Challenge 3

Working with the Lesser Slave Watershed Council I am frequently a part of meetings, gatherings and presentations themed around water, environmental stewardship and of course watershed planning and management.   A large portion of my job involves outreach and education meaning I often act as guest speaker or presenter in classrooms and community meetings.   Because of this I was initially unsure how to go about organizing a gathering for challenge 3 as the majority of the people I interact with are already involved in the world of watersheds; and I wanted a chance to reach and work with people outside of my normal circle of watershed and environment colleague. 

Then finally it hit me, I had just recently joined a new group that met frequently for nights of board games and conversation.  As I was newer to the group we'd never really had an in depth discussion of my work or passion for our water.  I excitedly put together a plan to host everyone for a night of great discussion, games and pizza. 

We started out the night with a brief discussion about Waterlution and the Great Waters Challenge and then launched right into some watershed talk.   To give everyone some background information we watched a short video on the Lesser Slave Watershed:  http://lesserslavewatershedcouncil.ca/projects/education-and-outreach/  I was able to bring stewardship handbooks (a guide to Lesser Slave Lake, its ecology and history etc.) for everyone courtesy of the Lesser Slave Watershed Council and everyone seamed excited to have something to take home with them.  

After watching the video and some general discussion on how watersheds work and why access to water is so important we took turns sharing some of our favorite water memories from the area.  I found this discussion really enlightening because unlike me the majority of the others had grown up in the area and had many fond memories of spending summers on the lake, falls scouring the many bogs and fens for cranberries to make into jam and jelly for Thanksgiving and then heading out to onto the ice with augers and fishing rods all winter.   We spoke about the constant rise and fall of lake levels and how the good fishing spots have shifted throughout the years and seasons.   

We concluded our discussions with a brainstorming session for a responsible ice fishing behaviors information sheet I've been working on.  It was a good time coming up with ideas for how to catch people attention and what to focus on for the information sheet; and by the end of it I had a whole pile of suggestions that I was able to take back to work with me and incorporate into the design.  I've attached the latest draft of the information sheet below.