Kim Funk

Kim Funk is an aquatic monitoring ecologist at Conservation Halton — an agency that manages 1,000 square kilometres of watershed west of Toronto. Most days from March to November, Funk treks to one of the conservation authority’s 94 monitoring sites, where she collects data on everything from water temperatures to nutrient loads to aquatic bugs. Regular testing can show if riverbank restoration efforts are improving fish habitat. Or if new cattle fencing is needed to address spikes in a stream’s nitrate levels. Or how one creek compares to another within the watershed. “If you don’t monitor, then you have no way of knowing if you’re having an impact,” Funk says. “By being able to go back to a site year after year over a long term, we can see how things are changing.”