Grant Amount: $400,000
Intake Year: 2026
Region: Columbia Basin
Project Theme: Monitoring & Assessment and Watershed Collaboration, Planning & Governance
Living Lakes Canada Society (LLC), in partnership with yaqan nuʔkiy, Elk River Alliance, and Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi ‘it, ʔaq’am, and Syilx Okanagan Nation Alliance, is leading this project to continue the operations of the Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework (CBWMF) – a coordinated network tracking climate change and other impacts on freshwater which monitors streamflow, lake and wetland water levels, groundwater aquifers, water quality, and meteorological variables at 144 sites. The 2026 phase will focus on advancing Indigenous-led water stewardship initiatives while strengthening relationships with community partners.
Key goals include providing capacity-building opportunities for Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities, and enhancing the accessibility of the Columbia Basin Water Hub open-source database, and providing data summaries for local decision makers throughout the monitoring region. Monitoring efforts will continue to empower Indigenous and settler communities’ climate-adaptation initiatives, strengthening watershed security. The LLC team will focus on collaborating with data users to support holistic water management that applies Indigenous and community knowledge alongside numerical data. Key activities will include supporting the Syilx Okanagan Nation to develop Lake Health Assessment field and modelling protocols and documentation, collaborating with ʔaq̓am on ongoing and future wetland, lake, groundwater, and climate monitoring, providing continued training opportunities to aq̓am youth to develop field technician water monitoring and data interpretation skills, collaborating with the Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it Fire Brigade to expand the Water Resource Inventory for Fire Suppression mapping project, and conducting workshops with Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi’it and ʔaq̓am.
“This project aims to support Indigenous and rural water conservation and monitoring initiatives by providing technical field skills and data management tools to ensure the long-term health of waterways and wetlands in the Columbia Basin.”– Arlo Bryn-Thorn, Program Manager: Columbia Basin Water Monitoring Framework