The Cumulative Environmental Management Association (CEMA), in partnership with Alberta Environment and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development was tasked with developing a year-round instream flow needs (IFN) determination for the Athabasca River. The IFN Subgroup of the Surface Water Working Group of CEMA was formed to address IFN issues on the lower Athabasca River based on the following objective:
Develop a defensible, science-based IFN recommendation that provides full, long-term protection to the aquatic ecosystem for the lower Athabasca River.
Golder Associates Ltd. (Golder) was retained by CEMA to develop a scope of work for developing an IFN for the lower Athabasca River. As a component of the scope of work, existing information was compiled and summarized to aid in the identification of data gaps. To help deal with the uncertainty of conducting an IFN study with a winter component, Golder hosted an expert workshop to aid in problem definition and resolution in the development of an appropriate IFN assessment framework.
The objectives of the scoping study are to:
• review and summarize existing data;
• identify potential data gaps necessary for completing an IFN evaluation;
• propose a flow evaluation framework for assessing instream flow needs; and,
• provide a work plan for completing any additional field work and the development of an IFN determination for the lower Athabasca River.
The development of the scope of work for the lower Athabasca River follows the latest thinking in the IFN scientific community which includes the concept that defining a flow regime that protects the aquatic ecosystem must account for natural flow variation and must also consider multiple components of the aquatic ecosystem (Annear et al. 2002). The most recent IFN study conducted in Alberta followed this type of an ecosystem approach (Clipperton et al. 2003).