Upper Athabasca Community Based Monitoring (UATHCBM)

Upper and Central Athabasca Basin residents are justifiably concerned about the health of aquatic ecosystems, and want access to credible independent monitoring data, in order to move beyond dependence on data that may or may not be available to the public from industry self-monitoring programs. Community based monitoring fosters a wide range of innovations, including increased awareness of water stewardship issues, improved traditional knowledge collection and application, as well as increased community involvement in research and monitoring program design. Upper Athabasca Community Based Monitoring (UATHCBM) provides information, training, equipment and other resources to support community-based monitoring.

Citation

Upper Athabasca Community Based Monitoring (UATHCBM). 2022-04-30. "Upper Athabasca Community Based Monitoring (UATHCBM)" (dataset). 2.0.0. DataStream. https://doi.org/10.25976/ykhj-0z76.

Data Collection Information

UATHCBM sampling sites are spread over a large area covering both tributaries and the main stem Athabasca River, extending from just east of Jasper Park all the way down river to Poacher's Landing on the Athabasca, just upstream of where tar sands activities begin. Due to the large area and long traveling distances, we have so far tried to plan site visits to give us as much data as possible, and therefore, in addition to water samples, we also collect sediment and benthic macro-invertebrate samples at each site, following CCME protocols for water and sediment, and Canadian Aquatic Biomonitoring Network (CABIN) protocols for invertebrates. For better or worse, UATHCBM has continued to work with the relatively basic equipment recommended to us by our original CABIN trainers, and we have spent the bulk of our funding on lab analysis of samples, rather than investing in high end equipment like the YSI EXO2. Thus, the equipment that we use includes Oakton pH and specific conductance sondes and meters, LaMotte turbidity meters, Hach DO chemistry kits, CABIN approved kick nets for invertebrates, laboratory provided containers for water and sediment samples, and of course basic thermometers, meter sticks, etc. Our monitoring QA/QC is ensured by careful and consistent completion of field sheets for each site, strict adherence to appropriate protocols and laboratory instructions, in addition to careful and continuous cross checking between members of each sampling team, to ensure that each step is completed correctly and accurately, before the team leaves the site.

Attribution Licence (ODC-By) v1.0

You are free to share, copy, distribute, use, modify, transform, build upon, and produce works from the data as long as you attribute any public use of the data, or works produced from the data, in the manner specified in the licence. For any use or redistribution of the data, or works produced from it, you must make clear to others the licence of the data and keep intact any notices on the original data. https://opendatacommons.org/licenses/by/1-0/

Data Disclaimer

Please note that downloading of any UATHCBM file indicates acceptance of the terms of our disclaimer of liability, as follows. UATHCBM samples are collected by trained volunteers operating under frequently adverse conditions in remote locations, with each sampler expected to conscientiously adhere to the appropriate protocols throughout all steps of sample collection, including equipment maintenance and calibration, required preparations and transportation to sites, site inspection and planning to accommodate any unexpected circumstances or conditions, sample collection, sample preservation where required, sample labeling and appropriate packing, completion of chain of custody forms, and finally shipment or delivery of samples to a fully accredited analytical laboratory or taxonomist, as required. Laboratory results are carefully reviewed, and diligent effort is made to identify and remove or correct any errors found. However, there are potential errors in any human endeavour, thus, users of UATHCBM datasets are responsible for ensuring that data quality is sufficient for intended purposes. UATHCBM volunteers, samplers or managers, are not responsible for any potential costs or damages resulting from use or misuse of this data.

API Access

curl -G https://api.datastream.org/v1/odata/v4/Records --data-urlencode "\\$filter=DOI eq '10.25976/ykhj-0z76'" -H "x-api-key: PRIVATE-API-KEY"

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