The five-day Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) course is designed to train and certify users in a variety of standardized stream assessment techniques for evaluating habitat, invertebrate, and fish communities in Ontario’s wadeable streams.
The methods taught are documented in the OSAP Manual and are provincially recognized as standards by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry and federally recognized by Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
The techniques require varying levels of effort and provide data with a corresponding range of precision.
Who Should Attend?
This course is intended for field crews and resource managers who are involved in stream surveys and management.
Learning Objectives
The course is organized into units that will provide training in:
- Reading a river and selecting site boundaries (Section 1)
- Conducting fisheries and temperature surveys (Section 2 and 5)
- A number of modules that characterize physical habitat and geomorphology
About This Course
This is an intensive hands-on course; it combines classroom, laboratory, and field sessions, with emphasis on quality assurance.
Most units will consist of a morning lecture, travel to a stream, demonstration of techniques, supervised application of one or more modules, data entry and verification, debriefing and testing.
Students should be prepared for some evening work.
A copy of the OSAP manual will be provided to registrants at the course. An electronic version of the manual is available below and we encourage participants to read it prior to the course.
Meals and accommodations are not included.
Instruction for the courses is provided through a partnership between the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks, the Royal Ontario Museum and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA).
Recognition
Participants will receive a certificate to verify the completion of their training.
Contact Us
For more information, please contact:
Jeff Vandenberg, Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA)
jeff.vandenberg@trca.ca
(365) 566-2416
TRCA HST Registration number: 10808 8584 RT001
When Is It Offered?
The next course will be offered June 10-14, 2024. Registration will open soon. If you would like to be added to the notification list, please fill out the form below:
Reference Materials
VIEW THE TRAINING VIDEOS
Select the icon in the top right of frame to view the full playlist.
READ THE COURSE MANUAL & MATERIALS
OSAP Course Manual (Version 10)
The Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol (OSAP) contains a series of standardized methodologies for identifying sites and evaluating benthos, fish communities, physical habitat and water temperatures in wadeable streams. The OSAP provides standard methodologies that allow data to be shared, used for multiple purposes and stored in a common database.
OSAP Compendium Manual: Guidelines for Designing and Interpreting Stream Surveys in Ontario (Ver. 1.1. 2003)
The materials provided in this manual are intended to compliment the procedures described in the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol by providing advice on study design and interpretation of results.
Flowing Waters Information System
The Flowing Waters Information System (FWIS) helps Ontario’s conservation practitioners to manage information on flowing waters or streams, including data about fisheries, benthos, habitat and more. View the Introduction to the Flowing Waters Information System video.
2019 OSAP FIELD FORMS
(Updated to enable digital input)
- Rapid Assessment Channel Morphology (S4M1)
- Channel Morphology (S4M2)
- Bankfull Channel Stability (S4M3)
- Rapid Stream Discharge Survey (S4M4)
- Crest Stage Gauge: Water Level Record (S4M6)
- Site Slope (S4M7)
- Rapid Assessment Methodology Substrate (S4M8)
- Stream Crossing and Barriers (S4M9)
- Headwater Drainage Features: Up and Down Stream (S4M10)
- Headwater Drainage Features: Unconstrained (S4M11)