Environmental Advisory Committee
Board Meetings & Minutes

• Environmental Action Plan -  the new one was approved and accepted by council at the November 2025 meeting. No changes are needed to date.

• Social Media - Discussion took place as to the type of information, how much and how often information should be posted on Facebook and Instagram. Discussion encompassed what are we trying to achieve by each posting, is it information, education or awareness and how does it relate to our community. It was also decided once to twice a month is enough.

Next Meeting – April 15, 2026

Environmental Advisory Committee

October 1, 2025 Meeting Summary

TO PROMOTE EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS, AND PROVIDE ADVICE FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE VILLAGE  OF SPRING LAKE

General discussion took place at the beginning of the meeting about the lake level and some of reasons why it is as low as it has ever been. Reasons may be several years of  lack of rain, warmer weather, springs drying up or blocked, very little snow pack the last few years. We also discussed the condition of the water and if a water sample can be done since there has been one goose, one loon chick and three beavers that we have found deceased. It is unknown by us if there has been any other dead water animals found.  No one can remember there ever being this many or these types of animals being found floating in the lake in previous years. A member will talk with AHS to see if we can get a testing kit to submit, another member will contact ALMS about getting on the lake water testing list and  a third member will contact Alberta Environment about water testing.

• Lake Keepers – the last sample has been done and taken in. ALMS will publish the results in spring.
• Presenters 2026 – a member is in the process of setting up several presenters for later this year and early next year, looking like there could be one per month. As they get booked, information will be posted on the community boards, village web site, EAC Instagram and Facebook. We need to have a minimum of 10 people registered for any of these to take place.
• Earth Day – it was decided the seed planting idea was the activity of choice. This will take place in April as close to Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22, 2026 as we can. 
• Fall Festival –  Lots of people came by our table, they were impressed with our coloring book. We handed out butterflies, brochures,  24 bird houses, 60 coloring books and had 56 door prize entries. Door prizes were 1 bird house that was donated to us and two bird feeder kits.
• Nature Alberta application – we have not heard back from them if we are accepted as members or not.
• 3^rd loon platform – it was decided it may be worthwhile to build the third one. Decided putting it where some loons have nested in the past when they had to rebuild their nests.
• Bat house – this will be put up this fall before the ground freezes since they will be coming in the spring when the ground will probably still be frozen.
• Fish stocking took place last week; 5,000 rainbow trout were planted.
• Aerators were installed on September 29, only two were connected and started, the other two will be started up later in the fall.
•  Environmental Action Plan was revised and will be  present to council at the October meeting.

Next Meeting – January 7, 2026 at 7 p.m, at Village Office 

Environmental Advisory Committee

Meeting Minutes Summary 

August 27, 2025

TO PROMOTE EDUCATION, ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS, AND PROVIDE ADVICE FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF THE VILLAGE  OF SPRING LAKE

• Lake Keepers – The second water testing samples were gathered on August 25. Plans are for the third and final one for the year to be done on September 22.
• Presentors for 2025 – WILDEducation, Alberta Native Plant Council and Master Gardeners Association have been contacted in regards to doing community presentations.
• Earth Day – a suggestion came forth to do a day of seed planting in jiffy peat cups of both vegetables and flowers. We will continue to brain storm and discuss at further meetings for more ideas.
• Fall Festival – We have some 20^th anniversary items to hand out.  We also have the usual bird house kits along with bottles of paint this year. We will again hand out bird house kits, next year we will startd to hand out bird feeder kits instead since we have been doing bird house kits for over 10 years now.
• Nature Alberta membership – we have submitted an application form along with a copy of our initiatives and Environmental Action Plan. Their committee does not meet in the summer months, so we should be hearing in September if they have accepted our application to become a member.
• ALMS conference – no one is available to attend. The presentations will be posted after the conference, so we will get together and review their presentations at one of our meetings.
• 20^th Anniversary – a coloring and activity book was developed. It includes coloring pictures of birds and animals that are here at Spring Lake. A member changed some of her photos into coloring sheets, so this book really represents our community. 
• A discussion took place that since the two loon platforms we have out are usually successful with hatching chicks, why do we not have a third and fourth one. It was decided that a cost estimate for building one will be done to see if it would be feasible for a third one.
• EAC brochure – Members developed an updated brochure for the EAC since the one we had was getting outdated.
• A bat house was donated to the EAC. Discussion took place as to the best place to put it in the village since we will need to have access to it for cleaning and maintenance.
• Dead beavers – a member handed out a written report about what she has been finding out in regards to the three dead beavers that she has come across. They have been in the same area of the lake. It appears from the information she got from two different sources that the issues may be either a disease called Tularemia, but not too likely due to the space between the deaths, or it could be stress from the lake levels being so low this year.
• Comorants – by early August there have been close to 100 comorants on our lake by the large beaver lodge. This spring even some juveniles came in. Their feces are very acidic and can cause enviromental damage to trees and other vegetatation around the lakes. As with the carp, there is little we can do about them. Hopefully they will help to control the carp since they eat so much fish.

Next Meeting – October 1, 2025 at 7 p.m., Village office