Honourable Mention
4218 - 58 Street N.E. Calgary Alberta T1Y 4E9 T: (403)590-5330 F: (403)568-1390 riverwatch@cadvision.com
HONOURABLE MENTION FOR 2001
What is the mission of the organization?
River Watch is an innovative essential service provider working with both regional governments and communities monitoring their own watershed resource. Providing high quality education, equipment, on-going technical support, and state-of-the-art online data management system, RiverWatch aims to catalyze the formation of an integrated Canadian water monitoring network.
Who are your clients or customers?
RiverWatch serves community members as a resource for technical matters in watershed monitoring, while at the same time aiding government managers and scientists by satisfying the need for reasonable quality control and proper data management such that efforts of community groups are properly acknowledged and used effectively.
Describe the background of the innovative project/program.
1.What is the purpose of your innovation?
RiverWatch provides a unique service to communities investigating the health of their local river. Through high-quality instruction; the provision of convenient monitoring equipment; ongoing technical support; and a state-of-the-art online data management system, RiverWatch creates a safe and supportive environment for people collecting river-monitoring data. RiverWatch innovates community monitoring one step further by acting as a liaison with government agencies, practicing scientists and communities to ensure that the data collected has a known level of scientific integrity, providing a stronger credibility to a database for multiple watersheds to aid in water quality assessment and the development of community watershed management projects.
2.Who are the clients or customers for whom this innovation was developed?
A school-based RiverWatch program works with 4000 secondary science students each year as they spend a full-day collecting chemical and biological data above and below wastewater treatment plants in 13 towns and cities on eight different Alberta rivers.
A community-based RiverWatch program has been adapted to meet the needs of several diverse groups:
·zoo members wishing to inventory the myriad wildlife living within their city
·an environmental consulting firm counting spawning trout
·community property owners examining the best practices for shoreline management
·a volunteer group beginning to monitor the health of their local stream In addition, RiverWatch is currently in discussions with the provincial government of Alberta to determine the level of service RiverWatch can provide for the regional government to help satisfy the growing demand for assistance in community-based monitoring.
3.Why and when did you create the innovation?
RiverWatch began serving the educational needs of communities across central and southern Alberta in the spring of 1997. Increasing concerns for risk management and liability presented a worry for teachers and school districts. RiverWatch allayed the fears of everyone involved through the provision of professional river guides using industry standards for rafting and data collection. The organizing teachers also circumvented the ever present threat of budget and program cuts by incorporating as a not-for-profit organization independent of local school boards. The project then went on to use grant monies for capital costs and a user-fee to cost-recover staff wages, office costs, vehicle rental and equipment maintenance.
4.Where did the idea for this innovation come?
The idea for RiverWatch originated with three teachers. Two of the teachers were seeking a mechanism to provide hands-on experience with rivers as an alternative to existing studies based on readings from a textbook. The third teacher had recently immigrated from Australia and was looking for employment. All in all, necessity was the mother of invention for RiverWatch.
5.What other organizations (if any) have been involved as collaborative partners in helping you to design, develop and/or deliver this innovation?
RiverWatch currently uses a provincial fish hatchery and a municipal wastewater treatment plant as home bases for equipment and staff. These two partnering organizations also provide advice on water quality testing. More recently, the provincial environment minister extended a formal invitation for RiverWatch to work as a partner in addressing the needs of numerous newly formed community watershed groups. RiverWatch has been in the right place at the right time to provide a service in the wake of the Walkerton contaminated water tragedy.
Share Your Innovation
Please rate your innovation in strategy = 5 HIGH
Please defend the rating you have given to your innovation in strategy.
RiverWatch is a truly innovative one-of-a-kind project based on several unique strategies.
1. Arms Length Organization School boards are notorious for cutting worthwhile education programs as soon as the next budget cut looms. In fact, two of the teachers that created RiverWatch were part of a consulting team recently cut from within their school board. Back in classrooms and working with students, these two teachers not only created a totally unique science field trip all on their own, they incorporated a not-for-profit company to manage the program independent and at arms length from their school board.
2. Bullet Proofing School boards retain the right to approve or disapprove school field trip destinations. In the face of this conservative approval process, RiverWatch made the bold move to take students onto rivers by raft. When a student death during an unrelated school canoeing trip cast doubt upon all water-related activities, RiverWatch set about to gain credibility. RiverWatch directors applied for and received recognition as a national recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. This landmark event precipitated congratulations from the School Board Chairperson and the Chief Superintendent, whereas only a year before, any approval for RiverWatch had been in question. The credibility gained by receiving respected recognition far from home served to bulletproof RiverWatch against any local bureaucratic approval process. To date, RiverWatch has won two awards out of eastern Canada but none of the environmental or educational awards offered closest to home.
