CALL FOR PAPERS

Protecting and Restoring Aquatic Ecosystems through
Government and Community Action



May 5-6, 2010  
 NavCanada Conference and Training Center
Cornwall, ONTARIO  Canada

DEADLINE EXTENDED MARCH 5, 2010

 The St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, in partnership with the St. Lawrence River Restoration Council, is pleased to host its 17^th annual international conference on May 5-6, 2010.  The conference will take place at the NavCanada Conference Centre located on the shores of the St. Lawrence River in the friendly City of Cornwall.  Enjoy the waterfront bicycle and walking paths, breathtaking views, bright conference rooms, and comfortable accommodations this world class facility has to offer. 

The St. Lawrence River is the collector of all Great Lakes outflow and traffic - a complex waterway with huge economic and environmental implications.  The conference on May 5-6, 2010 will concentrate on critical protection and restoration efforts needed today to sustain and manage freshwater aquatic ecosystems into the future.  Experts in research, conservation, and community development will come together to share knowledge and concerns about the current state of freshwater aquatics, and to discuss action plans for restoration, protection, and management of these precious ecosystems.  This conference attracts an international gathering that includes U.S. counterparts as well as experts from other countries.

 Take this opportunity to become involved in collaborative decision-making with governments and communities.  Expand your own professional network with acclaimed scientists, engineers, and community leaders.  Share your knowledge with others toward establishing strategies for sustainable management of rivers, lakes, and streams.  Let the St. Lawrence River be your inspiration to get involved and participate on May 5-6, 2010.

 This is the first call for papers and all are invited to participate.  Final arrangement and number of session topics will depend on the abstracts received. Please submit your paper that emphasizes the following session topics 

Proposed Session

 1. Remedial Action Plans – Successes and Future Challenges of Great Lakes – St. Lawrence River Restoration and Protection Chaired by Katherine Beehler, RAP Coordinator, St. Lawrence River  Email: Katherine.Beehler@rrca.on.ca

Over the years industrial, agricultural and urban development have placed stresses on the aquatic ecosystems within the Great Lakes. As a result, in 1985, forty-three Areas of Concern around the Great Lakes were identified as being severely degraded. In order to address these environmental issues,  the Remedial Action Plan program was developed in 1987 under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Recognizing the importance of human and aquatic ecosystem health, a holistic approach was developed to help restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the waters of the Great Lakes –St. Lawrence River Ecosystem.  

Since that time, with the dedication of a wide variety of partners, numerous successes have been achieved in the restoration, preservation and protection of ecosystem health. However, despite these many successes new pressures on the overall health of the Great Lakes Basin – St. Lawrence River continue to arise. Continued research, monitoring and surveillance of the state of the Great Lakes- St. Lawrence River will play a crucial role in the future health of this complex system. Contributions are welcome from other areas of concern.

2.  Invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystems.  
Chaired by Jérôme Marty, St. Lawrence River Institute Email: jmarty@riverinstitute.ca and Yves de la Fontaine, Centre St. Laurent, Email: Yves.deLafontaine@ec.gc.ca

 Aquatic invasive species are widely recognized as a leading threat to biodiversity and have imposed enormous economic costs upon fisheries and human health. In the case of the Laurentian Great Lakes, over 180 aquatic invasive species are known to have established populations causing major ecological modifications in both lentic and lotic ecosystems. For example, the invasion by zebra mussels was related to a shift from pelagic to benthic production which may have favoured more recent invaders such as the round goby. To date, the cumulative impacts of aquatic invaders on the food web remains poorly known, in particular for the St Lawrence River where a large number of invaders enters the Great Lakes basin. In this session, we welcome contributions reporting on the ecology of aquatic species in the Great Lakes Basin (ex: distribution, habitat and food web impacts) as well as on management practices aiming to reduce or stop further invasion. 

