West Pit Lake

[Strikemaster]

A few years back I read an article on the development of West Pit lake (West of East Pit). It was planned to be stocked and eventually opened to the public. I have not heard of any further developments. I did drive around it last year but it is all fenced off with no access. Has anyone heard of any further developments on this lake, or is it just TransAlta employees/friends/family?

[johnny2]

I also read more than 1 article, up to 10 years ago, about this development.
The County of Parkland, was gifted the land (Whitewood coal mine) by Trans Alta, as part of the reclamation process. There was to be 3 stocked lakes, with
day use areas & boat launches, tied to Eastpit, to create a Parkland Recreation
area. I've driven around the bodies of water, a few times, only to be told by
lease hold farmers that we were trespassing. A number of calls to the County,
Fish & Wildlife & biologists, who all denied any knowledge of it, proved futile.
So what happened ? Is it a $ issue, change of Govt ? Or was I dreaming ?

[Pierre]

From what I can tell, the lakes were never stocked. Hope somebody proves otherwise....ACA stocking site, wrongly identifies East Pit as West Pit...

https://www.ab-conservation.com/prog...stocked-lakes/

https://www.sprucegroveexaminer.com/...arkland-county

https://alms.ca/wp-content/uploads/2...ewood_mine.pdf

[grunt007]

It's only right that they should replace the lake they destroyed. When I was young we fished there and caught hundreds of perch. the last time I fished there two little girls and their dog were fishing they would have been eight or nine years old. They had a wooden orange box on a sleigh. When they had the box full then they caught fish for their dog. when the dog started puking up fish they pulled their sleigh home. The mine total destroyed this beautiful little lake and should not bitch about the cost of reclamation. Alberta Environment should do their job for once and see that the reclamation would include replacing the lake and restocking it. They put a 20 million price tag on the pond reclamtion when the hole was already dug and they were obligated to reclaim it. The cost of the pond is nothing in the scheme of the reclamation, Trees were also all around the area and planting them back is still part of the reclamation. They make this look like they are going above and beyond their duty of reclamation and that is not the truth of the matter. In the end it most likely saved them money on the reclamation as they didn't have to level it out for farm land.