3.The Best of Both Worlds RiverWatch is small, light on its feet and able to take risks that large school boards shy away from. While incorporation as a limited company would have provided a greater degree of independence for RiverWatch, the ability to receive not-for-profit grants would have been lost. Incorporation as a not-for-profit company under the Alberta Companies Act has provided RiverWatch with the benefits of operating outside the local school board government while retaining the funding advantages of a not-for-profit group: the best of both worlds!
4.Cost Is Never The Real Problem Many environmental education initiatives are offered through government agencies or funded by governments and offered at below cost rates. RiverWatch took the bold tactic of charging user fees that reflect actual costs. Only a source of independent funding could ensure the sustainability of the project beyond the addict-like behaviors of applying for one grant after another. Believing that cost is never the real problem in a project, but rather a lack of quality or motivation, RiverWatch proceeded with a plan to charge clients seven times the going rate of most environmental education programs. This bold strategy has paid off and the amazing opportunity to study a river aboard a floating laboratory is always booked a year in advance with a waiting list.
Please rate your innovation in systems = 5 HIGH
Defend the rating you have given to your innovation in support systems.
RiverWatch has developed a state-of-the-art online data management system to support the work of thousands of volunteers. The web site can be viewed at www.riverwatch.ab.ca
1. A Picture is Worth a Thousands Words - The RiverWatch web site paints a picture in figurative and concrete terms. Many students, parents, teachers and administrators have concerns for the safety of their children out on rivers. The web site includes many photos and a thorough description of all aspects of the program, which serves to allay any fears.
2. Strength in Numbers: Prior to creating the web site, each group that monitored the health of their river was unaware of the findings of other groups and unaware of any changing environmental trends. The new web site not only collects all data online, but it uses a software program originally designed for monitoring stock portfolios to now chart the chemical and biological data as it is entered. This is a very powerful tool for analyzing data and making the results available to all involved.
3. Birds of a Feather Flock Together - A number of agencies interested in water quality data pitched in the $60,000 required to hire a web design company to create a database and charting capability for the RiverWatch web site. The corporate sponsors are even interested in posting their data with our web site.
Please rate your innovation in structure = 5 HIGH
Defend the rating you have given to your innovation in structure.
RiverWatch has adapted a highly innovative structure that has ensured its survival, growth and opportunity to evolve.
1.Hind Sight Is 20/20 - RiverWatch began as a labor of love and was voluntarily managed by its creators. Early on, however, a mistake was made in directing funds toward a full time executive directorship. The amount of money that this position gobbled up placed the entire project in jeopardy and created a substantial debt. With finances back under control, RiverWatch returned to a volunteer directorship and is only just now set to hire the first fulltime staff. The first full time staff will not be an executive director, but rather an office manager and a science coordinator to work with community groups. Hind sight is always 20/20!
2.On Again, Off Again - RiverWatch is a seasonal operation tied largely to the school field trip season in spring and fall. New opportunities are just now appearing to work with community groups over the summer. In either case, the winter season is a down time for work in the environmental consulting industry. RiverWatch has adapted to this situation by hiring seasonal river guides and interpreters in an effort to keep cost efficient. Luckily, there is a cadre of university-trained talent that alternates between RiverWatch during the warm half of the year and travel, ski or wildlife research during the winter. This exceptional group of people tends to return to RiverWatch year after year, on again, off again. This same talent pool is available in any urban centre large enough to support a university and could be used to expand RiverWatch across Canada.
3.Poor Cousins - RiverWatch is a poor cousin in the environmental consulting industry. Only by striking partnerships with a fish hatchery and municipal wastewater treatment plants can the project afford the property and accommodation required to securely store equipment and house our frontline staff. This partnership opportunity exists in every town and city across Canada - RiverWatch will always have friends at every wastewater treatment plant. These folks are proud of the work they do to protect our rivers and share that goal with RiverWatch.
4.Growth by Demand - RiverWatch has been directed by three hands-on and volunteer directors. Only the seasonal staff actually working with clients have been paid staff. Only now, as the demand for company programs have grown, are we just considering investing in full time staff.
Please rate your innovation in skills development = 5 HIGH
Defend the rating you give to your innovation in skills development.
RiverWatch uses a highly innovative skill development strategy well suited to its environment.
1. First Things First - RiverWatch staff are part river guides and part science interpreters. We initially thought that we could take anyone with a strength in either category and then bring them up to speed in the other category through training. As it turned out, you can put the scientist into a raft guide, but it is virtually impossible to give someone with science training the comfort level required to guide a 15 passenger raft on a river. As things now stand, we look for river skills first and then provide the all the science training required.