3. Change within the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and its impact on: Chaired by Conrad de Barros, Ontario Ministry of the Environment Conrad.deBarros@ontario.ca

• Fish Populations

• Water Levels

• Water Quality = nutrient/chemical cycling, changes in algal community, problem algae, toxins

• Water Quantity – surface and ground water

• Extirpation/impacts on native species/fisheries populations and options for control

• Precipitation Events

• Wildlife/plant/insect populations, ranges

• Chemical cycling

• Shipping, recreation, drinking water, and other beneficial uses

The last ice age gave us a one-time, irreplaceable gift:  the Great Lakes, a unique, precious and resilient resource. This ecosystem has evolved over thousands of years. In spite of the successes that have been made, the Great Lakes, (with the possible exception of Lake Superior), are in decline due to new and re-emerging challenges.  Some scientists are warning us that the lakes are at a “tipping point” of ill health.  The Great Lakes’ fundamental resilience, that made it possible for them to respond to all kinds of changes and stresses for thousands of years, is threatened: 

• Great Lakes Basin aquatic ecosystems continue to be altered by urban sprawl and human activities, resulting in increase of new and emerging chemical compound and the loss, fragmentation or degradation of many habitats, and threatening the species they support.
   

• Climate change is of particular concern in the Great Lakes because it has the potential
  to compound many of the existing sources of stress on the Great Lakes ecosystem. 
  The lakes are also vulnerable to climate change because they are renewed through precipitation at a rate of only 1 per cent per year and therefore increases in evaporative loss are a particular concern.

This session will explore current knowledge of the physical and biological changes occurring in the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River and the mechanisms behind them. 

4.  Eutrophication in aquatic ecosystems: the role of sediment phosphorus Chaired by Jeff Borisko, Bay of Quinte RAP Email: jborisko@bqrap.ca

This session will examine the current science and the importance of sediment phosphorus, its bio-availability and its role in near shore eutrophication and triggering algae blooms, availability. 

NEW 5.Protecting and Restoring Aquatic ecosystems of the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes system Chaired by Marc Hudon , Nature Quebec email: hudo@videotron.ca and Jeff Ridal, Executive Director, St. Lawrence River Institute. email: jridal@riverinstitute.ca

Protecting and restoring aquatic ecosystems of the Saint Lawrence and Great Lakes system can only happen if they are truly treated as one system, both from an ecological and governance point of view. To achieve sustainability in the integrated GLSL basin, Governments and communities in both Canada and the United States will need to take an increasingly coordinated approach to managing binational action at all levels and in all sectors throughout the integrated region. This calls for a new shared vision for a sustainable GLSL region as well as new approaches for governance and transboundary environmental management. This session will present a shared vision of sustainability for the integrated region and discuss the roles and relationships that will be critical for a sustainable regional ecosystem.

Presentations on regional initiatives, e.g. on the St Lawrence River, that will contribute to integrated management of the broader GLSL ecosystem are encouraged.

6. Advances in Aquatic Ecosystem Monitoring in South-eastern Ontario
Session Co-chairs:  Chris Jones, Benthic Biomonitoring Scientist, Ministry of Environment, Environmental Monitoring and Reporting Branch, E-mail:chris.jones@ontario.ca  Katherine Watson, Water Resources Specialist, South Nation Conservation
E-mail: kwatson@nation.on.ca

A key role of scientists is to provide information about aquatic-ecosystem condition to watershed managers. Managers, through their land-use planning and other activities, strive to conserve water quality and biological communities. There is much to report about the interplay between science and water management in the St. Lawrence River-Great Lakes ecosystem. Judging the condition of lake and river ecosystems requires that we understand natural variability, and requires that survey designs are appropriate to answer watershed-scale questions. The multiple environmental stressors acting on eastern-Ontario’s lakes and rivers add complication by making suitable control- or reference-sites tricky to identify, and by making the choice of suitable indicators unclear. This session highlights innovative monitoring, assessment and modeling tools currently being used in South-eastern Ontario.

