Trouble for Pigeon

[pikergolf]

Looks like trouble for Pigeon Lake.
https://chatnewstoday.ca/2022/05/04/mla-wants-more-public-comment-on-feedlot-plan-near-popular-alberta-recreational-lake/

[Drewski Canuck]

There, I fixed it for you!

Problem with the nutrient load is that it has been pouring into Pigeon for years and years. The Cabin owners are now on sewer systems for the majority of the communities but it takes a very long time to break down all the nutrients.

Tide Creek when it runs bring a fresh dump (literally) every spring as it drains farm country.

Otherwise, there are about 5,000 permanent residents living at the lake all who have nice fertilized lawns.

The extra cattle contamination really will mess the lake up more. If the lake could be treated with the proposed iron oxide that is present in Ontario lakes, the blue - green algae should be reduced, but the nutrient load will still encourage alot of weed growth.

Drewski

[Penner]

The drainage drains from Pigeon to the SW so it would be “down stream” technically. Ground water could cause additional nutrient load however.

[EZM]

There, I fixed it for you!

Problem with the nutrient load is that it has been pouring into Pigeon for years and years. The Cabin owners are now on sewer systems for the majority of the communities but it takes a very long time to break down all the nutrients.

Tide Creek when it runs bring a fresh dump (literally) every spring as it drains farm country.

Otherwise, there are about 5,000 permanent residents living at the lake all who have nice fertilized lawns.

The extra cattle contamination really will mess the lake up more. If the lake could be treated with the proposed iron oxide that is present in Ontario lakes, the blue - green algae should be reduced, but the nutrient load will still encourage alot of weed growth.

Drewski

I wonder what something like FeO would/could do to a lake the size of Pigeon and what the cost would be considering the shallow nature and really high nutrient levels there.

Also, I guess, how much would something like this cost.

Seems to me, we have so many lakes that could benefit from nutrient reduction and/or mitigating treatments.

[Drewski Canuck]

Tests were done by a U of A PHD Student on Nakamun. It did work on the treated columns of water. No idea of the cost or how long it works.

Drewski

[dragon]

The drainage drains from Pigeon to the SW so it would be “down stream” technically. Ground water could cause additional nutrient load however.

The outlet on the lake is in the south east and the proposed feed lot is 4 km's West of Pigeon lake... likely very close to tide creek

[Red Bullets]

Local land owners and the Pigeon Lake Watershed Association (PLWA) are not going to let anything happen. When someone wanted to develop a community next to Tide creek a few years ago the proposal got shut down pretty quick.

[pikeman06]

A healthy ecosystem and a balanced properly managed lake the size of pigeon should be able to look after itself. Unfortunately some terrible decisions years ago on how the lake should be managed are finally starting to show how it ends. There are people in the management system and definitely a couple on this forum that defended the "new" pigeon lake fishery to the point of really making themselves look like fools and ignoring the obvious fact that the lake was on the verge of being ruined and thinking that catching a hundred non-reproducing starving walleye a day and throwing them back was a sign of a world class fishery.

[Penner]

The outlet on the lake is in the south east and the proposed feed lot is 4 km's West of Pigeon lake... likely very close to tide creek

I was told something different. That would be unfortunate.

[fish99]

it is going to take 3-6 months before there will a decision will be made .