The New Wave - February 2012 Edition

Alberta Lake Management Society Newsletter

February 2012

Volunteers Needed

Lakewatch

Another Lakewatch season is fast approaching, please contact the Lakewatch Coordinator, Brad, at 780-415-9785 or by email to get your lake on the 2012 sampling list. Also contact him if you would simply like to volunteer your boat and your time to sample a local lake.

AWQA

Interested in hosting an Alberta Water Quality Awareness (AWQA) day event? Please contact us to get involved!

Living by Water

Support Living by Water and volunteer for the upcoming Hypothermia Half Marathons as a race marshall - either Feb 12 or Feb 26. Proceeds of this race go towards Nature Alberta. You can contact Cheyanne or Petra at 780-427-8124 or by email.

State of the Watershed - Mayatan Lake

Frank at Mayatan Lake. Photo by: Jessica Davis

Congratulations to the North Saskatchewan Watershed Alliance and the Mayatan Lake Management Society for producing the first State of the Watershed Report for Mayatan Lake. This lake is approximately 68 km west of Edmonton in Parkland County, in an area known as the Jackfish and Jonny's Lakes Wetland Complex. It is zoned as an environmentally significant area as it lies in area that is considered a groundwater recharge zone. The report concludes that the lake is relatively healthy with little development of the shoreline.

This is a major achievement on the path to developing a watershed management plan for Mayatan Lake.

What does this weather mean for lakes?

Forecasters predicted a harsh winter, and although its certainly not over yet, this winter does not seem as cold or snowy as compared to last year. So, what does a warm winter mean for our lakes? "Apart from the amount of snow melt recharging our lake water levels the next big thing would be the timing of the ice melt." said ALMS director, Al Sosiak of Sosiak Environmental Services "Break-up date and the ice free period will be key".

Snow and air temperature affect both ice thickness and timing of the ice-on/ice-off period. Ice breakup date can influence many of the in-lake processes, largely by modifying the water temperature. For example, an increase in the ice-free period can increase the water temperature, change the duration of summer stratification, may enhance algal blooms, and lead to oxygen depletion in deep spots during summer. These spots are the refuge for coldwater-adapted fish species such as whitefish. Temperature really is a critical variable in lake ecosystems...read our factsheet

Curious about the ice-off period for your lake? Well data on ice on/off dates have been collected around the world as well in Canada by volunteers throughout the county and compiled at IceWatch. In Alberta there isn't a provincial program but individual lakes sometimes have their own records. Data on the ice breakup date at Pine Lake has been collected for nearly 65 years! We asked long-term lake steward Ed Lawrence how they got such good data "The Pine Lake Hub Community Club held an annual raffle and each guess on the exact time and date the ice broke cost $1.00. A lakefront resident would tie a long piece of string to a log out on the ice. The other end of the string would be tied to a kitchen timer and when the log fell into the water and pulled the string that was the official time and date. The person whose guess was closest won the pot of money." From this record they know that the date of break-up can vary by up to 40 days between years. If you are interested in recording the dates of ice break-up for your lake then contact us or check out IceWatch Canada.

Courses and Conferences

Water Week 2012: March 19 to 25 with the theme "Discover Your Water Footprint". Visit their website to see the list of events or to register your own.

Alberta Wetlands: From Classification to Policy, a course aimed at a variety of stakeholders, municipal and provincial government departments. The course is arranged in topical modules consisting of both theoretical and practical components. Two course dates are scheduled: February 22nd to 23rd in Edmonton or Feburary 29th to March 1st in Calgary. In-house training sessions are available for groups of 5 or more in the Capital region and 10-20 outside of the Capital region. Each course registrant must provide a complete registration form. For more information or to register for the course, please contact us at: wetlands@aquality.ca or visit the website.

Waterlution Calgary Hub presents "Water and Imagination: Our Human Expression," on February 28th, 6:00-8:30 pm (doors open at 5:30), at the City of Calgary's Water Centre.

Alberta Environment and Water has a Working Well Program that provides well owners with the information and tools they need to properly care for their wells. Workshops are held across the province and may be in a location close to you in the next few months. Visit their website for more information and a schedule of workshops.

Alberta Low Impact Development Partnership: Erosion and Sediment Control 2012 Courses. Designing for Tomorrow: ESC 2012 March 12 to 16, 2012 in Calgary. Courses focus on environmental construction and land development practices for the long-term sustainability of our water resources.

Assembly of First Nations National Water Conference and tradeshow in Edmonton at the Marriott Edmonton River Cree Resort on March 5-7, 2012. This conference is co-hosted by The Confederacy of Treaty Six First Nations.

National Water Quality Monitoring Council's (NWQMC) 8th National Monitoring Conference - Water: One Resource - Shared Effort - Common Future to be held in Portland, Oregon from April 30 - May 4, 2012. Check out the website for info on travel subsidies and agenda.

ALMS is Hiring!

We are looking for enthusiastic aquatic biologists interested in becoming our next Lakewatch technicians.

Position Description

ALMS Scholarship

Changes! The ALMS scholarship is now $2000! The criteria have also been modified to more broadly support undergraduate and graduate students that are studying aquatic sciences at any Alberta university, college or technical school. Click here for more information and to apply. Deadline has been extended to February 28, 2012.

Photo Contest

Water in Focus

Photo Contest

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