Overview
The Environmental Flows Program facilitates field research and science, policy recommendations and partnerships to ensure healthy water flow for freshwater ecosystems.
Partnerships
To identify flow and water level requirements that support healthy fish and wildlife populations, the Environmental Flows Program collaborates throughout the province with:
- other provincial departments
- federal government
- universities
- local interested parties
Resources
Provincial
- Alberta Environmental Law Centre
The Environmental Law Centre believes that to make the law and legal processes work to protect the environment requires accurate environmental law information and an understanding of the implications of policy and development. - Watershed Planning and Advisory Councils
Major partners in the Water for Life initiative are WPACs, which are multi-stakeholder, non-profit organizations that assess the conditions of their watershed and develop plans and activities to address watershed issues.
International
- Instream Flow Council
The Instream Flow Council (IFC) represents the interests of Canadian and American fish and wildlife management agencies to improve the effectiveness of their environmental or instream flow programs.The council is an international organization made up of provincial and state fish and wildlife agencies. Its mission is to help provincial and state fish and wildlife management agencies establish, maintain and administer effective programs to protect instream flows for aquatic resources.
The Fish and Wildlife Division has been a member of the council since its inception and continues to actively participate in the council. This allows the division to continuously improve the scientific techniques employed and to share the discoveries from other jurisdictions.
- The Nature Conservancy
Through their Sustainable Waters Program, The Nature Conservancy provides global leadership in environmental flow science and management - National Stream and Aquatic Ecology Center
The National Stream and Aquatic Ecology Center of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service is a United States national technical center working to develop operational tools which focus on environmental flows and water resource management. - United States Geological Survey (USGS) – Fish and aquatic species conservation
Scientists in the USGS Fort Collins Science Center's Aquatic Systems Branch conduct research and modelling, develop decision-support systems, and provide technical assistance on natural resource management problems dealing with environmental flows and water quality, threatened and endangered aquatic species, and habitat associated with freshwater aquatic communities.