envirothon cue cards

section 1
Lake Winnipeg carries pollution from 4 provinces, 4 states, and 2 governments.
This will make relevant policies/laws for each of those regions get stricter.

The lake has frequent algae blooms, killing stuff by removing oxygen.
Dead fish can't be used in commercial fisheries, resulting in less food.

The lake will have a decline in biodiversity, as it's shallow resulting in no thermal refuge for cold-blooded creatures.
Cold-blooded fish might die; invasive species might take over.

Changes in heat, pH, and oxygen affect the health, composition, and availability of fish.
Lake Winnipeg is the 10th largest endangered fresh water body on Earth, which really affects global availability of freshwater.

Warm water species might adapt to live in warmer water.
To adapt to these problems, we should:
Watershed management - Pay farmers or land owners (who need, or are familiar with, the land) to keep wetlands and other sensitive land stable.
Publicly understand the exact implications of climate change, so everyone can act now instead of too late.
  Attempt to limit nutrient loading and pollution in the rivers that lead to the lake. (more on this later)



section 2
Watersheds are important: a small change makes a big impact.
  Planning for watersheds are long range planning documents that protect watersheds from all fronts.
No net loss is a policy where you don't decrease the water storage cap in a watershed.

GRowing Outcomes for Watersheds, a program designed to reduce flooding, improve water quality and nutrient management, and encourage green infrastructure.
Encourage tile drainage, because it's the most effective drainage method. {tunnels in ground to drain}

No net loss helps with drought prevention as well, as having a backup of stored water will lessen droughts.
Increase awareness of the Manitoba Drought Monitor.
Groundwater - Less suspectible to small droughts than surface water.

Nutrient loading causes eutrophication, causing algae blooms.
  This is helped with wetland protection and precision agriculture, which is adapting resources given to plants according to the amount they individually need
Water quality trading is where you provide tokens for a maximum limit of pollutants you put out, but they can be traded (for money, or other valuable resources)
Right time/place/amount/source (or 4R) practices are the result of precision agriculture, and should be used as much as possible.