Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance: Phase 2

Due to the nature of watersheds as a hydrological network, what happens upstream affects what happens downstream. This makes good monitoring of watershed conditions and indicators paramount to tracking the health of a watershed and those which it drains into. The BCWA is using Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to support in making and maintaining a high volume of quality spatial data around the Baxter Creek sub watershed.

To support in monitoring watershed observations the BCWA has partnered with students in the GIS Program at Fleming College, who have used their knowledge to integrate a GIS seamlessly into the BCWA's operations.

The students have developed a field survey to support in data acquisition regarding monitoring the prevalence of breeding amphibian species (frogs and toads) around Baxter Creek. This application is built off of Esri's ArcGIS Survey123, which supports field work via maps for reference, as well as a controlled survey which ensures only quality and valid data is entered.

Additionally, the observed data appends to a live web map, which has been used as the basis for other applications within this project, such as the below dashboard giving an interactive overview of the amphibian surveys.

Survey123 has taken what was originally a paper based survey system which required manual data entry and verification, into a process which is largely automatized (save for a brief quality control screening), increasing volume and quality of observations in a more efficient manner.

Amphibian Monitoring Interactive Dashboard

Take a look at our survey results so far:

Ultimately the BCWA seeks to engage the public within the Baxter Creek watershed on the importance of conserving areas of the watershed, which is vital to both local ecosystems and their own needs. Ideally, we would see an educated and active public who can utilize basic GIS mobile applications to contribute to observations which are crucial to monitoring the watershed health.

To support this ideal, the BCWA has developed another field application called Watershed Watch, also built off Survey123. This application allows for members of the public to take images of features around the watershed and give a brief description of them, which are geocoded and can be reviewed by members of the BCWA for categorization and quality screening.

Much like the Survey123 the public observations from watershed watch can be shared publicly on a dashboard. These observations are screened and then appended automatically to said dashboard.

Take a look at our survey results so far:

Click this link  https://arcg.is/1KKf41  or use the below QR code, to contribute your observations to the BCWA and engage in citizen science and watershed conservation.

A series of printed maps have been produced in order to support the BCWA. They serve as references for any information relevant to watershed conservation in Baxter Creek, as well as being educational resources available to the public through the BCWA Watershed Hub. These maps are an update to first phase maps and also includes new maps.

This map highlights the Baxter Creek watershed and displays important geographical features relating to it, such as wetlands, woodlands, and waterbodies. It also shows contextual information like roads, settlements, and the boundary of the Oak Ridges Moraine.

This Map covers a LiDAR derived super canopy map, explaining how these areas are good ecological indicators and therefore, relate to the health of the watershed.

This map gives a brief overview of the surface level geology found around Baxter Creek.

Treaties made between the government and First Nations people are legally binding agreements between nations which ensure the Aboriginal rights of Indigenous people in their territories, including rights such as hunting, gathering, and fishing.

The Baxter Creek Watershed Alliance is interested in fostering a collaboration between themselves and local First Nations. Indigenous people can provide unique insight to the watershed and the BCWA considers working with them an asset.

To support this, the students at Fleming College have made a reference map of the First Nation Reserves and treaty boundaries around the Trent Waterway, focusing primarily on the Williams Treaties and Treaty 20, which cover the area of Baxter Creek subwatershed, the surrounding Otonabee River watershed, and the larger Kawartha Lakes basin. This map also serves to show how even these historic treaty areas were largely defined by territorial areas of the First Nations and the surrounding watershed boundaries.

The students have also made this reference in an interactive Web Map format in order to include every First Nation Reserve and Treaty area in Ontario.

Be sure to use different zoom settings to update watershed boundaries, also note how treaty boundaries often approximate said watershed boundaries.

You can also click the map to look up information in a pop-up menu. If many features overlap you can specify your intended feature with the arrows on the top-right of the pop up menu.

Through the use of ArcGIS Experience Builder, the students developed a Dashboard that will assist in watershed characterization and analysis. This has been made to be a useful reference to the BCWA and the public alike when it comes to watershed conservation. The Dashboard has tutorials and descriptions on how to use it.

Through partnership with Fleming College GeoCommunity the BCWA has been able to integrate GIS application solutions to upgrade community connections and citizen science, in order to meet the goal of an educated an engaged public in the Baxter Creek Watershed.

Check out the BCWA Watershed Hub for more information on how you can get involved at  https://baxtercreekwatershed.org/baxter-creek-hub .