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Hello, and welcome to all my fellow bird brains. I'm your host Meredith Meeker. And this is another episode of how do I do this and environmental career podcast? I'm sure I'm not the only one here who is grateful for the warmer weather and longer days. It won't be long now until spring flowers start appearing and trees put out their leaves. This can be a very hopeful time of year. And so I'm excited to start off this new season in more ways than one with our guests this week, Katie Olavo. She is a biologist working for Ottawa. Riverkeepers where she leads community-based monitoring projects to help protect the Ottawa river watershed. So let's get into. We're just going to jump into it. Perfect. So I'm just going to have you start off by saying your full name and your pronouns.
Katy Alambo:Yeah. So my name is and my pronouns. Are she her?
Meredith Meeker:Awesome. Well, thank you Katie, for being with us today. I like to start this off, what's a good winter question. I feel like, but what is your favorite thing or activity to do outside to connect with nature?
Katy Alambo:Yeah, that's like, I live in Ottawa, but I do have to say I am not a huge fan of the call. So, my connection with nature is a little bit less in the window, maybe during during other times of the year. But honestly just like one of my favorite things to do in nature is just to be out in it. So my favorite memories growing up or. Hanging out in the forest behind my parent's house, discovering new things seeing animals and plants connecting with the smells and sounds of nature. I think that is just honestly the best for me, just having the opportunity to spend time outside, spend time connecting with nature and exploring. And and like I said, discovering new things. That's what really is very meaningful to me when it comes to nature and it's why I feel super lucky getting to work in the environmental sector because I have that opportunity to connect with nature all the time. It's a big part of the work that I do.
Meredith Meeker:Well, that's a great segue. Thank you. Can you tell us a bit about what you do and why it's so important?
Katy Alambo:Yeah. So currently I am the biologist with Ottawa Riverkeeper. So we're a nonprofit located in Ottawa, Ontario that works to protect the Ottawa river watershed. And so we do this by acting as a bit of like a rockstar for the water shed. Please keep an eye out for different issues that would affect the health of the river and the watershed. And to do this, we worked with different Southern mints. The Ottawa river watershed actually or the out of the river forms the border as the province of Ontario and Tibet. So we worked with governments in both provinces, as well as the federal government and other organizations to find science-based solutions for those issues that are affecting the health of the river. And so the way that we do this is by promoting awareness for these issues within the water community, doing a lot of outreach and engagement with the community. And one way that we engage and do this kind of outreach is through our community based monitoring or a citizen science project. So my, in my, with a biologist, I actually coordinate and run a number of these citizen science community-based monitoring projects to help collect data on the health of the watershed under the umbrella of our water health assessment and monitoring projects. So this kind of work the super report important, particularly in the Ottawa river watershed, because the watershed is very data core. And so like by that, I mean, there's not a lot of long-term ecological health data about the Ottawa. And because of that, it makes it really hard for us and other organizations like ours, who are looking to protect the river and the watershed to do that work without baseline information on the health of the water set. It's hard to make any prediction do or make any management plan to address user and current issues. And I think another super important part of that list outside of like the science and the data collection and doing stuff that protects the health of the river is that we get to connect with people and like inspired them to work to help them protect the environment. One thing we say at auto Riverkeeper is that people protect what they love. And so through our work, through our community based monitoring projects and different volunteer engagement work, that's what we're looking to do. We're trying to inspire that and promote that connection. With the Ottawa river, with the water set so that people care and want to do the work and protect it.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. That sounds really important for people who, aren't familiar with the Ottawa river, it's a big river and a big watershed. So this is like a huge area that you guys are really working with. And I think it's very interesting just based on where it is that it isn't, it's surprising to me that it's data poor. There's two universities here. It's the seat of our federal government. You would think that we would have tons of data on this river.
Katy Alambo:Yeah. I think that there is that too. And we do have some data some different groups, provincial groups in federal group, and the likes have done some smaller studies, but there hasn't been any of that kind of like long term data collected. And that's what we really need. Another part of the work that we're doing through our watershed health assessment is compiling all of that data that does exist. So the data that already exists out there in the world that different groups are working on as well as the data that we collect through our process and making it available through an open data Pardot to anyone who's interested in learning more about the health of the watershed and the river has that information.
