 Did you know that the City of Calgary is home to over 2500 wetlands and stormwater ponds?
These pockets of nature provide many essential functions for Calgarians including supporting biodiversity and contributing to the natural resources that we love. December 2023 marked the completion of a large, multifaceted project with The City of Calgary to help them understand their wetlands, prioritize wetlands for protection and restoration, and gain tools to better manage these vital resources. We worked closely with our advisory committee made up of Dr. Felix Nwaishi from Mount Royal University, Dr. Irena Creed from the University of Toronto, and Lea Randall an amphibian biologist. The four project components included:
- Aquatic Condition Index - a field method to rapidly assess wetland condition based on hydrological, water quality and ecological functions. These three functions then rolled up to provide a single wetland condition score. The manual detailing the methodology and a technical report with a sensitivity analysis and results of the first summer of assessment can be found on our website.
- Modelled Aquatic Condition Index - Since conducting field assessments on over 2500 wetlands is logistically and financially challenging, we developed a model based on landscape level data to predict wetland condition based on the same three functions: hydrological, water quality and ecological. The model used a neural network and resulted in a predictability of over 0.6.
- Prioritization - We developed a framework to prioritize wetlands for protection, management and restoration, and two frameworks to prioritize wetland corridors for conservation depending on the goal.
- Beneficial Management Practices - We met with several City staff whose roles interact with wetlands. With their input, we developed a set of beneficial management practices for wetlands to promote biodiversity that can be prioritized based on operational feasibility and ecological importance.
Thanks to The City of Calgary for supporting this work.
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