Land and Water: Reducing ......the land

First Call for Presentations and Posters

Alberta is a young place, and many of us are still tied to the land more strongly than in some other parts of the world. However, like people everywhere, most of us have a limited understanding of the way our activities on the land alter our prized water bodies. What happens in Vegas may stay in Vegas, but what happens on the land doesn’t always stay on the land. Tirelessly writing a never-ending report card, water bodies record our every land-use decision and grade us accordingly.

Wherever land is taken out of its natural state—whether for agricultural production, resource extraction, or urbanization—runoff increases. In the runoff are clues to the associated human activities: nutrients, pathogens, hydrocarbons, metals, road salt, pesticides, and so on. Water bodies are at the receiving end of this voluminous soup.

Since water and land refuse to “stay inside the lines”, managing land use for the protection of our water resources requires extensive collaborative effort. In order to address our impacts, we know we must bring together science across disciplines, planning across jurisdictions, and policy and regulation rational across scales. Are we getting an ‘E’ for our efforts? Where is there room for improvement? What next?

Recognizing the need for increased collaboration, the Canadian Water Resources Association (Alberta Branch) and the Alberta Low Impact Development Partnership are partnering to present the 2011 annual conference for both organizations. From science to policy to practice and everything in between, join us for a exciting program exploring issues, new ideas, policies and best practices for runoff management.

The 2011 conference will have program tracks surrounding the effects of land use changes and resource development on water and ways to mitigate those effects. Preliminary themes for discussion include:

  • Effects of Land Use Changes on Water Quantity
  • Effects of Land Use Changes on Water Quality
  • Effects of Land Use Changes on Aquatic Ecosystems
  • Effects of Land Use Changes on Groundwater Systems
  • Mitigation:
    • Low Impact Development/ Best Management Practices
    • Water Conservation in Municipalities, Industry (including Forestry, Mining, Conventional/Unconventional Oil and Gas), and Agriculture
    • Bio-Engineering
  • Plans and Policy
    • Alberta’s Land Use Policy
    • Alberta Farm Plan
    • ERCB Directive 74 (Oilsands Tailings)
    • Municipal LID Initiatives in Calgary and Edmonton
    • Cows and Fish Program
  • Case Studies
    • What is working and what is not

Download call for papers here

Download Call for papers

Presentations

Presentations will interest public and private sectors, including academics, consultants, government representatives, environment groups, landowners, watershed organizations and industry stakeholders involved in various aspects of land development, watershed management and water stewardship in Alberta.

Oral presentations will generally be a maximum of 20 minutes in length – 15 minutes for the formal presentation plus 5 minutes for Q&A.

Selected presentations may be allotted additional time.

Abstracts

The deadline for submission of abstracts is January 10, 2011.

Abstracts are required for all presentation and poster submissions. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words and should not include tables, images, pictures or special typographic characters. The abstract should clearly discuss issues, policies and practices relating to the land and water interface. An author may submit more than one abstract; however, each abstract must be submitted separately.

The following information must accompany each abstract:

  • Title of presentation
  • Author(s), affiliations, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses
  • Email, phone, and fax numbers of the corresponding author
  • Preferred format (presented paper or poster)
  • Indicate on a separate page the name of the presenter, affiliation, credentials, and a brief biographical description to be used as an introduction.

Submit abstracts by email to cwra.conference@gov.ab.ca. Abstracts should be submitted as an email attachment, using MS Word, with the words “CWRA Abstract” in the email subject line.

Alternatively, use the on-line abstract submission process by clicking on the icon below:

Abstract Submission Form

Poster Presentations

Poster presentations will be displayed at the Holiday Inn for the duration of the conference. Posters should be a visual representation of material that can initiate an informal discussion.

Speaker Registration

CWRA and ALIDP are non-profit organizations. Speakers are requested to register for the conference as a conference attendee. However, it is the intention of CWRA that this conference be inclusive to interested speakers.