Meredith Meeker:That's really amazing because I do feel like. There is so much information out there, but sometimes getting your hands on it can be difficult. So having open data, I feel like can really help other groups who need that information or are trying to build a similar program. I think that's very cool that it's open source. And Katie, can you tell us a little bit about your journey to Ottawa river keepers? I doubt you just start it as a full blown biologist, working for a very cool organization.
Katy Alambo:No. If there had been up to me, that is how it went. But no, I did. I did have to go through a couple of steps before landing this role with Ottawa So I guess like many people who are interested in science and biology I had a number of different ideas of things that I could do as a career. I started my journey at the university of Waterloo, whereas in undergrad in biology I didn't really have a career plan in mind, but I did participate in the co-op program after university. And I thought that was really great. It didn't necessarily lead me to my future career, but it did help me figure out what kind of roles I did it within the realm of science. And then in my last year of my undergrad, that's when I really started focusing a bit more on equality, ecology and water. I've always had a strong connection with water and I just started to throw myself fully into that. And I did an honors thesis with the professor there and I was studying the occurrence of toxic blue-green algae toxic lubricant, Aussies blue. And so from there I got like, I don't know I became super close to me. You don't know much about algae. They are really cool theses some really interesting shapes and stuff that are in the water that you would not know about if you didn't look under a microscope. But anyway, yeah, that's inspired me to continue saying, and so I did a master's at the university of Ottawa where once again, I was studying the occurrence of these toxic blooms this time in Northern Canada. So I got the opportunity to travel up to a yellow knife in the Northwest territory and do studies and research there alongside researchers from environment Canada. But still after finishing all of this, I didn't really know what he wanted to do. I did want to stay within the in buyer environment field. And so I had heard of environmental consulting and I guess serendipitously affirm in Ottawa was, had reached out to the university of Ottawa and was looking to hire new grads. And I was super lucky to be one of those people that they hired. So I was able to actually get a job right after school, which I know is not necessarily the case for everyone. So I'm definitely lucky in that regard. But I find with working in consulting, I definitely felt that there was a little bit of something missing. Like I was looking for a bit more meaning to the work that I was doing. And that's why we're reaching out to Ottawa Riverkeeper as they were an organization that I've had learned previously when I was still in school. And so I kept in touch with people there and as the organization was growing they were looking to hire someone to read a new program that they were looking to launch like is now our youth water leaders, Congress. And so in 2019 I was hired as the youth leadership coordinator. And then, yeah, I guess it's all history from there. I transitioned into my role as the biology and Ottawa, Riverkeeper, everything
Meredith Meeker:amazing. Yeah, I think that's such like an important story to share or journey to share, because I know that a lot of people look to consulting, especially out of school, to. Get their foot into the industry. And I think a lot of people are hesitant to use consulting as a stepping stone because they're worried that's all they're ever going to be able to do. So I think it's really important to show that like there's a lot of valuable skills, especially early career getting a stable employment. There's nothing wrong or shameful about stable employment, especially in our field. And, using that time to really develop skills and launch yourself into something that if consulting, isn't filling your bucket, something that will, so I think that's really great to share and obviously you're enjoying your time at Riverkeepers. So I think that's really awesome. if you don't mind, I'd love to hear a little bit more about your experience up north. I feel like that would be. Really interesting. I haven't had the opportunity to do any work north of Ontario.
