ALMS is pleased to support the I-R Secchi Disc Program for better stewardship and management of lakes across Alberta. This program is being headed up by volunteer Phil Sutton, here is his story:

"In June and July 2007 I visited Anapolis and the Chesapeake Bay and took a day ride on the Bay. Across from where we embarked was a large sailing sloop of about 100 feet with a very large banner on each side encouraging all to join in the Secchi Disk measurement and help keep the Chesapeake clean. At the time I was puzzled as to how a measurement would help keep the Bay, which in the 50's and 60's had become notorious as an industrial dumping area, clean? We then noticed that there were many boats of all sizes doing Secchi measurements up and down the bay....read more

When taken consistently over time, Secchi depth measurements are an easy yet scientifically valuable measurement of lake health. The I-R Secchi Disk program is a great opportunity for Albertan's to get involved in monitoring their lake's water quality over time.

View the program information flyer here. If you would like to enter the program for your lake please email Phil Sutton or phone him directly 780-450-1277. He has arranged for the bulk purchase of disks and is offering a training session April 21 in Edmonton for those who are interested.

Chain Lakes are a string of long, narrow lakes east of Ponoka. Although the shoreline is forested they are in the heart of some of Alberta's best farmland. Friends of Chain Lakes Society was formed a year ago because of the threat of a 95,000 chicken confined feeding operation being built less than a mile from the upper or first Chain Lake. The owners' quarter section of land was in the lake's watershed, sloping down to the headwaters. At the time the County of Ponoka had recognized confined feeding operations (CFOs) were a lake water quality and residential development concern and had written in their Municipal Development Plan (MDP) that CFOs should be excluded from within one mile of these lakes. 

However the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB), who is responsible for regulating intensive livestock operations in Alberta, initially approved this operation because the Municipal Development Plan was not specific enough. There was outcry from locals against the chicken operation, several local residents and the County appealed. For the NRCB it is not enough just to say that feedlots are unwelcome and and an additional hearing was held to determine if the County's restrictions were justified. The NRCB found the County's rationale was well thought out, reasonable, and fair to all parties but it also recommended that the MDP be modified to include an exclusion map boundary rather than the more general one-mile distance from the lake shore.

Friends of Chain Lake see this as a victory but have continued on with the work of being stewards of the lake and its watershed. Ponoka County works closely with the Friends of Chain Lakes Society, and have included the group as they drafted their (newly released) Chain Lakes Watershed Management Plan. 

Last summer they hired LakeWatch to test the lakes and consider offering educational opportunities to be a large part of their mandate. On April 19th the Society is having a public informational meeting where fisheries scientist, Dr Michael Sullivan, will be guest speaker. Everyone is welcome (see the events listing for details). 

Friends of Chain Lake Society Annual Public Meeting, April 19th at Scott Hall School. Dinner and speaker. For more information call 403-783-6858 or email: lbedwards2@hotmail.com.

• water quality information 
• program registration 
• purchase of additional supplies 
• details of our 2012 photo contest