Stream Temperature Monitoring along Alberta’s Eastern Slopes: A hot topic for coldwater fishes!
Background Along the eastern slopes of the Rockies, Alberta’s populations of native trout, char, and grayling have declined in range and numbers during the past several decades. Westslope Cutthroat Trout are now considered Threatened provincially and were listed under the Federal Species at Risk Act in 2014. Populations of Bull Trout (Alberta’s provincial fish) and Athabasca Rainbow Trout, a highly adapted strain of Rainbow Trout unique to the upper Athabasca River basin, are listed as Threatened and Endangered respectively, by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). Arctic Grayling are also in trouble along the eastern slopes and beyond, with declines in abundance of >70% compared to the period prior to the 1960s, they are now a high priority candidate for assessment by COSEWIC.
The Bow Basin Context In the upper Bow Basin, where Bull Trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, and Mountain Whitefish make up the bulk of the native community. These populations are feeling the combined pressures from a suite of industrial, agricultural, and recreational activities and land uses, invasive species, climate change, and whirling disease. Whirling disease can infect salmonids, particularly juveniles, causing deformities or death and may already be impacting trout populations in Alberta; one prominent example being the suspected implication of Whirling Disease (in concert with other stressors) affecting the Bow River Rainbow Trout population. In addition to its effect on Whirling Disease, changes in water temperature of only a few degrees Celsius can be the difference between a stream reach being habitable or not for native fish species. For example, Bull Trout thrive in streams with maximum temperatures between 12° and 13°C (that’s only about 10°C warmer than your fridge!), but where water temperatures increase to >18°C, Bull Trout will likely disappear.
2018 Program Launch and Results As part of the provincial Whirling Disease program, Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) launched a province-wide effort in 2018 in partnership with Trout Unlimited Canada (TUC) to assess stream temperature regimes along the eastern slopes and to establish a monitoring network which can be used by TUC and stakeholders for research and monitoring for years to come. The primary goal of this endeavor was to identify areas where water temperatures are within the optimal range of 10-15 °C for the release of spores by the Whirling Disease parasite Myxobolus cerebralis.
During the inaugural 2018 season, TUC volunteers with Bow River Chapter, Northern Lights Fly Fishers Chapter, and Oldman River Chapter, deployed 32 data loggers (out of a total of over 300 launched) along the eastern slopes to monitor water temperature at half-hour intervals throughout the summer and fall, 16 of these loggers are currently overwintering to continue monitoring temperatures throughout the entire year. Temperature data from the 2018 season was downloaded from temperature loggers by AEP in October. These data will be entered into the Fisheries and Wildlife Management Information System (FWMIS) and become publically available. AEP has also created a new load form which can be used by stakeholder groups to upload water temperature data of their own to FWMIS to be added to the growing database of water temperature data throughout Alberta. The data collected during this project will help TUC and fisheries managers assess risk zones based on temperature profiles where M. cerebralis and whirling disease is most likely to be a concern. The data can also be used to begin to build a powerful network of stream temperature monitoring data that can be used by TUC, AEP, and the broader conservation and research communities to support science and conservation initiatives. AEP is also investigating the possibility of using real-time temperature probes to display water temperatures on a public website, which would enable managers and recreationists to see real-time information from their region – similar to the Alberta River Basins web and mobile app for stream flows.
TUC is supportive of AEP’s efforts to establish a stream temperature monitoring network to enable modeling exercises to be completed using a spatial stream network like the NorWEST Stream Temperature Model and associated Interactive Temperature Scenario Viewer developed in the northwestern United States. Like many conservation organizations, we are always looking for the best tools to help prioritize where conservation and protection activities should be implemented, establishing monitoring networks and modeling tools will increase our ability to predict how stream systems might respond to changes in temperature over time as a result of various climate change scenarios, which is critical in prioritizing areas in need of protection or rehabilitation.
Get Involved! TUC would like to build on the stream temperature monitoring partnership again in 2019 in partnership with AEP to launch data loggers throughout the Bow River basin and watersheds along the eastern slopes. TUC is looking for additional volunteers to join their local chapter and get involved in the project this spring, summer, and fall.
Volunteers interested in assisting with the project can attend a training session hosted by AEP in Red Deer, Calgary, or Lethbridge (dates TBD) to learn how to set-up and install a data logger and then head out to the foothills and mountains to sites chosen by AEP to launch your logger! This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in science or conservation to learn firsthand how to install monitoring equipment and contribute to a province-wide science initiative, which is the first of its kind for collecting water temperature data in Alberta.
If you would like to get involved in this project, please contact TUC Project Biologist Elliot Lindsay to learn more!
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