Katy Alambo:Okay. Yeah. So I didn't get to spend a ton of time up in Yellowknife. I was there for maybe about two weeks or so. But the projects that I was working on where my master's was pressed by researchers from, as I mentioned, environment, Canada, who had been up in the Yellowknife area at great slave lake and they were investigating legacy effects of their mining there. There's lots of arsenic that is being laid down in the water. And so they were doing research on that and while they were there, they happened to notice what looked like a bloom of the blue-green algae. And this was really novel for this area. Blue-green algae tends to occur more in our temperate and tropical areas where we have higher temporary. Generally, they need temperatures like 25 degrees Southeast and higher. So the fact that we're seeing them way up north was like really interesting to see the bloom forming. And so, because of that, we wanted to see, okay, what is driving the formation of these blooms what's happening? Are they occurring in different places? And so, I had the opportunity to go up and collect some of those samples so that we could get a better sense of how we bloom or Audi has been I guess this was the existence of the Aggie in these lakes. So I guess it's just practice that and say that blue-green algae and algae in general are ubiquitous. They're going to be found in all water bodies freshwater and Marine water bodies, but when conditions becomes right, but that's when we actually see the blue. And so, part of my work was to collect. Sediment core from the bottom of the lake and using led dating and DNA extraction, we were able to make a profile to see how The numb, how did that the algae has increased perhaps over time and being able to link that with some some of the different changes in climate and environmentally and things like that. And so that's what I did for myself while I was there. I got to explore yellow knife a bit. I assisted with environment Canada research too, though you're out there collecting fish so that we could test them for arsenic contamination and collecting water samples and stuff like that. So it was really cool to, to get that experience. And I think I'm super lucky and super like that. I got to have that experience. I also don't know when I would have had, or any opportunity to go or any reasons to go up to yellow knife. So, I'm super glad that I had that opportunity and and got that chance to experience another private sector.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah, it's a huge part of our country too. Our territories and most Canadians never get up there. So I just like to highlight that when the opportunity comes up, because there's so much Canada, so much of Canada to explore. So Katie, is there any advice you wish you had gotten when you were starting out or some advice that you would want to give somebody, coming out of school and are looking for some direction?
Katy Alambo:Yeah, I think like we touched on some of it when we went through a bit of my journey and I think you gave some advice that I might give too, but the idea of just yes, we can all have ideas of exactly what it is that we want to do. But I think it's really important to give things a try. So like you're saying, like when you're coming out of school, you don't have, often we don't have very much work experience. So really getting any type of job is great. I have mentioned being in consulting. I learned so many skills and learn about so many things that I use in my day-to-day job at Ottawa Riverkeepers through consulting. And so that was I think that's a really important thing. I like to remind people that even if you get a job and it's not a hundred percent something that you thought it was going to be, or it's not the perfect fit, at least now you have that information, that wasn't the right fit for you. And you can you'll know to avoid work that is similar to that in the future. But I think what is really important and advice that I would give to pass my past self to maybe think a little bit more about. What kinds of relationships I want to have with the work that I'm doing. And that kind of things really are important to me. What do I, what kinds of things do I want to have in my day-to-day life? And how can I find a job that allows me to do that? Work is that's a big part of your life. You spend so many hours at work. And so why do something that is not, doesn't bring meaning to you and that you don't find purpose. And so I'm super lucky that I had been able to do that. And I, there is I derive so much meaning and purpose from the job that I have right now. And you might not get it on the first try, but you can definitely with time learning different skills find the job that's the right fit.
Meredith Meeker:I think that's really great advice. Both those pieces. I know coming out of university, like I thought I knew what my dream career was. It was wildlife rehabilitation and then I did that for a bit and it was so emotionally tough on me. It's amazing work, big credit to the people who do it, but I just couldn't handle it. And I didn't know that until I actually tried it. And then I did consulting and I was very good at it. So like, you never really know until you try something. So I think that's great advice. And then I like what you say about following your purpose and what kind of relationship you want. Usually people say like follow your passions, but passions can change and they probably will change. So if you focus on your purpose, you might have a bit more of a. Path, I don't know, or more meaning to your work. So I think that's really great advice.
Katy Alambo:And I think too, you can also, and this is advice that I received from others too, but you could try and find purpose in all of the work that you're doing too. So even if you're in a job that you don't a hundred percent, let's try to find that little bit of purpose in it, or the way that you can derive that from that job. And I think it'll make doing that work a that much more easy.
Meredith Meeker:Yep. And the purpose of your work could even be that it supports you to do something that brings meaning outside of work. Like that's not ideal, but that could be reality for sure. So it's really great that you're finding purpose where you are now. Is there like, so is that the best part of your job or what is the best part of your.
