Lake Winnipeg Foundation Going Global

Bruce Smith, president of the Lake Winnipeg Foundation, says joining forces nationally and internationally to protect freshwater lakes fits the foundation’s over-arching mandate.

The foundation was created in 2005 by a small group of people in the Village of Dunnottar. It has grown, as last count, to 405 members from around Lake Winnipeg, Winnipeg, across Canada and the United States.

The grassroots foundation has championed the work of the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium; made presentations to students, business and other groups; and generally advanced the cause of protecting the lake from all harm.

Recently the Lake Winnipeg Foundation joined forces with a water stewardship group in B.C. called Wildsight and the Global Nature Fund to create Living Lakes Network Canada. This network will join the International Living Lakes Network, an international network and partnership the mission of which is to enhance the protection, restoration and rehabilitation of lakes, wetlands, other freshwater bodies of the world and their catchment areas.

The move was cemented when Smith and his counterpart from Wildisght, Heather Leschied, met in Lake Chapala, Mexico for the 13th International Living Lakes Conference March 17-24. Smith says the problems Lake Winnipeg faces — over-fertilization with nutrients nitrogen and phosphorous, species loss, pollution — are similar to problems faced by other freshwater lakes. It only makes sense, he says, to learn from the experience of others.

The focus of both the national and international network is to share best practices in water stewardship. “We are always searching for the answers,” said Smith. “But the answers may have been found elsewhere where people are facing similar problems.”

Now that Wildsight and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation have formed a new national network, it’s a matter of building the network and expanding its sweep and resources.

“We’re working on getting other interested organizations that represent particular water bodies to join the national network,” Smith said.

Typically, the people involved in the lake networks are ordinary citizens with a particular interest in protecting, preserving and improving their local natural resources, in this case freshwater. Smith describes them as “largely citizen-based, ecological non-governmental agencies.”

Such groups are critical to effective water stewardship, according to David Schindler, Killam professor of ecology at the University of Alberta. Schindler is respected the world over for his ground-breaking work at the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) in Northwestern Ontario. It was at the ELA that Schindler and a host of graduate students and research scientists established that controlling phosphorous loading can rapidly return a freshwater lake to its pristine state.

(That was just one piece in the ELA work. Scientists there, led by Schindler, also developed models that explained the harmful effects of acid rain and its sources.)

“I cannot over-emphasize the importance of helping citizen-based water stewardship groups communicate and network to exchange information,” writes Schindler in a Living Lakes Network Canada release. “Such communication often prevents harmful developments and citizens are better equipped to identify water quality problems in early stages.”

Smith agrees. He believes the citizen-based approach is central. And, he says, there’s much to learn from citizens who have been working elsewhere in Canada and the world to solve their local freshwater challenges.

“There are people in Europe who probably have been working for a lot longer than we have to address concerns about their lakes,” Smith said. “I think there are lessons to be learned there.”

ABOUT: Living Lakes Network Canada Canada needs active, community supported water stewardship like never before.

But connecting the scientific tools of monitoring and rehabilitation with the agents of change — community members — is a challenge.

In 2010, with the help of Global Nature Fund, Wildsight and the Lake Winnipeg Foundation created Living Lakes Network Canada (LLNC). This new network will link science to action by supporting citizen-based water stewardship efforts in Canada and beyond.

Our aim is to foster citizen-based stewardship of our lakes, wetlands and watersheds. We will apply Living Lakes networking principles — principles that strengthen ties between water stewardship groups around the world — to assist groups in both Canada and the United States.

The LLNC will facilitate and initiate projects that result in long-term protection of our precious freshwater resources. It will also increase the capacity of the water stewardship community so this work can continue into the future.

Lake Winnipeg Foundation going global – Interlake Spectator May 14 2010.pdf