Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary - Water Quality Monitoring

The Swan Lake Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary is a high biodiversity site and is home to at risk species such as the Western Painted Turtle and the Great Blue Heron. The Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary water quality monitoring, conducted by contractor Rob Bowen with Diversified Scientific Solutions, and by Swan Lake staff, aims to track lake conditions which have significant impacts on the health and biodiversity of the lake and its surrounding ecosystems. The data collected provides valuable baseline and background information and helps to examine the temporal change of lake conditions. Of special concern are the extensive cyanobacteria blooms that occur in the heat of the summer. These blooms have led to hypoxic events that have resulted in fish kills. By long-term monitoring of the physical and chemical properties of the lake, insights into the driving forces that influence bloom frequency and intensity can be made which can guide future mitigation strategies.