Katy Alambo:I think while that is also like very great it's very much I guess like a selfish thing in a way, but I think really the best part of my job and wet, like I am continually inspired by are the people that we work with auto Riverkeeper. We're a very small organization we've been around for about 20 years now. We just celebrated our 20 year anniversary last year. You really started as a grassroots organization and not, it's still very much at the heart of Ottawa river CIFOR we still have a really great great group of followers and dedicated volunteers who really make it's. So who help us to do the work that we do. We would not be able to do nearly half the amount of things that we do at auto Riverkeeper without the support of our volunteers We met, you mentioned earlier, yes, the Ottawa river is a huge river. It is over 1200 kilometers long. The watershed is larger than the country of England. So it's a huge area that we're working in. And where is it located in Ottawa? We're only seeing a small part. So without all of these amazing people that help us to do this work, like it wouldn't be possible. And I definitely another really awesome part of my job is that I I'm still able to go out into the field. So I I coordinate and manage a number of different community based monitoring projects. And I also get to go out in those fields and like collect data myself and get to, to explore new parts of the water. One big part of cool part about it a little bit deeper is that we get the the watershed discovery-based. So all of our staff gets a day or a couple of days. Throughout the year we just get to go to a new part of the watershed that we haven't been to before, and just explore it and learn more about the water said that we might not have known before. So that's always awesome. Like we learned so many cool things and discovered awesome things through those watersheds discovery days that I wouldn't have known of otherwise.
Meredith Meeker:That literally sounds like a dream, to be honest. And I watershed discovery days. I feel like that should be a part of curriculums in school boards. Actually be like, go explore a place around here that you haven't yet. And that's just the lesson for the day. Because yeah, going back to what you said, people protect what they love and if you're able to learn more about where you are and find new things that you love, I think it probably helps renew your passion for protecting the watershed.
Katy Alambo:Definitely.
Meredith Meeker:I think it's great that, as. Advanced in your career, you're still get to do field work because I know that is something people struggle with is the transition from being, generally a field tech or field biologist into a more management role. So it's really nice to hear about opportunities where there's still a bit of a balance.
Katy Alambo:Yeah, I think that was definitely something that's super important to me. While it's all been fine, especially during the winter months to be at a desk and working in an office when the spring and summer here beautiful effect, I want to be a five to, and so I'm super glad that that's part of my work
Meredith Meeker:yeah, that's awesome. And so that's the good stuff, but what has been the most challenging or unexpected part of your.
Katy Alambo:Yeah, I think probably one of the most challenging parts of the job relates to once again the size of the watershed and the fact that the river Stratos the border of Ontario and Quebec. And I totally remixed for not mentioning this earlier, but the Ottawa river watershed is located on the unceded traditional territory of the albums and people, and at auto river keeper it's very important to us that we also work with our Algonquin, with the various Algonquin communities throughout the water set, as partners to address these issues. And so some of the challenges that come with that it's trying to make almost like the idea of making everyone happy. It's definitely difficult to To fulfill everyone's wants and needs when you're working in such a large area of land when you're working with so many different jurisdictions and levels of governments and different organizations. So it is a challenge. It is at the same time rewarding. And it's a great experience to learn these kinds of things, but it can be a bit of a challenge to try and make movements on different issues. When there are so many different players involved.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. It sounds like there is a lot of people you have to please, and a lot of different groups, so that would be challenging, but maybe you're right. Something that's rewarding or at least keeps things interesting perhaps.
Katy Alambo:Oh yeah. Like it, it makes, when you do have like a success, it makes it even more, it makes it even greater because we know that there were so many different groups that have to come together to perform music.
Meredith Meeker:And I think, yeah, it's might be challenging, but it's so important. Like indigenous voices have just been left out of the discussion for so long. So, it may be challenging because we're not used to it, or we don't have as many systems in place as we should for bringing them in., just in general, the environmental field has not been super inclusive of, diversity. But I know that's actually like a big part of your role as well with community engagement is helping bring more diversity into,, the environmental world or into like, caring about the Ottawa waters.
