Integrated Management of the Wolastoq / St. John River
Using the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework
The St. John River is an inter-provincial and international watershed in Atlantic Canada, and is home to over half a million people, and hundreds of plant and wildlife species, including over 40 COSEWIC-listed Endangered Species and Species of Concern. The purpose of this project is to better understand the human uses and needs of the Wolastoq/ fleuve Saint-Jean/ St. John River as it relates to ecological goods and services, and through the development of water quality management triggers, identify a range of hydrologic conditions that support a healthy Wolastoq/ fleuve Saint-Jean/ St. John River watershed.
The ELOHA model provides a framework to consider large-scale watershed planning decisions in an impounded river system framework. There are two portions of data which feed the model: environmental inputs, which was adapted by the Canadian Rivers Institute, and societal inputs. The goal of this project is to complete a review and adaptation of the social factors portion of the ELOHA model, in order to provide a complete model available for use by various agencies and stakeholders. These two data sets are fed into an output portion of the model, using water quality and environmental flow needs as the decision-making factor for coalescence and support for all users and resources in the watershed
Project Partners:
