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Watershed Management

Watersheds provide nature's boundaries to create a mosaic of land patches connected by a network of streams. Human activities in watersheds can result in the fragmentation of habitat, the loss of ecosystem structure and function, and deterioration of water quality.

Due to the integrated nature of aquatic environments, many water quality and ecosystem problems are best solved by making resource planning and management guidelines at the watershed level:

• Evaluating water use requirements
• Identifying and targeting priority problems
• Involving stakeholders
• Identifying existing and potential contaminant sources
• Producing and implementing watershed management plans
• Restoring damaged ecosystems
• Establishing monitoring programs

Resources

AXYS’ team of planning and scientific professionals offer a complete range of services for watershed management. Our expertise ranges from biophysical assessment and planning to computer mapping and modeling.

AXYS also offers expert capabilities in environmental impact assessment, ecological risk assessment, and cumulative effects assessment. These skills are essential in determining how human uses may affect long-term watershed processes.

Many of these methods employ advanced technologies using geographic information systems (GIS) and computer modeling. This combined expertise in a number of disciplines allows AXYS to take an integrated approach to watershed management, considering both biophysical and socio-economic factors at site-specific and basin scales.

Services

AXYS Environmental Consulting offers a number of services for watershed management including:

Watershed Assessment and Monitoring

• Stream channel assessment
• In-stream habitat and biota
• Water quality assessment
• Wetland and riparian assessments
• Watershed mapping and GIS
• Database management
• Watershed modeling
• Monitoring design and implementation

Watershed Management and Planning

• Watershed management plans
• Watershed restoration plans
• Erosion Potential Modeling
• Remediation
• Socioeconomic overviews
• Legislative/jurisdictional considerations
• Land use planning
• Environmentally Sensitive Areas
• Cumulative effects assessment
• Design and planning of interpretive facilities
• Research and report writing

Selected Experience

AXYS consultants have many years of experience in watershed management. Some of our projects have included:

• Development of a watershed management plan for the Government of Northwest Territories Municipal and Community Affairs for Deep Water Lake, the new source of potable water for Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories. The plan provides direction for management options, including a monitoring program and Best Management Practices for long-term management of the drainage basin.
• Design and development of an Aquatic Ecozone System. This application stores thousands of water quality measurement records, linking the data to stream and lake locations throughout British Columbia. Attribute data may be viewed through a 'point and click' interface, or summarised by watersheds or ecoregions.
• Design of a methodology for modeling erosion potential in stream channels to assist planners in determining areas within a watershed with the highest potential to deliver disturbed sediments to specific channels, such as fishbearing rivers and streams. The resulting information can be used for planning the location of roads, bridges or other areas that may be disturbed by construction.