Fish habitats in the Bulkley Valley are important natural and recreational resources. In an effort to take advantage of local citizens' knowledge of these habitats and their value, a series of workshops were facilitated by community members with GIS and mapping expertise in conjunction with local staff from the provincial Ministry of Environment (MOE). Their purpose was to engage members of the public in the identifcation and (informally) ranking important fish habitats in the riparian environments of the rivers and streams within the Bulkley Valley.
In total, approximately 25 members of the community participated in the workshops that involved the use of version 1 of the MapChat tool. The main activities that took place included verification of official data (e.g., identifying gaps or errors), inventorying features (adding new drawings), and recording local knowledge (via comments and discussion in MapChat).