A day in the life of a Watershed Monitoring Specialist

7.15 a.m. Arrive at the office before my summer crew arrives. There are few cars in the parking lot at this time of day, and it’s still relatively cool outside. Sign in at reception, work at my desk, check e-mails and voice messages to make sure there’s nothing urgent to deal with. In the midst of completing a few outstanding items and replying to an e-mail, I find that the crew has arrived.

8.30 a.m. Update the crew on the plan for the day. After loading the truck with our equipment from another facility down the road, they’re back at the office and then we’re off to the site we’ll be working on that day. We leave the suburban metropolis of Mississauga and are quickly surrounded by farm fields. Driving further north we reach the rolling hills and spectacular scenery of the escarpment, drive over them and continue north into Orangeville.

9.45 a.m. We’re at our site. Meet our volunteer for the day ( a Ph.d candidate from the University of Guelph ), unload the truck and set up our equipment. All of us suit up in the same pair of waders we are going to wear for the rest of the day (talk about smelly ).

10.15 a.m. I strap on the 30 lb back pack electrofisher. And we begin!!

10.45 a.m. The fish come up fast and furious but our able netters caught them all.
We finish fairly quickly, and except for getting stuck in the mud, someone’s grass allergies acting up and moving (what seemed like) miles of grass off the creek so that we could see the fish we were capturing, the site went quite smoothly. We’re all quite hot at this point, and welcomed the quiet and less strenuous activity of inventorying what we caught. We load up our truck again, and move to the next site up the road.

11.30 a.m. We’re at our second site of the day. Unload again, set up again, strap the backpack on again.

11.40 a.m. My pants are starting to stick to my legs, the mosquitos are quite hungry and we had a bunch of old cars staring at us from across the river.

12.30 p.m. In just about an hour, we’ve completed electrofishing, inventorying, and recording. I help the crew load up the truck, and then leave them to finish the next site.

12.40 p.m. It’s lunchtime, and my stomach is angry at me for the lack of food.
I make my way back to the office (about a 45 minute drive), and stop off to buy lunch.

1.30 p.m. Arrive at the office with just enough time to eat (but only have 10 minutes to do so), and I’m already late for a meeting. At the meeting, Communications pesters me for my submissions for the newsletter.

2.00 p.m. Whew! this meeting is over, and I can go back to my desk, work on a couple of things (including this article!),

2.30 p.m. Pulled into another quick meeting.

3.00 p.m. Finished replying to all the requests for information, prepared some reports, followed up with some landowners.

4.00 p.m. The crew is back in the office (hot, smelly, tired but still smiling), and we have a quick chat about the next day’s schedule. I’m back to my voice mails and e-mails, and don’t look at the clock again until it’s….

4:45pm. I’m ready to go home! I hope dinners on the table!

In response to an illegal/accidental release of rainbow trout to the West Credit River, MNR has issued a special permit to CVC for anglers at Belfountain Conservation Area. The source of the fish and the means of their release into the river are under investigation by MNR.

Rainbow Trout

Rainbow trout are not native to the West Credit and this illegal/accidental release is not in compliance with the Credit River Fisheries Management Plan (CRFMP). This species may compete with native fish species. Existing regulations for the Credit River and its tributaries in the Town of Caledon upstream of Old Base Line state a possession limit of zero (0) for all species of trout. In an effort to control/remove the rainbow trout from the West Credit, MNR is temporarily allowing these fish to be harvested within the Conservation Area.

Members of the public may register with their Outdoors Card at the Belfountain Conservation Area gatehouse for a copy of this special licence that permits the possession limit of 5 rainbow trout for Sport Fishing Licence holders and 2 rainbow trout for Conservation Fishing Licence holders. The licence covers the West Credit River from Belfountain Conservation Area downstream to Forks of the Credit Road. Other special regulations for this water still apply i.e. artificial lures with a single-pointed barbless hook must be used. No live organic bait allowed.

Many people have noticed that rising temperatures have been accompanied by the return of a black bird with a wing-span of almost 6 feet (1.8 metres) that circles fields, forests and roadsides. Unfortunately, many people do not know what this bird is, and those that do, often misunderstand its habits.

The common name of “turkey vulture” only serves to confuse the identification or understanding of this bird. ‘Turkey’ refers to an entirely different species of bird, while ‘vulture’ tends to mean aggressive, greedy, living on live prey, which for the turkey vulture, is not the case. On the other hand, their Latin name, Cathartes aura, means “purifier”, which is a far more accurate description of this species’ role in the environment. What follows are some common misconceptions about turkey vultures, as well as the truth behind the myth.

Myth: Circling vultures indicate that a dead body is nearby.

Fact: Circling vultures do not indicate the presence of a carcass. Rather, circling vultures are either gaining altitude for long flights, or are actively searching for food. The turkey vulture is one of the only birds that fly with their wings in a dihedral (V-shape). They are the most graceful in flight, and can soar for hours at high altitudes without flapping their wings. Turkey vultures will descend (at speeds approaching 100 km per hour) if there is food present. Their occasional necessary flaps and takeoffs are quite laborious, and the birds often fall victim to predators and cars as a result.

Myth: Turkey vultures have poor eyesight.
Myth: Birds (including turkey vultures) can’t smell.

Fact: Turkey vultures have excellent eyesight, but, like many other birds, have poor night vision. Turkey vultures are also one of the only birds in North America with a sense of smell. This heightened sense allows them to pick up the “scent” of mercaptan, a gas that is produced at the beginning of the decay process.

Myth: Turkey vultures will carry away your pets.
Myth: The presence of turkey vultures means that something is dying in the vicinity.

Fact: Turkey vultures DO NOT eat live animals (or children for that matter). In fact, turkey vultures are known to prefer the meat of recently killed herbivorous animals (e.g. rabbits and squirrels) and will tend to avoid carnivores (e.g. cats, dogs and coyotes).

Myth: Turkey vultures are buzzards.

Fact: Buzzard is the correct term for a family of hawks. For example, the European buzzard, Buteo buteo, is closely related to the North American red-tailed hawk. In North America, the term is often employed incorrectly to describe vultures. This probably dates back to the arrival of the first English colonists. There are no vultures in England, so these pioneers probably gave the common term "buzzard" to all the soaring figures above the New World.

If you’d like more information on turkey vultures, please see The Turkey Vulture Society’s website at: http://vulturesociety.homestead.com/. Although the society is based out of Missouri, its website is full of information that is relevant to Ontario residents.

In the spring of 2005, staff from Conservation Halton, the City of Mississauga, the Town of Oakville and Credit Valley Conservation got together to produce educational materials aimed at protecting storm water from non-point source pollution.

With the support of 15 other community partners, a series of posters depicting common human activities and the impacts of those activities on water quality was printed for distribution to caring communities along the shorelines of Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and Lake Simcoe. A web site supports the posters and provides additional information regarding water quality.

The Working Group members who originated this effort provided complementary copies of the Storm Water poster series to their respective communities to assist in their efforts to promote sustainable water use.

We all share a common purpose; clean water to make all our lakes “Great Lakes”. Copies of the posters can be obtained at our administration office. For further information about protecting storm water quality, visit www.cleanlakes.ca.