Katy Alambo:Yeah, like there, like I said, there's so many different communities that live within the watershed and yes, a big part of the work that we do is to look to ways that we can connect with all of these different communities, especially the ones whose voices are not often heard in environmental circles. And so that's something that we look to do through all of the programming that we do. We have outerwear Riverkeeper runs a number of different programs outside of just our science programs. We have education programs and all those kinds of different things. And a big goal of ours is to diversify these programs as much as possible. So that we're have a good representation of the people that are in the water.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. Cause I think I grew up in Toronto and I've been at a whole bunch of, tree planting events in Toronto, or I was part of a restoration group for a Toronto park. And I can tell you that it was not representative of the Toronto population. And even my program at Niagara college, which you would think would be perhaps more diverse, it was predominantly white still. So I really think there needs to be a lot of conscious effort to bring all sorts of voices and stories and experiences to the environmental field because we will be better off for it. And it's the right.
Katy Alambo:It's the right thing to do. I think, well, I think one thing that is important to keep in mind is it's time to meet people where they're at. And so through our words, trying to do better at reaching a more diverse community or a more diverse following is to look at where these people are already. So, it's best to meet people where they're at. I remember doing some reading similarly with coming from Toronto, but they were talking about getting more youth of different ethnicities involved in. And environmental stuff and all of the barriers that those you've had based on different cultural differences. And so one thing they mentioned is that I think the example they gave was Southeast Asia. Yeah. That'd be amazing cultures, really loving to like go to parks and things for like big family gatherings. And so okay. If that is a way that they're already there, how can we connect with them while they're already there to talk about the environment or to just even just get some more I guess like, I guess to have them connect a little bit more with the environment, think about it from that, that perspective a bit more. So I think, yeah, meeting people where they're at probably pretty important and something that we can maybe do a little bit better as environmentalist and people who work in that field.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. I think that's really important, especially. We acknowledge more and more how important our urban natural spaces are. I think, historically we've thought of wilderness as like nature, but there's so many opportunities within cities where there is higher diversity to help connect people with the nature that is there. They don't need to be shipped off to a Conklin park to experience nature. It's in their backyard.
Katy Alambo:Exactly. I grew up in the Toronto area and one of my sisters is currently living in Toronto and that's something that she's been really doing herself over the pandemic. Really finding ways to connect with the urban nature in the Toronto area. And she has discovered so many super cool things and works with so many different groups. Just by looking at the nature and the environment that's in her backwards.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah, that I got Toronto is it's a, actually a very cool, diverse wildlife place, so it's rising. But it's amazing. So, I hopefully she will take you out when you go visit her to some of the places she discovered over the pandemic. So Katie you're established now in your career, is there a particular skillset that helped you break into the industry or that you think would help others that are trying to break into the industry now?
No one:Yeah,
Katy Alambo:Thinking on it, I think what really helped me the most was death. I'll chalk it up to people, I think, especially like coming from the sciences where a lot of people are a little siloed in their own world and really focused on their research or things like that. It can be hard sometimes to develop those skills of interacting with other people and something that always struck me when I was in university and studying the sciences was the difficulty that a lot of scientists had when it came to communicating what they were studying to a larger or general public. For me, it's always been like, what's the point of doing study science? What's the point of doing research? If we can explain it and make other people care about it. And so something that I have always tried very hard to do is to find ways to communicate scientific information. So in a way that is like super accessible to, to a wide audience and being able to connect with a lot of different people. And I think that to help me to get into environmental work, because a lot of environmental work is very community focused. Right? We're looking at the environment as a whole. You can't do this work by yourself, so you have to be able to interact with other people to communicate with people from all different backgrounds and Just being able to connect with them and open to connect with them on their own book. And then the other thing is being persistent. Like I mentioned that I had learned the auto river deeper when I was still in school. I had a price auto Riverkeeper, a number of times before I was actually hired. Honestly, I think they just gave me a job because I pestered them so much, but that was it. I was like, this is very much what I want to do. And I very much want to be a part of this organization and help to promote this. I guess I was very persistent. If there is something that you are really adamant about achieving. I think that if you have enough persistence and drive that you can try it, you can make those things a reality.
