International Watersheds Initiative Projects

The International Joint Commission’s boards in watersheds along the US-Canada border carry out International Watersheds Initiative (IWI) projects to promote communication, conduct scientific studies and contribute to the resolution of watershed issues. Projects are developed by a board and reviewed by Commission staff. All projects are consistent with the board’s mandate and meet the objectives of the IWI. Learn more about the International Watersheds Initiative.

Displaying 1 - 21 of 21.

Monitoring of Lake Ontario coastal wetland habitat in support of adaptive management - 2019
Year
2019
Project Description
This project is a continuation of ongoing GLAM efforts to collect data to support model validation and will result in detailed vegetation community data referenced to elevation and seasonal water levels in 16 Lake Ontario coastal wetlands. The current year of this project is focused on resurveying...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Review of potential ecological impacts from winter drawdown scenarios in Lake St. Lawrence
Year
2019
Project Description
Winter operations of the Moses-Saunders Dam (St. Lawrence River) in accordance with direction from the IJC’s International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board (ILOSLRB) have historically resulted in a large drawdown in water levels on Lake St. Lawrence (the forebay for the hydropower structures)...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Monitoring of Lake Ontario coastal wetland habitat in support of adaptive management - 2018
Year
2018
Project Description
This is a continuation of ongoing GLAM efforts to collect data to support model validation. This project will result in detailed vegetation community data referenced to elevation and seasonal water levels in 16 Lake Ontario coastal wetlands (i.e., the same 16 wetlands that were surveyed in 2017)...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Aerial Imagery Impact Assessment following 2017 High Water Levels on Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River
Year
2017
Project Description
High water levels throughout the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system in 2017 impacted several shoreline communities, stakeholders and businesses. This project consists of analyzing aerial imagery data collected in 2016 by NOAA, 2012 and 2017 by the Army Corps of Engineers, 2017 by Transport...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Extended hindcast of Water Supply Components over Canada/U.S. Transboundary Watersheds based on the CaPA, CaLDAS and GEM systems and coordination with NWS Multi-Precipitation Estimates (MPE)
Year
2017
Project Description
The Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) is an operational near real-time gridded precipitation product from Environment Canada available since April 2011 for North America. CaPA has generated a lot of enthusiasm in the Great Lakes area, due to its unique capability of capturing some of the...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Monitoring of Lake Ontario coastal wetland habitat in support of adaptive management - 2017
Year
2017
Project Description
This project is a continuation of ongoing GLAM efforts to collect data to support model validation and will result in detailed vegetation community data referenced to elevation and seasonal water levels in 16 Lake Ontario coastal wetlands. The collected data will augment existing datasets from...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