2. Spending Money to Save Money - When our staff arrives each season, we spend six days in training. We believe that if individuals are good enough to hire, they are good enough to train. Our in-house training courses now include raft maneuvers, emergency response, science training, driver training and group management. It was a surprise to us that the most dangerous part of RiverWatch wasn’t the river rafting, but rather the operation of vehicles and trailers to haul rafts on land. Clipping gateposts and backing into things incurred as much as $4000 damage a season. We now contract a local trucking company to spend a day with our staff with the sole focus on driving and trailoring. The cost saving in less damage more than offsets the cost of hiring the trainers.
3.Grey, Not Black and White - We stress to new staff that RiverWatch is not a pure rafting company and not a pure science-consulting firm. What we’re looking for is staff that can take their previous experiences and adapt to the unique niche occupied by RiverWatch. We are not a whitewater rafting company, so it is appropriate that our clients wear rubber boots to keep their feet warm and dry. This is unheard of in the commercial rafting industry and a shock to anyone thinking in black and white. In the same vein, we work with volunteers to collect river data and we don’t purport to be professional biologists. We need staff who can create grey from the knowledge and skills they bring to the work.
4.Old Dogs Can Learn New Tricks - Each season old staff move on to other work and we hire at least some new staff. The end result is that a living, growing culture evolves as new folks bring fresh ideas and older staff relays the current traditions. Staff enjoy this learning environment and each year the bar is raised in the caliber of staff that meets the public.
Please rate your innovation in shared values = 5 HIGH
Defend the rating you have given to your innovation in shared values.
RiverWatch has developed a highly innovative and balanced methodology for conveying shared values. Our primary shared value is caring for people and environment.
1.Walking the Talk - All RiverWatch staff walk their talk and lead by example. They develop a common bond and shared values by spending each day out on the river living and working together. Their focus is on providing a worthwhile science experience while at the same time caring for each other and the environment. Safety and comfort is our first priority and clients are outfitted with PFD’s, rubber boots and raincoats. This equipment distribution is followed by a detailed safety orientation for river travel. In all instances, personal safety takes precedence. We also model caring for the environment. All waste chemicals generated during water quality tests are collected for proper disposal back at the lab. Litter is collected at each study site and all captured invertebrates are released live back into the river. Staff express joy at sighting rare and unusual wildlife.
2.No Spoon Feeding Around Here - Before a day of water quality testing on a river, clients are asked to rate the river health on a simple scale of one to five. This same survey is redone at the end of the day for the purpose of tracking any change in awareness and understanding. RiverWatch staff do not convey their own opinion on the state-of-the-river, but rather let the client formulate their own opinion based on the science conducted at each sample site. We don’t spoon feed people the answers - they learn to use science as a tool to answer the needs of society. A shared understanding of environmental health is created and communicated throughout each day.
3.Personal Challenge - RiverWatch participants are encouraged to survey their environmental knowledge, understanding and actions by completing interactive surveys posted on the web site. These surveys direct the participant toward adopting more stewardship actions of benefit to the environment. By taking the survey more than once, participants are challenged to improve their scores and move toward becoming better stewards of river health.
Describe the specific, measurable results of your program
RiverWatch has achieved excellent results in several measurable areas.
1. A Full House - Starting with annual registration of 1000 students, RiverWatch has now grown to full capacity at 4000 student participants annually. Each student spends an entire day aboard a floating laboratory during the April/June and September-October field trip seasons. The program is fully booked a year in advance with a waiting list of schools.
2.Making the Grade Teachers at several schools have indicated that participation in the RiverWatch School Program has raised their school’s score on provincial science achievement tests by up to 15%. Provincial exam writers have since booked professional development days with RiverWatch in order to experience the program first-hand with the intent of generating a new and creative bank of diploma exam questions.
3.Off The Scale After each RiverWatch trip, teachers are sent an evaluation form to rate various aspects of their day - from equipment, to staff, to curriculum. For the first time ever, all categories received the highest scores possible this spring. Interestingly, this positive feedback generated even more commitment amongst our staff to further improve the program.
4.Increased Credibility RiverWatch is now coming into its own. By delivering an outstanding program over so many years, new doors are opening up - more corporate funding is becoming available; more requests are received for services outside the formal school system; more offers are arising to partner in joint community projects; and an offer to purchase our environmental monitoring data for inclusion in a government database.
5.Going Abroad RiverWatch is now beginning an initiative to expand the program beyond Alberta. Conference proposals have been accepted to present RiverWatch this fall at the Ontario Science Teachers’ Conference in Toronto and at the National Association of Biology Teachers’ Conference in Montreal. It will be our premise that RiverWatch can be replicated in any urban center with a river, a wastewater treatment plant, an environmentally focused science curriculum and a university physical education program generating competent outdoor recreation graduates. A grant has been awarded this summer to RiverWatch by the Canadian Council for Human Resources in the Environment Industry for the hiring of an International Environmental Youth Corp Intern. This person will be the first full-time RiverWatch staff member and their duties will involve liaison with community watershed groups across Canada and the United States. These are exciting times for RiverWatch!
