Analysis Of Neighbouring Lakes
One thing we keep hearing is that all lake levels in the area are down and that the level of Skeleton Lake is solely the result of low precipitation and the lake will come back on its own. We investigated these claims and found them to be incorrect. We studied the other recreational lakes within a 75 km radius of Skeleton Lake and found that while many of those lakes reacted as Skeleton Lake had from 1997 to 2002, the majority of them had started levelling off or regaining lake level from 2002 onward. Only Skeleton Lake and five others continued to decline after 2002. This chart summarizes our findings of the level of the major recreational lakes in our region and shows that 15 of the 21 lakes which we have reliable lake level data on are not continuing to decline.
Analysis of Lakeland Country Lakes
|
Lake |
Watershed |
1997 Spike |
1998-2002 |
2002-2009 |
Current Level Compared to Historical Average |
|
Amisk Lake |
45:1 |
No |
down 0.6 m |
dropped in 2009 |
Within .4 |
|
Baptiste Lake |
29:1 |
No |
even |
even |
even |
|
Beaver Lake |
9:1 |
Yes |
down 1 m |
levelled out |
down 1.5 m |
|
Calling Lake |
13:1 |
no data |
no data |
up 0.6 m |
even |
|
Cold Lake |
|
Yes |
even |
up 0.5 m |
up 0.2 m |
|
Ethel Lake |
110:1 |
Yes |
down 0.1 m |
even |
down 0.2 m |
|
Garner Lake* |
4:1 |
Yes |
down 2 m |
continued decline |
down 2.6 m |
|
Island Lake |
8:1 |
Yes |
down 1.0 m |
levelled and then rose |
down 0.5 m |
|
Lac Bellevue* |
|
Yes |
down 1.8 m |
Steady decline from 1989 – 2003 |
down 3.2 m |
|
Lac La Biche |
17:1 |
Yes |
down 0.2 m |
rose |
even |
|
Long Lake |
14:1 |
No |
down 0.2 m |
rose 0.4 m |
even |
|
Mann Lake (Lower) |
29:1 |
Yes |
down 2.8 m |
continued decline to ’06, then rose |
down 2.4 m |
|
Mann Lake (Upper)* |
25:1 |
Yes |
down 1.6 m |
continued decline |
down 3.6 m |
|
Marie Lake |
11:1 |
Yes |
even |
rose |
up 0.5 m |
|
Moore Lake |
4:1 |
Yes |
even |
rose |
up 0.5 m |
|
Moose Lake |
18:1 |
Yes |
down 1.0 m |
rose .4 m |
down 0.5 m |
|
Muriel Lake |
6:1 |
No |
constant decline from 1980 – 2010 |
down 3.5 m |
|
|
Pinehurst Lake |
7:1 |
Yes |
down 1.0 m |
rose 1 m |
Up .5 m |
|
SKELETON LAKE |
3.8:1 |
Yes |
down 1.2 m |
down 0.8 m |
down 2 m |
|
Touchwood Lake |
4:1 |
Yes |
down 0.4 m |
rose 0.6 m |
up 0.4 m |
|
Wolf Lake |
|
No |
even |
even |
even |
*Lakes that have continued to decline since 2002 like Skeleton Lake
