It starts everywhere: Understanding the Xwulqw’selu watershed as a groundwater-dependent ecosystem

Groundwater and surface water are deeply interconnected. In the Xwulqw’selu Sta’lo’ (Koksilah River), flows are predominantly sustained by groundwater in the summertime. River flows are important to whole-of-watershed health, and one of the Cowichan Watershed’s Targets is for “seasonal flows throughout the Cowichan-Koksilah watershed to support the needs of communities and aquatic ecosystems”.

This month’s talk will dive into just this, discussing how, through community monitoring with over 70 volunteers taking over 4000 observations from 2021-2024, the UVic Xwulqw’selu Connections Project, and the community of volunteers supporting this project, have mapped where and when groundwater is critical to maintaining ecosystem health in the Xwulqw’selu watershed.

This month’s speaker, Kristina Disney, is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Victoria. She has been studying groundwater-surface water interactions and learning alongside the community(s) of the Xwulqw’selu watershed since 2021. To the river and to the people who call this watershed home, she hopes she can give back in equal measure the care she has been shown.

Join us on Monday, November 17th to hear what Kristina and the community(s) of the Xwulqw’selu watershed have learned from 4 years of community monitoring in the Xwulqw’selu watershed! Attendance, as always, is free. We hope to see you there!

This Speakers Series is hosted by the Cowichan Watershed Board, with the support of VIU Cowichan and funding from the Watershed Security Fund.

Photos in header image provided by Shalu Mehta and Bryant LeRoy.