Updates and Items on the agenda for the AGM on July 8th, 2012 at the Bonnyville Centenial Center at 10:00 AM

The following are short updates that will be expanded on at the AGM. We hope that you will attend the AGM and bring your friends, family and neighbours from the Lake! With the lake steadily declinding and no sign of its recovery, we fear that time is running out to do whatever is necessary to save our beautiful lake. Please join us at the AGM and show your support for Muriel Lake.

APPROVAL OF THE MLBMS BYLAWS
Please click here to review the Bylaws: MLBMS Bylaws Approval of the Bylaws will require approval by 75% of the members in attendance.

RESPONSE FROM ALBERTA ENVIRONMENT – RICHARD CHABAYLO
Back in March, Environment Minister Diana McQueen told the MLBMS directed Richard Chabaylo (also of Alberta Environment) to respond in writing to any questions that the MLBMS provided. We sent the following letter: Ltr – Richard Charbaylo, Alberta Environment with Questions – March 5, 2012 on March 5, 2012.
We have finally recieved a response to our letter to Richard Chabaylo: Please read the letter we recieved here: May 15 2012 Response Letter from Richard Chabaylo
We are in discussions with Richard Chabaylo to determine what our next steps should be.

PENGROWTH STUDY
Draft plans of the Muriel Lake study with Pengrowth Energy continue. We have expressed to Pengrowth our concerns with their draft plan and made suggestions to strenthen the study. We are hopeful that efforts will be made to integrate our input into the much needed water studies. Special thank you to Peter Crown for his review of the draft plans, and help explaining technical information to the MLBMS.

MAY NEWSLETTER
MLBMS Newsletter, May 2012

Alberta Lakewatch Study
The Alberta Lakewatch Study is going to be conducted on Muriel Lake this summer. We are excited to report that the first lake samples will be collected on June 4th. Two members of the MLBMS will be joining the Alberta Lakewatch water tester, and will be testing the depth of the lake.

Fish Netting on Muriel Lake
Alberta Fish and Game will be doing a test netting of Muriel Lake to determine if there are any live fish in the lake. We are hopeful to have data of this fish catching by the AGM.

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WOW – These photos really illustrate Muriel Lake’s water problem!

Thank you very much to Taryn McCrank for sending us these photos:

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Updates coming soon!

We have an upcoming Board meeting on May 15th. We anticipate that we will have some exciting updates to share after that meeting. If you have any ideas, feedback, or information about Muriel Lake please share that with us! Our email address is savemuriellake@gmail.com

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We need your help reporting any large number of dead fish along the shores of the lake after ice-out.

We are very pleased to report that Jordan Walker, Fish and Wildlife Biologist at Cold Lake has agreed to do a test netting in either late June or July this summer to see what the population of adult fish and species might be.

We are concerned that with only 15 feet of water remaining in the lake and low oxygen levels that there may be few fish left. The last time fish and wildlife ran a test of the lake was in 1997; so Jordan feels its time another sampling be done. A member of the MLBMS will be accompanying Jordan on the testing.

Jordan had requested that if anyone at the lake notices a significant number of dead fish along the shore lines after ice-out that he be notified quickly so that they can conduct a visual assessment. He is not concerned if people see one or two dead fish as this is a natural event in most lakes. He only wants to be contacted if we see large numbers similar to spring 2011. Jordan’s email address is Jordan.Walker@gov.ab.ca or phone 780 594 7864 Cold Lake.

If you do see large numbers of fish on the shores, please take some photos so we can keep and share this information. Thank you for your help!

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Thank you to Peter Crown for sending us these Beautiful Photos of Muriel Lake taken from the northwest corner of the lake, just east of Spring Beach, looking South or South East!

Thank you again to everyone who has sent us photos of the Lake. If you have any others please send them to our email address: savemuriellake@gmail.com

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Updates

The Muriel Lake Basin Management Society had a great Board meeting last night. We are moving ahead and have some exciting leads:

We are starting to recieve feedback from the ‘request for support letters’ we sent out earlier this month. We are encouraged by the interest, sympathy and suggestions we are recieving. We are following up with these responses. These letters are helping to spread awareness of the water problems we are having at Muriel Lake. Awareness is increasing and slowly we are gaining support for our efforts!

We are encouraged by some forward strides in our negotiations with Pengrowth over an independent water research project for Muriel Lake. We would like to thank our friend Peter Crown for sharing his expertise, explaining highly technical information to us and for his thoughtful insight. We hope to have confirmation that essential water research projects will be undertaken very soon.

We are also planning to apply to a grant program through the Alberta Lottery. This grant will hopefully fund essential research on Muriel Lake’s water levels. The funding application requires a partner to match the grant’s financial contribution. We are working on building these partnerships – and are hopefully to meet the grant application’s June deadline. A big thank you to Laurie Blakeman (Liberal Environment Opposition) for providing information of this grant opportunity.

We recieved a prompt response from Japan Oilsands in response to our letter expressing concern over their proposed water extraction from the Muriel Lake Formation for their project near Fort McMurray. It has been confirmed to us that extraction from the Muriel Lake Formation near Fort McMurray will not impact Muriel Lake, especially because there is quite a distance between the proposed water extraction site and Muriel Lake. Although Muriel Lake and this particular formation share a name, they are not necessarily connected. We have recieved advice on this matter and will not pursue JACOS proposed water extraction from the Muriel Lake Formation any further.

Please continue to share this website with your friends and family at the lake. Please also continue to send us feedback and photos to savemuriellake@gmail.com. Thank you to all of our friends and neighbours who have emailed their comments and encouragement to the Board – we sincerely appreciate it. We will be setting a date for this summer’s AGM in the next month or two. We will keep you updated.

More soon…

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We have sent a letter with questions to Richard Charbaylo (Alberta Environment and Water) at the request of Hon. Diana McQueen (Minister of Environment and Water) as a follow up to our Jan 30th meeting

Here is the letter with questions we have sent. We would love to hear feedback on what you think. We patiently await a response from Richard Charbaylo. Read the letter here: Ltr – Richard Charbaylo, Alberta Environment with Questions – March 5, 2012

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Beautiful photos of a skating rink on Muriel Lake this winter and some lovely sunsets!

A very big thank you to Connie Gondziola for sending us these stunning photos. It is so great to see the lake being used as a skating rink just last month! Many of us do not get a chance to visit the lake as often as we would like in the winter – these photos sure make it look like a great place to be even when the temperatures drop! Thanks for reminding us Connie!

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We have sent a letter to Japan Canada Oilsands about their proposed groundwater use from the Muriel Lake Formation

We have sent the following Letter to the JACOS concerning their proposed use of groundwater from the Muriel Lake Formation for their Hangingstone Project. We have also sent a carbon copy of this letter to Minister of Environment and Water Hon. Diana McQueen and the Alberta Office of Environment Canada.
Final Ltr. JACOS re, Hangingstone Project – March 1, 2012
We are patiently awaiting a response from JACOS.
What do you think? Send us your feedback?

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WOW! This site had 201 views today!!

March 6, 2012 was this site’s busiest day so far – 201 views! Thank you to everyone who checked out the site. Please send us any feedback or suggestions you have. We do not have a professional running this site – a member of our board took on building this website with no prior experience. We would love to hear suggestions on what could improve the site and make it more user friendly. Also, please remember to send us any photos, memories or Muriel Lake, or thoughts about our efforts.

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