The Network

The Community Flow Monitoring Network is a pilot program delivered by BC Conservation Foundation in partnership with the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. We are providing support to community stewardship groups that are engaged in flow monitoring across the East Coast of Vancouver Island.

The goal of this program is to provide a more formal structure for community streamflow monitoring that will facilitate stronger data collection, sharing and collaboration. Hydrometrics is a complex science that involves a lot of effort and can be technically challenging. We aim to make flow monitoring more accessible for stewardship groups by removing some of the barriers that exist, such as the cost of equipment, coordination of monitoring plans, and challenges with data interpretation.

Through this program we are also working with local governments, eNGOs and other community partners to help determine regional priorities and foster collaboration.

Participation in the Network provides:

• Training events, field support, equipment sharing, data help
• Assistance designing and implementing site specific monitoring plans
• Guidance from Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) – see our SOP page for more info
• 2x/year group meeting to review progress, discuss ideas, assess results
• Help refining monitoring goals and how to use flow data for conservation action
• Support to share data directly with the Province of BC and house data on their central hydrometric database Aquarius

All data collected as part of the Community Flow Monitoring Network is quality checked and graded, before final publication on the Provincial Aquarius database. BC Conservation Foundation and the Province of BC work directly with participating community groups to provide training on hydrometric data collection protocols and timely feedback on data submissions to ensure the information collected is reliable and up to Provincial RISC quality standards.

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This program is accessible to anyone interested in stream flow monitoring in their local community

If you are involved in a stewardship group that is engaged in flow monitoring and looking for support, or interested in getting started, please contact abadger@bccf.com for more information.