Spring 2007

After a busy year working with various groups on their monitoring projects, the CBEMN office is once again open full-time hours. We sincerely look forward to this monitoring season and hope that the demand for our expertise continues to grow. Several projects from this past season include: analyzing suspended sediment from Russell Lake and Morris Lake in Dartmouth, water quality monitoring in the Woodens River Watershed (Saint Margaret’s Bay) and Belchers Marsh (located in Clayton Park), and assisting other groups with the development of monitoring programs that are best suited for their needs as a community.

The equipment bank is available for use all summer. Some of the more popular items are chest waders, the YSI MPS 556 (measures, DO, pH, Temp, Salinity and Conductivity), nets, and the ISCO (an automatic water sampler). We have received funding from Halifax Regional Municipality and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation to purchase more equipment. We would like to introduce the YSI 650, an Onset Water Level Meter, and a Depth Finder

On another note, many of you will have either spoken with, or gotten to know Oliver Woods, who has worked at the Network over the past year. He will be leaving for the other coast at the end of May, and then taking off on world travels for a year. We anticipate that he will be back with us again next summer (and hold him to it!). We congratulate Oliver on his many achievements, including his development and input into our Nearshore Marine Monitoring Toolkit. Oliver’s dedicated work has helped to strengthen our relationship with community groups, build capacity, and establish new monitoring protocols. We wish Oliver all the best and look forward to working with him in the future.

Over the next year, you will get to know Jody Armstrong, who is going to be in the office three days a week, over-seeing the Equipment Bank and working on our forthcoming Nearshore Marine Monitoring Toolkit.