Meredith Meeker:Yes. Persistence in this field is extremely important, whether it's persistence and going contract to contract or persistence in trying to get in with your dream organization. Very few people get it on their first try. Yeah. For sure. And then going back to your first point about, communication and people skills, it's so funny. I feel like that's something that is highly promoted in other fields. Like business, people need to know business, but they also need to be good at talking to people. And they're encouraged to explore that. Whereas science, we work with other people, we work with communities and it's not as encouraged. So I think that's actually really important. And if you're not strong at it, it is a skill you can practice it. I actually took improv classes because I was quite nervous and wanted to work on those communication skills and everybody else in the room was from business and they were there for the same reason. And I think I was the only science-based person. So it was really fun too. So if you have an opportunity to do enterprise.
Katy Alambo:Yeah. And I think, you're saying, I don't think that necessarily those kinds of communication skills are natural for everyone. I know for myself, I was, I used to be so afraid of public speaking, like so nervous of doing those things. And when I was at the university of Waterloo, one of my co-op positions was with the university's department of biology. And I was a full time teaching assistant. I was teaching multiple labs every day. And so I was forced to be in front of people and to talk to people for hours on end every single day, laying things to them and just the more you do that, the easier it gets, it stops being scary. And so, yeah, it's just something you can practice.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah, it's about getting the reps in and being persistent in that too. So you did mention that you applied to Riverkeepers multiple times. And then you were successful. So did you change something to make your application stand out or do you think there's something people can do when they're applying to organizations to help get their application to the top of the pile?
Katy Alambo:what helped me myself get my position with auto Riverkeeper and it's what I look out for. Now when I have to hire new staff members, so we often take on interns during the summer at auto Riverkeepers and I have been part of the hiring process for them for all the every summer. And so I have to review a lot of. I have resumes and application. And what, why do people really allow like their personalities to shine through in their application or they mentioned a story or something that shows that they're a unique person and not just trying to check off all of the boxes of what the position is looking for those are the applications that like really stand out to me. And I think that especially working in our team, as I mentioned, we're still a relatively small team we have about 12 full-time staff. Rotating intern. It's so super important that we're able to get along with each other and work as a team. And so that's definitely something that I look for when I'm reviewing resumes and applications, is that the person that we hire, we want to be able to get along with them. We want to be able to know that Hey, you can have a good relationship working with this person. I guess there is a caveat to this answer because it always depends on where you're applying to. Like I applied to a small organization. I got to know the people very well, and that was what was very helpful to me. But if you're applying for a position with the larger organization, Where perhaps your resume or your application isn't being seen by the person that you'd be working with directly on like the first screening you might want to tailor your application a little bit differently, but that's the short or like summary answer of this is really to do your research on not only the company that you're looking to work with, but the position in that role. And to be sure that you really understand that. I think one thing that we noticed too, is we'll bring people in for an interview and you can tell right away the people who have done that kind of background a research they come and they know about some of the work that we've done. And they have a bit of an idea of how they can progress in report in the position. And so that really stands out when we were like, oh, okay, this person has thought about this outside of just like. To have this job. I think of it the job market. There are so many amazing people out there who have great qualifications. You really need to find a way to show that you are a unique person. And I think people are often it with things that they think are unique and will like that speaks to other people. So for example, when I was in high school, I used to work at And library. So I was the library page and when I was hiring last summer for a position, I noticed that one of the people also would work at the library page. Oh, okay. So your name is already in my mind, like it's not really important information to tell someone in an environmental role that you worked as a library page, not necessarily on, on that application, but that's what really stood out to me. And I was like, oh, okay. So this person's name's already in my mind. And ultimately she actually, she had amazing certifications and that's because we share that common previous job that we did end up hiring her, but we did end up hiring her and she was an amazing fit. We got along so well. And she was a great addition to the team, but it was really like, oh, this unique thing about her that catches someone's attention when they're reading through their application.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. I think it's really hard to make yourself. Seemed like a person on a piece of paper, but the more you can do it hope like the person reading, the resume. I feel like sometimes we forget that we're submitting our applications to another human. So you want to seem human and not just like a robot with all the qualifications. So I do. I think that's really great advice and yeah, library page might not have been the most relevant thing, but you know, it made her seem more dimensional and helped you relate to her. So I think that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Okay. Well, that's it for career stuff, which means it's time for my favorite question of the interview. Do you have a favorite nature moment? We call it nature, because nature is so neat. So it can be either while you were at work or just out exploring on your own.
