Grand Council Treaty #3 Watershed Management Planning & - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Grand Council Treaty #3 Watershed Management Planning

& Leveraging Partnerships

Background

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Grand Council Treaty #3 is a Political and Administration Organization for the 28 First Nations of Treaty #3

u 55,000 square miles, interprovincial u Lake of the Woods, Rainy Lake, S

hoal Lake, Winnipeg River, thousands of smaller lakes

u Protecting the future of our people by ensuring the protection, preservation, and

enhancement of Inherent and Treaty rights

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Comprised of Political, Education, Health, Justice, and Territorial planning departments

u Department mandates direct proj ects implemented amongst Treaty #3 First

Nations.

Territorial Planning Unit

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Work with Treaty #3 Leadership to protect the lands, waters, and resources within the 55,000 square miles that make up the Treaty #3 Territory

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Current Proj ects: Manito Aki Inakoigaawin (MAI), Resource Revenue S haring, Mining + Forestry/ Natural Recourses, Fishing + Trapping, and Climate Change Education

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Watershed Management Planning

u Nibi Declaration, Database, Community Based Monitoring, Community Outreach

Watershed Management Planning

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First came about in 2016

u Former TPU Director’s idea, not brought to resolution but still considered a focus u Funding acquired from OTF to create water specialist position

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Dedicated position allowed for community visits

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even communities visited –collaborative approach to WMP building.

u Participants asked a series of questions along with discussions u Community members answers and input directly shape priorities and creation of

WMP .

What is Water?

Water Issues Faced by Treaty #3

Watershed Management Goals?

Watershed Management Model - 2017

Watershed Management Model - 2019

Community Outreach & Education

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More community engagement

u Visit all 28 communities for more input to continue to shape WMP u Continued meetings –one meeting/ visit not enough, continued meetings for more

effective support

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Emergency planning education

u Educate and work with communities to create emergency preparedness plans, will

have a focus on flooding.

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Funding through ECCC for shoreline clean-ups

u Turned into school education program that teaches students how to monitor water

quality from local waters and act as water stewards.

Ceremony –Nibi Declaration

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Guided by the Women’s Council in partnership with Decolonizing water

u Initial idea came from Women’s Council and brought to Decolonizing Water

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R egional Gatherings to draft a water declaration

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National Gathering to share draft and get feedback

u 1 women, 1 elder, 1 youth

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S upported through Assembly and brought to Ceremony

Water Declaration Principles

Water Declaration T eam

Governance - Database

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Initial idea was to share maps, models, and data. Vision changed based on Environmental Chiefs input.

u Data base for natural resource proj ect information, MAI, past/ present TPU

proj ects, etc.

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Accessible by all Treaty #3 members

u Private data has restricted access. Ex. Community monitoring data only accessible

to community members from respective community.

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Currently in early stages of creation with Firelight

Community Based Monitoring: Overview

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Idea for CBM program came from feedback from community visits in 2016

u Funding received and officially began in 2018

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2018 - pilot year for the program

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wo First Nations participating –Niisachewan Anishinaabe Nation and Naotkamegwanning First Nation

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2019 –open letter of interest sent to all communities for j oining program

u Naongashiing, S

hoal Lake #39, Northwest Angle #33, S agkeeng interested

Community Based Monitoring: Overview

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Collaborative approach to addressing monitoring priorities and creating plans

u Priorities in water quality and fish health

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Goals for CBM program

u 1. Protect and preserve traditional waters u 2. Collect baseline data and develop monitoring across the Territory u 3. Prioritize youth engagement

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Incorporate both Traditional Knowledge and Western S cience into monitoring plans

Community Based Monitoring: Planning

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Monitoring for basic water quality parameters and mercury levels in fish

u Basic Parameters: water temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH u Mercury Levels: fish tissue sample analysis

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Monitoring to be kept as simple as possible.

u Data will be collected accurately and consistently u Monitoring knowledge can be easily carried forward

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Equipment used: YS I Pro Plus meter, gps, datasheets

