaching out for volunteers, to support an appropriate SSIFWC creek and watershed naming programme involving research, first nations engagement and then province naming submissions!

FIELD VOLUNTEERS - NEWS

• Field volunteers are working in around 20 watersheds, and at 40 creeks and ponds and wetlands. We have >20 regular watershed sites and seven+ focus (or "local detail") field data collection areas.  The latter are located in the "the north", Ganges, Weston Creek, Xwaaqw’um, Madrona, Fulford central, Fulford Harbour (multiple sites) and in the 2112 (Cable Creek) watershed areas.  

• Reconnaissance at other island sites gives us insights into undocumented/unrecorded surface water bodies and potential future FWC field data collection sites on the island (see our Salt Spring Island FreshWater Catalogue webmap - “SSIFWC webmap” for all field locations).

Our goal with the FWC field work is to extend our measurements to more of the island’s watersheds, and to build an island-wide freshwater systems catalogue. This work supports the improved understanding (cf Reporting) of our island’s surface freshwater, and how these systems influence and interacts with our groundwater, in a developing Salt Spring Island freshwater hydraulic connectivity story! 

SSIFWC field volunteers can work in small  “Watershed Stewardship Groups" , as individual “StreamCatchers” or as roving "Scouts", gathering a variety of freshwater data, including:

• Water features, location, presence and type

• Creeks, and their seasonal "on or off” status

• Creek flow rates

• Freshwater chemistry: pH, conductivity and water temperature by default (with Dissolved Oxygen monitoring and other water quality parameters acquired at selected sites)

• Field and "homeoffice" training or onboarding for the SSIFWC project is provided. Or maybe you are a SSIFWC watershed stewardship group leader, or educator?  Interested(?), please drop the SSIFWC project lead a line. 

Some of the field data we collect is actually collected by in-field 24/7 in-creek data loggers, though we still need volunteers to help with occasional data logger downloads!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

• We re-launch our SSI Exchange “SSIFWC Volunteers Needed” post (details below) on a more-or-less monthly basis, depending on interest levels and an ability to onboard!  We can achieve a lot more if we have more volunteers (both field and homeoffice). More folks in the field (and in schools) means more educational outreach, more coverage of our island's watersheds, more of an island freshwater stewardship community (CoVid permitting), and importantly more continuity on sampling.  Further, more help in the homeoffice means that we can improve managing and sharing our data (to feed and inform island planning and to attain a broader island outreach on watershed stewardship), and do more robust analysis/interpretation! 

An educational Freshwater Saltspring film-short is in place, and work is ongoing on fund raising for a collaborative SSI freshwater and watersheds stewardship video (working title Shaped By Water), support our schools and community education objectives - more on this in a future FWC website news update and in updates in our SSI FWC education and outreach, SSI (watersheds) Stewardship video Facebook post.  In addition to working with SSI schools we are keen to gain additional FWC help with:

• FWC field work in watersheds, across the island!

• Cataloguing our growing collection of SSIFWC images (field locations, volunteers, and equipment) - for use in our monthly WCIT, for Mailchimp and for use in other outreach and reporting.  

• Taking our FWC webmap to “the next level” - with the development of additional layer (Python, Jason, SQL, AWS development skills needed)

• Educational articles (content writers) - for the SSIFWC Volunteers Bulletin newsletter

• Editorial reviews of the various outreach media (MailChimp, this SSIFWC website, our FWC Watershed Stewardship Facebook page)

• A SSIFWC Oakton hosts “Oakton topical tips" coordinator - managing & hosting (and using…) more Oaktons and other equipment!    

• Further developing the robust data compilation workflows - to streamline data QC and data analysis ( solid and current Excel skills needed), and data charting and analysis

• Field and school SSIFWC watershed education and outreach efforts (article copy writers and "data managers") - supporting an improved understanding of the “interconnectedness of things” (surface water and groundwater), an important aspect of our island’s watershed stewardship. Home-office data management and analysis skills, App and webmap skills allow us to improve the management, interpretation and sharing of our “big” data.

For all of the above we need more volunteers!  Interested, please complete the FWC volunteer questionnaire and return it to the SSIFWC Project Lead. 

If interested in supporting our other Water Preservation Society activities (land acquisitions, stewardship, education/advocacy) please visit the WPS website.

Volunteers Onboarding

Thinking of being involved (or are already)?  There is a SSIFWC volunteer "onboarding" slide-set,  just as a trigger to conversation(s)!