Happy Spring 2024!
Bird surveys, LakeWatchers program, Lake Water Quality testing, HRM’s Regional Review, Backlands additions, a fix for the dam, the expansion of the Shaw Wilderness Park and more have kept us busy this year. We will be reporting on these important projects at our Annual General Meeting and invite you to join us to get a sense of how you and your family can be citizen environmentalists.
Would you like to join us as we continue to protect Williams Lake and its watershed through these challenging climate changes? Come to our AGM.
WLCC – Annual General Meeting
Tuesday, June 11, 2024
Captain William Spry Public Library – Program Room
7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Your membership is important to us, and we count on it to support the financial responsibilities of being “Caretakers & Stewards” of Williams Lake, since 1968. We invite you to renew your membership in June. A membership also makes a thoughtful gift to your favourite nature enthusiasts. Donations are appreciated and support our conservation efforts, projects and advocacy work.
We now have three convenient categories of membership:
$40 – Household of all folks in your family
$25 – Individual person
Pay-What-You-Can – for young folks, students, seniors and other environmentalists.
Please click here for our Membership page to join, payment can be by Interac or cheque.
Williams Lake Conservation Company’s directors and volunteers have been involved in several important environmental projects involving the lake and its watershed this year.
Dam
We last repaired the failing dam in 1968 but now the yearly loss of lake water is causing significant damage to the fragile ecosystems, wildlife habitats and compromising public access to this well used recreational lake. We are in dialogue with our local political representatives, and government departments to advocate for a new dam to save this HRM lake. We are making progress and are hoping for an announcement soon.
Lake Water Quality Testing
Cost of processing tests increases yearly, and we use your membership fees to cover these important tests. We now have 20 years of data to back up our concerns of the health and quality of lake water. We take regular measurement of salt run off from the roads as well as from Governors Brook.
HRM Regional Plan Review
We contributed critical and informative data on Williams Lake and its huge watershed in the Backlands to the draft of this important document. We continue to provide our historical data to HRM planners as they move to the next steps in this HRM review.
Bird Walks 2024
Our third annual series of 4 bird walks in 2 of Spryfield’s fabulous parks, was led by Fulton Lavender, our experienced bird identifier. We partnered with the Captain William Spry Public Library to offer the walks to newbie and seasoned birders, newcomers to the area and HRM residents.
Common Nighthawk Habitat Public Education Project
Our bird team lead this survey with a partnership with Dalhousie University to trace the at-risk Common Nighthawk species in the Williams Lake area, its watershed and the Backlands. The team found proof of at least two successful nesting pairs and will continue their study this spring and summer.
Newsletter
Our 2024 newsletter contains much more on our conservation efforts and is now available on our website (click here). Interesting reading paired with a coffee.
Join the WLCC Team
We are involved in many interesting environmental projects and invite you, your friends and family to join us. If you would like to become involved with WLCC projects and its many dedicated volunteers in the continuing stewardship of Williams Lake and its watershed, please contact us through our website.
The Membership Committee
Williams Lake Conservation Company