Wildlife and fisheries conservation (WFC) and conservation and restoration ecology (CARE) students in the environmental sciences diploma program put their passion into action on the frozen Vermilion River this winter in a project dedicated to data collection, healthy river ecosystems and environmental stewardship.

The project was a collaboration between the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance, Vermilion River Watershed Alliance, and the Student-led Assessment of the Vermilion River (SAVER), a group from Lakeland College dedicated to facilitated work-integrated learning opportunities for students. The project also received funding from Lakeland alumnus Bill Bocock.

The water monitoring project involved gathering water samples from different locations along the river and using data obtained through that process to track the water quality and health of the river system.

“A lot of the Vermilion River is being used for municipal purposes,” explains Serafino Taradei, a second-year WFC student who was involved in the project. “It's also home to many fish species, waterfowl and invertebrates. We have to do our part to ensure the river is in good shape and being used sustainably.”

Part of that, he says, is doing a full-scale assessment of the river, monitoring parameters like dissolved oxygen, herbicide and pesticide levels and metal quantities in the water.

To procure the water samples, the students were split into groups and given different locations. There, they shoveled through the heavy snow to access the ice, drilling through it to the water below.

“We used an auger to drill through the ice as much as possible without hitting the bed of the river,” Taradei says. “It was important to be extra careful not to stir up the sediment.”

Zoé Vriends, another second-year student in WFC, agreed. “It was a really good experience. Our instructor Nicole was really enthusiastic and everything went so smoothly, even when there was a little hiccup with the auger. We just used patience and teamwork and tried again to get our samples.”

Once the water sample was collected, it was placed in preservatives and sent away for testing.

The data collected will be part of an ongoing project to monitor the overall health of the river, as well as impacts of agriculture, industry and climate change on this important ecosystem.

Hands-on experiences like this one will be a huge benefit in the workforce, Vriends claims.

“It's going to help me 100 per cent,” she says. “I've already done a lot of the things I'll be doing during my summer job thanks to my experience at Lakeland. They have taught us so much in two years.”

For Taradei, having the opportunity to be involved in the monitoring process was an exciting one which helped him gain important industry-related skills.

“This is the main reason I came to Lakeland,” he says. “I knew we would have a lot of experiences like this, which I wouldn't necessarily have at other universities and colleges. The more practice and experience you have, the more comfortable you are. We got to learn best practices for water sample collection as well as to familiarize ourselves with different tools. What we are doing in the labs is similar to what we can expect in the field. This experience will be helpful to discuss in job interviews.”

The most important thing Taradei learned, however, goes beyond practical, job-ready skills and speaks more to why he wanted to go into environmental sciences in the first place.

“Those of us looking to go into environmental sciences are doing it because we care about the environment and love the outdoors,” Taradei says. “This experience reminded me that it's about stewardship and being proud of what we're doing. I learned to just enjoy myself when I'm out in the field and to have fun with it.”

“I'm happy to be a part of it because we were the first group to ever do the winter sampling for the SAVER project,” Vriends says. “It was nice to start it off and future students are going to have a really fun time carrying on with the project.”

Photos: Top - From left to right: Dr. Nicole Nadorozny (SAVER co-lead at Lakeland College) and WFC students Michelle Nelms, Karlene Stratuliak, Jana Teefy, Zoé Vriends, and Serafino Taraddei. Middle - SAVER students use an auger to drill through the ice to take their measurements (Serafino Taraddei on the left, Karlene Stratuliak in the back and Zoé Vriends on the ice auger). Bottom - SAVER students collecting the water samples from the Vermilion River (CARE students: Layne Cadrain on the left, and Mel DeAbreu on the right).