About this map
This map was created using an ArcGIS Online Story Map template, in order to display lakes monitored around the province by ALMS’ LakeWatch program. LakeWatch is a volunteer-based water quality monitoring program offered to Albertans who are interested in collecting information about their local lake or reservoir. Since 1996, water quality has been monitored at over 100 lakes across the province, and 94 of those lakes are displayed here with links to reports and information regarding history, region, size, and the most recent trophic status.
Navigating the map
Lakes are arranged alphabetically, and you can either click through them one-by-one using the arrows on either side of the image, or scroll through the carousel at the bottom. Information on each lake can be made larger by hovering your cursor over the top right corner of the image and clicking the maximize button. You can zoom in and out using the tools on the left, and there is also a location button if you would like to know where you are in relation to the lakes. Links to all of the published LakeWatch reports are found in the image description, which can be minimized. Clicking the report link will open a new window containing a PDF of the report, and if the report opens up in the map window, just click the backspace key on your keyboard to return to the map.
References & Additional Information
History
Information regarding the names and history of these lakes was primarily taken from the Concise Place Names of Alberta*, the Atlas of Alberta Lakes, through personal communication with local residents, as well as information found on the websites of First Nations or Métis settlements. The Cree Online Dictionary was used in order to help translate historical descriptions and attempt to write the most accurate Cree names in roman orthography.
*Edited by Merrily K. Aubrey (Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Press, 2006)
Public Access
For some lakes, public access was difficult to determine, as there may be small, locally known boat launches that aren’t heavily publicized. We defined formal points of access as parks or provincial or municipal recreational areas with definite facilities and a boat launch, and when in doubt, left the option as unknown.
Trophic Status
Trophic statuses for lakes were assigned based on average chlorophyll-a in the most recent LakeWatch report. Depending on the length of time since the last sampling, these levels could have changed greatly. A table describing the values and divisions for trophic status is found in the appendix of each of the LakeWatch reports.
What has the monitoring results of the plan and of the indicators shown? Is there a need to modify the plan? It is important that the lake watershed management plan does not just sit on a shelf. Information gaps should be addressed, action items need to be managed, completed, and evaluated to best address the needs of the lake. Always keep in mind the vision: if the actions taken are not bringing the lake closer to that vision, then the plan needs to be modified. Consider updating both the state of the watershed and the lake watershed management plans at regular intervals to make sure that the actions taken were achieving the desired outcomes and to evaluate what work still needs to be done.
Reporting is an essential component of any watershed management planning and implementation process. There are two main types of reporting that should be shared with stakeholders on a regular basis: implementation reporting & effectiveness reporting.
The development of a lake watershed management plan provides the guidance needed to implement activities, but the plan cannot be static. Monitoring the performance of your management actions is essential to understanding whether your goals have been met, and whether further actions are needed. Monitoring and evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of a lake watershed management plan allows assessment of progress towards the goals and objectives of the plan, identification of problems and opportunities, and a collection of critical information required when performing a 5 or 10 year review of the plan.
Once a plan has been approved by all affected sectors and officially endorsed and released by the steering committee, then implementation can begin in full. Action projects can be large and comprehensive, or made smaller by staging projects over time or into modules that can be tackled one at a time. Fundraising is an issue that many community groups may find intimidating, but experience with programs such as the Pine Lake Restoration Program (see 
The members of the steering committee will continue to play a strong role in facilitating and tracking implementation actions. This includes any actions they were responsible for, as well as tracking other committees and sector’s actions and progress made towards achieving the plan’s outcomes. Ongoing communication is essential to successful implementation and achieving outcomes, therefore a regular reporting mechanism could be set up in order to provide regular evaluation of the plan.
There is no limit to the number or types of lake management actions, but they typically fall into the categories on the right.
This graphic describes how the various committees and groups will work and interact together. The circle size depicts the approximate number of people involved, and the circles overlapping indicates that some individuals may reside in all of the circles and participate in multiple committees as part of the planning process. The technical committee is shown as an arrow, indicating that it is independent and has relatively few people, and yet it interacts with all of the groups. This graphic may look different depending on the lake and the people involved, and a detailed structure should be agreed upon and described in the plan’s Terms of Reference (Step 6).
Helpful resources