Katy Alambo:Yeah. Okay. So, I thought about this widow. So back in in August I was lucky enough to participate in a tire rafting trip on the Ottawa river with our youth water leaders, part of our youth water leader program. We really want to give you the opportunity to actually experience the idle river. So, one way that we have done this is by taking people on whitewater rafting trips, and this was a whitewater rafting trip. And so I attended, I was there they had extra space and I was lucky enough to get to go. But while we were there, we also often get questions from the youth about things that they're seeing out in nature. And one of the things that someone came across was a like a little answer pod, like it is called a water. Penny's you want me to look it up? I learned this later, but when I first saw it and they had asked me about it, I had no idea of what this thing is. I'm trying to think of the best way to describe it. It looks like a flattened like potato bread kind of thing, but it was in the water. So anyway, that was the first time I'd seen this water. Penny. I'd never heard about them on before I'm and then about maybe a month or two later I got to participate in Tabin training. So Tabun is the Canadian Sophonic biomonitoring network and it's run by environment Canada. They do a bunch of the, we monitor for invertebrates then benthic invertebrates within the sediments of streams and stuff to get a sense of waterfall and verbal, both of different things. And that was part of a habit training. I could go on forever on depth that through that tape training, I learned more about the water. And it's actually as indicators be, if he fills that water, penny, if you find it within the water it is an indicator of good water quality because they're very sensitive to pollution. So if you happen to be out in the water and freshwater body, and you find one of these water pennies, it's a sign that the water quality there is good. It's not overly so that these species are able to live there. And I guess that's like a nature overall nature that you can learn so much about the health of the environment or just the environment as a whole I'm like tiny little creatures.
Meredith Meeker:So that's a great story and a full circle moment to being able to figure out what that was. And then later. Learn more about what that insect was telling you at the time when you saw it. So I think that's really awesome. And also from your experience with, I feel like blue algae and microscopes makes sense that you also really liked benthics. I was thinking about that when you were talking about it and There's so much life going on, like in the sediment of rivers that most people don't see, but there are, so I don't know, insects are just so cool and alien looking and. They're pretty awesome.
Katy Alambo:So much going on in the water that we don't know though, a lot of microscopic feces and animals that are in there that are so full to look at. I love doing microscope work for that reason just to get to look at like the cool thing. One thing that I really like to look at our diatoms with our type of microscopic LV, if you've never heard of them before you should look up diatom once again. They're super cool indicator BCS for water quality. But they also they're they have a shout out, so they're like glasses shouts. And one lake is really cool shape. If you Google something like diatom artwork, you can see, people have under the microscope, arrange these diatoms into beautiful artwork. They're super cool. if you don't know about them, I definitely suggest you check them out. I know my little nerd moment for Adam, but I found it super cool. And very beautiful looking.
Meredith Meeker:Okay. So I did just Google it and the art that people make is insane. I'm you wouldn't know that this was algae or is it sorry? Am I right when I said that? Okay. Very cool. It's like the, I don't know if you've seen the, I think it's the caddis fly necklaces.
Katy Alambo:we would come across when you're doing benthic and vertebrate sampling as well. Something we would look out. Yes.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. And people will put the larva in with, like gold pieces or like little jewels, and then they'll make them little anyway. Very cool. So obviously you've got a lot of passion but something that, I feel like it's really important to talk about, especially, I dunno, we're in another lockdown. It's winter. There's a lot going on in the world. So what keeps you inspired and what keeps you motivated to keep doing the work that you do?