Subjects of interest for this session include:

• Study designs and statistical methods for assessing watershed health and emerging water issues (i.e., climate change)

• Measuring variability in biological communities, defining “normal”,  and identifying stressor-response relationships

• Monitoring to support restoration and/or restoration criteria: identifying priority areas and measuring program effectiveness

• Multi-faceted stressor-based and effect-based monitoring approaches

A half day session would involve 5-6 speakers, representing agencies and initiatives across South-eastern Ontario.

7. Recreational Water Quality and Management Issues

Chaired by Albert Simhon, Ph.D. Senior Adviser, Microbiology Water Standards Section Standards Development Branch Ontario Ministry of the Environment - Email: albert.simhon@ontario.ca

Upon completion of this session participants should be able to:

• Describe different beach water quality criteria:  Ontario, Health Canada and US EPA

• Distinguish between molecular detection of faecal indicator bacteria and conventional culture methods

• Examine casting models for predicting beach water quality

• Understand how microbial source tracking is used as an adjunct to beach management protocols

• Understand why an integrated approach is needed for improvement of beach water quality

8. Integrated Investigation, Assessment and Mitigation
Co-chaired by Steven Usher B.Sc., M.Sc.,P.Eng.,P.Geo and Dr.  Gord Wichert
Senior Hydrogeologist Steve.Usher@aecom.com  905-477-8400 x219

Strong scientific collaboration among several disciplines provides the foundation for effective assessment and protection of aquatic ecosystems. Papers should emphasize the role of integrated scientific investigation to achieve sustainable management. Examples may include iterative approaches to characterize aquatic ecosystems, implementation of adaptive management plans, innovative monitoring to assess effectiveness of mitigation, protection or restoration of aquatic ecosystems.

9.  Reducing the impact of agricultural practices in small watersheds: a look at the tool box. Co-Chaired by Serge Villeneuve, Environment Canada, Montreal, Serge.villeneuve@ec.gca.ca and Stewart Sweeney, OMFRA  email stewart.sweeney@ontario.ca

Over the last decade, agricultural producers have widely adopted beneficial management practices (BMP) with the goal to reduce their impacts on both aquatic and terrestrial environments. To which extent has the implementation of those BMPs brought about the anticipated changes? Have the right BMPs been implemented? Do we have the right tools to evaluate those changes? Which level of engagement is necessary to significantly improve environmental quality parameters (biodiversity, nutrients, toxics, suspended solids, pathogens, etc)? This session aims to provide an opportunity for stakeholders from small watersheds within the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence basin to share their experiences and reflect on what should be done to further improve the agroecosystems.

10. Stormwater Innovation

Chaired by Kerry Freek, Editor, Water Canada magazine Email: kerry@actualmedia.ca

As Great Lakes cities experience growth in population and the built environment, stormwater management strategies must be re-evaluated. What are the updated rules and regulations for stormwater in Ontario? What are the new, viable alternatives to current stormwater infrastructure? Finally, what’s being done to cause a shift in thinking in these municipalities, and how can they afford these new alternatives?

11. Climate Change and Water Resources
Chaired by Ferdous Ahmed, Ph.D., P.Eng., Rideau Valley Conservation Authority
Email: ferdous.ahmed@rvca.ca

The following issues will be covered:

• Climate change
• Impacts on hydrology
• Impacts on water quality
• Impacts on infrastructure
• Impacts on stormwater
• Impacts on water management
• Impact on river hydraulics
• Impacts on flood risk
• Impacts on low water
• Impacts on geomorphology
• Watershed management
• Water control structures

12. GENERAL CONTRIBUTIONS - Papers dealing with all aspects of the biogeo-chemistry, ecology, hydrology and management of aquatic ecosystems and their tributaries are encouraged.

Click to submit an abstract

Conference Coordinator, Christina Collard, ccollard@riverinstitute.ca

613-936-6620 ext 222