Community Based Monitoring: Capacity Building

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Capacity Building: TPU partnership with the International Institute for S ustainable Development: Experimental Lakes Area (ELA)

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Offer week long capacity building workshops at field ELA site and led by ELA scientists

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Cover equipment use & maintenance, hands on use of monitoring equipment, fish dissections/ tissue sampling, monitoring best practices, etc. u

Continued support offered by TPU post ELA workshops

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TPU staff accompany new participants for data collection to offer continued support/ guidance on monitoring u

TPU has worked with ELA to have CBM monitoring plans/ protocols professionally proofed

Community Based Monitoring: R esults

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To Date:

u Niisachewan: 27 unique sites, 130 sites total, covering area of ~ 3000 hectares u Naotkamegwanning: 43 unique sites, 144 sites total, covering area of ~3000

hectares

u Naongashiing: 8 unique sites, 8 sites total, *still in early stages of development*

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All data collected is compiled into Grand Council database and analyzed/ discussed in reports given back to respective communities

u All data is compared against environmental quality guidelines set by CCME u Communities receive digital and physical copies of data u Data mapped

Dalles CBM 2018

Whitefish Bay CBM 2018

Community Based Monitoring: Mercury Testing

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Participating communities collect fish tissue samples from target species

u 25 samples per community from Walleye, Pike, etc.

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Tissue samples collected from fish caught for Fall Feasts and from commercial fisheries

u Avoids killing fish for j ust for samples

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S amples frozen and sent to University of Manitoba for testing

u Results entered in Grand Council database and given back to communities

Community Based Monitoring: Challenges and Moving Forward

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Funding –a challenge for any program.

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New funding from ECCC EcoAction program: focusing on shoreline clean-ups and continued expansion of CBM program u

Continued participant interest in program

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Teach-the-teacher method to capacity building u

Expansion of program

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Current method slow going, looking to change it up for 2020 to reach more communities

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Acquire funding for invasive species monitoring network u

Create new partnerships to enhance and expand the CBM program

Other TPU Hats

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International Rainy Lake of the Woods Watershed Control Board (IRL WWCB)

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Chief Brian Perrault (Couchiching) sits on board, Lucas King (TPU) is alternate

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Lucas apart of working group that’s helped structure and Adaptive Management Committee

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International Multi-Agency(IMA) Agreement

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Lucas is a member of their Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)

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Grand Council will be invited to become a signatory on IMA

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Will lead to future environmental proj ects, funding, and other opportunities

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Kenora Environmental Advisory Committee

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Chris is a member of the committee

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Give Treaty #3 perspective on discussions and proposed ideas

Leveraging Partnerships

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Analyze your own organization to identify gaps in capacity, knowledge, funding, etc.

u Look to create partnerships that help address these

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Maintain relationships

u When not actively working on proj ect together keep in periodic contact u Look to further develop/ evolve current partnerships

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Always be looking to create/ be open about creating new partnerships

u Networking matters

Watershed Management Planning: Recap & Moving Forward

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Collaborative and integrated approach to creation of watershed management planning for Treaty #3

u Allowed for input from Leadership, Elders, youth, and many others to reflect the

priorities of Treaty #3 members

u Inclusive of Treaty #3 ceremony, spirituality, and traditions

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Adaptive in approach

u Areas of focus updated overtime to properly reflect and address priorities

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S till a work in progress

u Will continue to be shaped by Treaty #3 members for its entirety

Watershed Management Planning: Recap & Moving Forward

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S hort term goals: More exposure for Declaration, functional database, expansion of CBM program, community visits

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Mid term goals: More fleshed out Grand Council watershed management plan, all communities have their own watershed management plan

u Community input will help shape both

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Long term goals: Dual/ Collaborative governance of Treaty #3 watersheds

Questions?

Chris Herc Environmental Monitoring Coordinator Grand Council Treaty #3 Environment.monitor@ treaty3.ca Office Phone: 807-548-4214 (ext 206)