Vermilion River Aquatic Ecosystem Assessment

The North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance (NSWA) is responsible for making watershed management recommendations to the Government of Alberta. The North Saskatchewan River (NSR) watershed is comprised of 12 sub-watersheds, one of which drains toward the Vermilion River (VR). Although the VR watershed covers a relatively large (14%) portion of the total NSR watershed, information regarding the aquatic ecosystem is not readily available. On behalf of the NSWA, CPP Environmental (CPPENV) completed an aquatic ecosystem assessment of the VR including aquatic habitat and water quality, vegetation, macroinvertebrates, and fish. Seven sampling stations were surveyed from August to September in 2015, which corresponds to the locations visited in 2014 for water quality sampling. In late summer of 2015, flow was either non-existent or detected in trace amounts at all stations, except for the downstream-most station VER6. At each station, 5 transects were established, spaced 50m apart, representing a 200m reach.