State of Science Assessment of Remote Sensing for Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands
Year
2017
Project Description
During both the International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Study (LOSLRS) and the International Upper Great Lakes Study (IUGLS), coastal wetland performance indicators were developed and used to help assess how changes in water level management strategies may impact wetland vegetation response.
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Substrate Classification of St Marys River to Support Future Ecosystem Modeling
Year
2017
Project Description
Lake Superior regulation affects levels and flows in the lower St. Marys River. Unnatural changes in outflow can occur at the beginning of each month and the Board of Control has been working on methods to quantify impacts associated with regulation to better accommodate environmental objectives.
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Survey of impacts of high water levels in 2017 on Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Municipal and Industrial water uses
Year
2017
Project Description
In 2017, high Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River water levels caused problems for municipal water and wastewater operators as well as some industrial facilities throughout the system. Challenges included poor drainage through municipal wastewater infrastructure in low lying areas close to the...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Survey of impacts of high water levels in 2017 on Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Marinas and Yacht Clubs
Year
2017
Project Description
High water levels throughout the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system in 2017 impacted several shoreline communities, stakeholders and businesses including recreational boating marinas and yacht clubs. Media reports highlighted several marinas and yacht clubs that were flooded and had their...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Baseline Common Reed extent in selected Lake Ontario coastal wetlands
Year
2016
Project Description
Common reed (Phragmites australis) is an exotic invasive plant that has colonized extensive portions of Great Lakes coastal wetlands and shorelines and is less prominent in Lake Ontario – with some speculation this may be related to water-level regulation. This study will provide insights into the...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Detailed scoping of requirements for developing an ecohydraulics model of the St. Marys River and prototype application to the St. Marys Rapids area
Year
2016
Project Description
The unique physical, chemical and biological characteristics of the St. Marys River, which is the outlet of Lake Superior connected to Lake Michigan-Huron downstream, provide for a rich and diverse environment that is a vitally important aquatic resource in the upper Great Lakes system. This project...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Extended hindcast of Water Supply Components over Canada/U.S. Transboundary Watersheds based on the CaPA, CaLDAS and GEM systems
Year
2016
Project Description
In line with the final goal established in 2015 of generating a 30-year, 15-km, daily hindcast of precipitation, evaporation and runoff for all Canada/U.S. transboundary watersheds, this project focuses on the production of a 5-year hindcast of the Canadian Precipitation Analysis system (CaPA), the...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Closing the water balance of the Great Lakes: developing a new historical record reconciling bias and uncertainty
Year
2015
Project Description
The purpose of this project is to develop a new historical record of monthly runoff, over-lake evaporation, over-lake precipitation, and connecting channel flows for each of the Great Lakes using a novel statistical model that (through an explicit acknowledgment of bias and uncertainty) reconciles...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Comparison of modeled and monitored outcomes of Lake Ontario wetland habitat in support of adaptive management
Year
2015
Project Description
The wetlands meadow marsh performance indicator has been a critical component of the evaluation of water level regulation plan options for the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system and it is important to validate and improve the modelling approach. This project aims to produce a modelling tool that...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Extended CaPA and GEM Hindcasts of Water Supply Components in the Great Lakes Basin
Year
2015
Project Description
The Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) is an operational near real-time gridded precipitation product from Environment Canada available since April 2011 for North America. CaPA has generated a lot of enthusiasm in the Great Lakes area, due to its unique capability of capturing some of the...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Monitoring the extent of wetland types in the Lake Ontario St. Lawrence River coastal system in support of adaptive management
Year
2015
Project Description
This project aims to acquire high-resolution aerial imagery in maximum-vegetation condition for sixteen Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River coastal wetlands, use GIS to map the vegetation types within these wetlands, and then assess similarities and differences in wetland extent from equivalent...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Monitoring of Lake Ontario St. Lawrence River coastal wetland habitat in support of adaptive management - 2015
Year
2015
Project Description
This project will result in detailed vegetation community information referenced to elevation in 16 Lake Ontario and St. Lawrence River coastal wetlands on the US side. The proposed work complements planned work in Ontario wetlands and will allow the development of a lakewide, binational assessment...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Monitoring of Lake Ontario coastal wetland habitat in support of adaptive management - 2016
Year
2015
Project Description
This project will result in detailed vegetation community aerial coverage and taxonomic data referenced to elevation and seasonal water levels in 8 Lake Ontario coastal wetlands. These data can be used for adaptive management monitoring and integrate into wetland vegetation community modelling in...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Programming support for update of Coordinated Great Lakes Regulation and Routing Model
Year
2015
Project Description
The overall objective of this project is to develop a new, authoritative, coordinated numerical model that efficiently and accurately simulates water levels and connecting channel flows in the Great Lakes system given user-specified net basin supply scenarios. The new regulation and routing model...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee

Update the computing code of the Lower St. Lawrence Environmental Performance Indicators (IERM2D)
Year
2015
Project Description
The environmental performance indicators (PI) for the Lower St. Lawrence River (IERM2D) are a critical component of the evaluation of water level regulation plans for the Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River system and are important to maintain in an adaptive management perspective. These PIs have been...
Content type
IWI Project
Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Adaptive Management Committee