Riparian Web Portal: Showcasing conservation success stories

Celebrating and sharing environmental conservation and restoration stories is an important piece in developing a balanced picture of the Earth’s ecological health. With that in mind, the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance invited Lakeland College environmental sciences students to participate in a challenge designed to share examples of restoration projects on the Riparian Web Portal.

The portal showcases conservation and restoration projects across the province, as well as containing data on riparian health. In the challenge, Lakeland students in the aquatic habitat protection class were paired with organizations and tasked with sharing their restoration projects through the portal. At the end of the month-long challenge, two students and their host agencies were chosen as winners.

Tyler Hermansen, one of the student winners, explains, “The project I worked on was a stream bed restoration program. We worked to stabilize the shores of a stream bed with rocks and natural vegetation so the soil would stop eroding into the stream bed, helping it function better. Over time it could allow organisms such as frogs and fish to utilize the habitat for spawning and breeding purposes.”

He worked with Wetaskiwin Leduc ALUS chapter on the project. Hermansen was awarded a booster pack and solar panel charger used to charge phones and other items while doing field work. His classmate, Katelyn Aschenmeier, was also rewarded for her work showcasing the Red Deer River Watershed Alliance’s project.

Projects like the Riparian Web Portal are an important part of raising environmental protection awareness, Hermansen says.

“It’s important to share stories like these because it helps spread awareness about environmental issues so the population or people can be better informed about what is going on in the environment. Hopefully, over time, people will try to help conserve the environment themselves as well,” says Hermansen. “It’s important to protect and conserve the available land we have left so that future generations will be able to enjoy the wildlife and wilderness areas we have. Every bit of functioning habitat helps with maintaining the wildlife.”