This Giving Tuesday, IISD Experimental Lakes Area wants to celebrate Canada’s culture of giving.

 

This November 27, 2018, every dollar you donate to contribute to our target of $10,000 will help us buy much-needed equipment for next year’s research season—equipment that is vital to keeping our lakes and fish monitored, tracked and safeguarded for future generations.

 

Does it stop there?

Of course not!

 

Thanks to an incredibly generous donation of $2,500 from our corporate partner Stantec, we can double every single donation we get from the public. That’s right—every dollar you give us will be doubled, so you can be sure that your donation to the world’s freshwater laboratory is getting the best bang for its buck.

 

We are so grateful for Stantec’s outstanding partnership and support.

 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE.

 

What impact can my money have?

Did you know that IISD-ELA has research equipment available at no additional costs for visiting students and scientists to use when working at our facility?

 

In addition to supporting our research, your gift will help us provide much needed general-use equipment for those students and partners who come to visit and work at the world’s freshwater laboratory.

 

$5 buys us a Passive Integrated Transponder, which we can insert into a fish to help us track it, work out how often it has been captured and estimate overall populations. We need about 300 of these per year.

 

$60 secures a Temperature Logger, which records water temperature on our lakes. This is important for determining the daily and seasonal patterns of lake temperatures and for estimating evaporation.

 

Female researcher holds a line of oxygen temp sensors out in front of her as she stands in front of a lake.

$1,500 buys us an Oxygen Temp Sensor, used to measure dissolved oxygen and temperature in lakes.

$200 gets us a WetSkins® Comfort Zone rain suit, which is critical for any day research out on the lakes. We use rain jackets and bib pants on a daily basis to keep ourselves dry in the field. Donate today to keep us happy and dry!

 

$300 gets us a handheld GPS device, which is vital in helping us track and relocate spots across our 58 lakes.

 

$1,500 buys us an Oxygen Temp Sensor, used to measure dissolved oxygen and temperature in lakes. Changes in temperature in the lakes affect oxygen levels, and thus how well organisms can survive.

 

$3,000 secures a trap net. Trap nets are efficient, passive methods of collecting lots of fish in a short period of time without harming them. The fish that are caught will be weighed, measured, some will be tagged, and then released back into the lake.

 

Trap nets being set in circular formation in a lake in Canada.

Trap nets are efficient, passive methods of collecting lots of fish in a short period of time without harming them.

$10,000 get us a flow metre. Flow metres are used to measure water levels in lakes and discharges (volume of flow) in streams or lake outflows. This lets us calculate the volume of lakes, water budgets and runoff rates.

 

Thank you for your support!

As always, we could not keep protecting our fresh water without you.

 

IISD Experimental Lakes Area is a precious scientific asset to be protected for future generations, and we are so fortunate to have you as a part of our IISD-ELA family. Let’s continue this journey together in protecting our most valuable resource—water.