Kyle Chuckry: 07-18-2025
This week, I’m happy to announce I completed the first full draft of a volunteer welcome package for our friends at Water Rangers! Some of their Lake Erie Rangers have volunteered to gather data for our Visual Assessment Survey Tool (VAST), and this package is the first step to onboarding them to aid in monitoring our coastlines in Niagara. Once the finishing touches are complete and the team gives it their seal of approval, we’re excited to finally get them out in the field with us!
For those of you who don’t know, VAST is a tool on our platform that gives YOU the power to help monitor our great lakes by taking a few simple pictures of the shoreline to monitor things like litter, erosion, and our main focus for this summer, Cladophora Algae! It was originally founded by the Niagara Coastal Community Collaborative (NCCC), and as of 2024, Swim Drink Fish has been given the honour of delivering the VAST tool both nationally and internationally!
Jones Beach, St. Catharines, ON
The picture above was taken at Jones Beach, in St. Catharines, during one of my weekly site visits, and it’s easy to see the mats of algae sitting there and turn away, but even at a beach like this, the locals still find a way to enjoy the coast! While Jones Beach may not always pass primary water quality standards on our Swim Guide, almost every week I see at least one person on the water kayaking or someone taking it easy on the shore with their dog.
Coming back to the beach every week means I start to recognize some familiar faces too, and this week I had a lovely conversation with a regular at Jones Beach about the trends we’re seeing there, including the algae. They are a prime example of why community science initiatives like VAST are so important. It’s the people who are connected to these beaches and shorelines that really know them best, and VAST empowers their voice to share the changes they’re seeing in shoreline conditions so we can better protect them as a community.
So if you see me in the field on the beaches of Niagara, feel free to say hi! I’d love to hear your two cents on the beaches I visit, and I’d be happy to give you a walkthrough of how to use VAST yourself if you’re interested!
