Researchers get hands dirty with ‘foundational’ aquatic ecosystem study

Researchers are walking and studying hundreds of metres of rivers to find out how badly humans are impacting the environment. CTV's Scott Miller reports.

Researchers with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority are literally walking and studying hundreds of metres of rivers and streams to find out just how badly humans are impacting the environment.

“We are lowering the numbers of creatures that live around our rivers and streams. We are introducing other creatures and plants that are causing to really throw things out of balance,” explained Erin Gouthro, a watershed ecologist with the Maitland Valley Conservation Authority.

This is the second year for the aquatic health assessment taking place in the Maitland Valley watershed, which spans several midwestern Ontario counties.

Things like water flow, oxygen levels, fish and bug health, tree cover, and even riverbed geometry are being documented.

“This study has really highlighted that we’re going from extremely low water conditions in the late summer all the way up to extremely high-water flood conditions, and it’s just ripping our streams apart to the point the fish and the bugs, they aren’t able to live there. It’s ripping out the banks of the of the stream, causing all kinds of sedimentation problems, which leads to other problems,” explained Maitland Valley Conservation Authority Watershed Monitoring Specialist Mathew Shetler.

While there is some very basic and provincially mandated annual water testing that takes place across the province, this level of research – both on the ground and in the river – simply isn’t happening in Ontario, said Gouthro.

“There needs to be a move back to primary ecosystem sciences, and to have community science that’s done on the ground that’s held by the community,” he said.

“It’s not held away from the community. It’s not held in a provincial database, but it’s ours.”

“There was a real lack of data, for a number of different reasons. But we’ve recognized that gap and recognize that we do need some actual on the ground data to help us figure out some answers to the questions that we have,” added Shetler.

This research is being made possible largely from private donations through the Maitland Conservation Foundation. It’s vital work, and Gouthro believes it will provide baseline data for current and future generations to understand what’s happening in the region’s ecosystem.

“We have a lot of pressure coming in. We want to be able to catch those before they become major problems. It is also extremely important moving forward because it provides foundational baseline date to future generations,” said Gouthro.

It’s important to say that there’s not a silver bullet. There’s not one solution. It’s going to be multi solutions, for multi different issues that we’re seeing. The ripping of the size of the streams, that’s just one issue,” Shetler added.

“But there’s other issues as well. So, we really have to look at the whole system and try and work holistically to fix things.”