Thompson Rivers University

Online tool helps ranchers prepare for drought

December 21, 2016

Master of Science in Environmental Science graduate Aaron Coelho.

A research partnership between TRU and Urban Systems Ltd. is getting local and provincial attention.

Aaron Coelho, who graduated with his Master of Science in Environmental Science in 2015, studied alongside Dr. Tom Pypker investigating the decline in the number of ponds in BC grasslands, an issue of vital importance to the ranching industry.

Read: Ranching water management? There’s an app for that, Kamloops This Week, Dec. 20, 2016
Listen: Online tool could help BC ranchers prepare for drought, CBC News, Dec. 21, 2016

Coelho’s research continues through his work as an environmental consultant with Urban Systems Ltd. With funding from the Climate Action Initiative’s Farm Adaptation Innovator Program, Urban Systems and TRU have partnered to develop a climate change impact risk assessment tool for ponds used as livestock water sources in BC’s Southern Interior grasslands.

Coelho and Pypker are now developing the Climate Change Impact Risk Assessment Tool, which allows ranchers to zoom into view a satellite image of an area, find their farm and click on it to determine the risk factor is for future drought for each piece of the property.

Read: Gold medal research leads to future collaboration

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