[Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022 – Part 3 of 3
By: Christine Drader
From March 21st to 30th Christine from the Turtle Island Conservation and Adopt-A-Pond programs joined Michelle and Annie from the Great Lakes Program on a Great Lakes Roadtrip. They travelled to 10 destinations and met with 11 conservation partners (10 in person and one virtual) to livestream educational conservation content every week day to a pre-registered list of classrooms and First Nations partners province-wide.
These livestreams were only accessible to those who had pre-registered for the program but now live on the Zoo’s YouTube channel, where they can be accessed by all members of the public here: The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022
Every day of the trip, Christine wrote a quick diary entry to summarize the day. This blogpost is 3 of 3 that recap this trip!
Check out the other two here:
Monday, March 28th
Today was a very busy day! We had three videos scheduled: first, the video with Aaron and Garden River First Nation at 10:00AM, an interview with the Pitcher Lab at LaSalle Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre at 11:00AM, and then lastly the International Joint Commision 1:00PM.
Although Aaron was not able to join the live Q&A today, we were still able to post the video on sea lamprey and got lots of amazing questions to our Padlet.
The Invasive Sea Lamprey The Great Lakes Roadtrip Live
Next, we hosted a video with Madison, a graduate student at the Pitcher Lab at LaSalle Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre. She spoke about her work with the Red-side Dace, swim flumes, and sediment science!
Saving the Redside Dace – The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip Live
For our final video, we headed over to the International Joint Commission (IJC) to speak to Raj, a physical scientist. He spoke on microplastics and plastics in the Great Lakes and what we can do to help.
Microplastics and Bioaccumulation – The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip Live
Following our presentations, we went back on the road to our final hotel rest-stop in Burlington! Looking forward to sleeping back in our beds at home, but are still excited about our last 3 videos of the trip.
Tuesday, March 29th
We had two videos go up today, first starting off with the live Q&A session with Carter from Shawanaga First Nation. We had lots of amazing questions come through about the Lake Sturgeon, Walleye hatchery and monitoring efforts done by Shawanaga First Nation.
Aquatic SAR + Community Conservation – The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022
After finishing up the Q&A, we met with Maude and David from the Aquatic Invasive Species Program at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters. They spoke about the invasive Asian Carp and what work is being done to stop their spread.
The Asian Carp Surveillance Plan – The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip Live
Wednesday, March 30th
Today is the final livestream of our [Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022. Unfortunately, we were not able to travel to Georgina Island due to the lake conditions and closure of the ferry, however we still were still joined by community members and staff virtually! We had 6 wonderful speakers: Brandon, Alyssa, JL, Heather, Tammy, and Patti who spoke about the importance of water, or “Nibi” in Anishnaabe, and the projects that the community and Environmental department are involved in.
Sacred Water and Indigenous Consultation – The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip Live
And that’s a wrap on the [Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022! It was a busy but rewarding experience, and we met with so many amazing partners. We want to say a big thank you to every one of our partners, as well as to all the registrants who tuned in live and asked fantastic questions! Reminder to check out all the videos at The [Great] Lakes Roadtrip 2022
