Winter Monitoring in the Credit River Watershed
As winter conditions continue throughout the Credit River Watershed, the landscape slows amidst the snow, ice and colder temperatures, but our important work through the Integrated Watershed Monitoring Program (IWMP) continues.
IWMP is our long-term monitoring program for tracking conditions and trends in ecosystems across the watershed. We operate year-round, collecting data, to track ecosystem health over time. This long-term monitoring provides critical insight into environmental trends and supports science-based decisions that guide conservation and restoration efforts.
Monitoring Streams All Winter Long
Each month, our team collects water quality samples from 32 stream stations across the watershed, even in freezing conditions. Many of these locations are part of the Provincial Water Quality Monitoring Network, with some stations holding more than 60 years of data. Winter is a critical season for tracking chloride levels, which often rise sharply due to road salt used for snow and ice control.
Elevated chloride can harm aquatic species and disrupt stream health. Monitoring during winter helps us understand how much chloride is reaching waterways, how long it persists and how conditions differ from the rest of the year.
Checking Groundwater Beneath the Snow
Groundwater monitoring continues throughout the winter, even when the landscape is frozen on the surface. Most of our monitoring wells are part of the Provincial Groundwater Monitoring Network. These wells use automated loggers to record groundwater levels continuously throughout the year. We visit these wells to download data and collect manual measurements to verify the data collected by the logger.
Monitoring in the winter helps us better understand how groundwater responds to seasonal conditions and supports streams, wetlands and water supplies year-round.
Preparing Wetland Monitoring for Spring Wildlife
Wetland monitoring starts in late February, when we install acoustic recording units that capture frog calling activity from March to July. At our monitoring sites, the earliest callers are usually wood frog and, occasionally, western chorus frog, which is a rare species in the watershed. Calling typically begins in late March, but warm spells can trigger earlier activity.
As climate change shifts seasonal patterns, frog calls may begin even earlier in the future. Installing acoustic recording units ahead of time ensures we capture the full chorus of early-season amphibian activity.
Beyond IWMP: Other Winter Monitoring
We also conduct snow surveys twice per month to measure snow depth and water content, while observing river ice conditions and watching for potential ice jams. This province-wide initiative helps us support the Province in assessing flood risk and taking proactive steps to protect communities and infrastructure.
Alongside this fieldwork, we maintain a real-time monitoring network that tracks streamflow, water quality and climate conditions. Real-time data helps us better understand, predict and warn about flooding, threats to water quality and low water levels.
Learn more about how we monitor environmental conditions in the Credit River Watershed year-round.
By Adrienne Ockenden, Watershed Monitoring Specialist