Katy Alambo:Yeah, think I might've mentioned it before too, but it's once again, it's the volume, our volunteers, our followers, or even the people who reach out to us. So like I mentioned, auto Riverkeeper has a huge volunteer group. We have the actually has different subsets of volunteers because we just have so many in one group that I worked very closely with our Riverwalk. So there are people who live throughout. The water said generally they are located near the shore of the river facility can act as our eyes and ears. And they will alert us of things that are happening on the river as well as helping us to address these kinds of things. And so I'm always so inspired by how much people do actually care about the environment and how much people actually do want to do this work. And so if I'm having a rough day and I'm tired. I don't want to do this. I, and I get an email from one of these river Watchers, this maybe even just sharing a cool thing that they found or that they saw it can totally turn my day around. Right. It's so great to connect with people who, who similarly have this passion and drive to To protect the environment and are willing and open to doing the work that is necessary to do that.
Meredith Meeker:Yeah. It's really important. To just remember, we're not alone in this because otherwise it can get overwhelming. So yeah. When you see other people that are still putting in the work, it makes sense that it makes you want to keep going. Well it sounds like you have a lot of volunteers, but if somebody did want to get involved with river keepers or learn more about what you do, where should they go? What should they check out?
Katy Alambo:In a watershed, as large as the Ottawa rivers, we can never have too many volunteers and there can never be too many people who are open and motivated to do the kind of work. And so, like I said, we have a number of different volunteer groups, meaning there's a number of different ways that people can get involved. With auto Riverkeeper I think the easiest way to get information or to learn more about what we do, would it be by visiting us on our website. So that was Ottawa, riverkeeper.ca. And then we're also active on social media. You can find us by searching for auto Riverkeeper on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Those are all good ways to get your foot in the door. And maybe I'll just mention some of the things that you can do with us. Some inspiration amongst people. So I had mentioned that I run a number of community-based monitoring projects. So, if you're interested in participating in actually collecting data, we have a number of ways that people can do that. Some of the projects that I run are more observation based, so you don't have to really have any special skillsets to participate in these projects. You go out and notice for example, an algal bloom or an invasive species, you can send that report to us. That's a great way to participate in our community based monitoring. But if you're looking for something a bit more hands-on we have other projects where you actually get to go out and collect samples and do like hands-on field work. If that's something that you're interested in. We're also really big on education and working with you and peers in schools and things like that. We have a whole education team who developed programming for different age groups. If you visit our website, you'll see we have our learning library. So there's a bunch of different activities, both online and physical that people in school groups can borrow to help them learn more about water set it and aquatic stop. We have a new water leader, which I mentioned. So that program is geared towards youth age about 17 to 25. And it is an opportunity to learn more about environmental protection, water advocacy, and you get to participate in super cool things like water lapping on the Ottawa river, which is a lot of fun. And then other things that we do in the summer and summer months, our shoreline cleanup. So that's an easy way for people to help protect the the health of the river. We host a number of shoreline cleanup but we also recently launched a new app is called cleanup. You can access it by going to cleanup.ca and it's a mobile app that you can use to help you track. How much trapping grabbers that we're collecting from the shores of the Ottawa river. So you can go out and do your own shoreline cleanup and track it in via the I cleaner app. I seen up to let us know how much trash and how much garbage is being collected from the river those are some of the projects. There are way more ways that you can be involved with other river keeper that I haven't even touched on. We looked there volunteers with a background in so many different things. So if you're interested in participating or getting more involved in water, environmental advocacy, and you live anywhere within the Ottawa river water said, so you do not need to live in Ottawa to work with auto Riverkeeper. You can live way up in and you assume the watershed and our part of our community. If you are a resident or find yourself living in the Ottawa river, water said you want to get more involved, but you want to learn more about your environment. Definitely visit us at Ottawa, riverkeeper.ca
Meredith Meeker:Hey Katie. There seems to be so many opportunities, so I hope people check out the website and that's all I have for today. So thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us. I really enjoyed the conversation. A huge, thank you to Katie for not only taking the time to share her story with us, but also for being one of ELBs amazing mentors. If you're interested in learning more about our mentorship program and how to connect with Katie, check out our webpage. And of course, if you want to hear more episodes, Stories like Katy's, don't forget to like, and subscribe to our podcast. So you don't miss an episode and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to find out more about job opportunities and cool. Speaking of cool events. Don't forget to check out our AGM on March 31st. You can find more details on our Facebook page and you can grab tickets there or even nominate yourself to be on the ELB board. Okay. That's all for me. Talk to you again next week. Happy trails.