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2025 Forum Presentation Recordings Available Now!

Published: 08 April 2025

Over the two days of the 2025 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum, we heard from nearly two dozen presenters. Missed the event or want to refresh your memory on these presentations? Now you can take in most of the talks as video recordings, available on our website at the link below! 

video 2025 Watershed Forum

2025 Watershed Forum Proceedings Report - Get Your Copy Now!

Published: 22 April 2024

ForumCvr2024 640The Proceedings Report of the 2025 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum is available for download at the Foundation’s website:  lowwsf.com/forum-proceedings. Held March 12-13 in International Falls Minnesota, 100 researchers, resource managers, policy makers, and members of the public put Lake of the Woods and its watershed under the microscope. 

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Big Announcements to Start 2025: New Faces, Same Priorities

Published: 09 January 2025

For 20 years the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation has brought together citizens, dozens of municipalities and Indigenous nations and state, provincial and federal governments in Canada and the USA to amass the scientific, technical and community knowledge needed to inform an international water quality plan while building the trust and capacity to implement it.

With the arrival of the new year, the Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation has some important announcements to share in our endeavour.

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2024 Watershed Forum Proceedings Report - Get Your Copy Now!

Published: 22 April 2024

ForumCvr2024 640The Proceedings Report of the 2024 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum is available for download at the Foundation’s website:  lowwsf.com/forum-proceedings. Held March 6-7 in International Falls Minnesota, 142 researchers, resource managers, policy makers, and members of the public put Lake of the Woods and its watershed under the microscope. 

The Forum featured a moderated panel discussion on "From Science to Action" and 26 presentations in themes of: watershed governance, ecosystem modeling, contaminants and mining, ecological interactions, nutrient dynamics as drivers of cyanobacteria and cyanotoxin production, nutrient and sediment load tracing, and updates on the major monitoring programs of the MPCA and ECCC.

Fred Desjarlait, spiritual advisor from Miskwaagamiiwi – Zaagaiganing (Red Lake Nation), joined by Métis Senator Karen Cederwall, helped open the Forum, followed by addresses from Terry Duguid, Parliamentary Secretary and Special Advisor on Water to the Prime Minister and by US Consul Marilyn Gayton.  

Please pdf download your copy of the report now(14.26 MB) .

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2024 Kallemeyn Award - Caren Binding

Published: 06 March 2024

carenbinding 640Dr. Caren Binding, research scientist in aquatic optics and remote sensing at Environment and Climate Change Canada, is the 2024 recipient of the Larry Kallemeyn Award. The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation presented the award on behalf of the community of scientists and resource managers from the United States and Canada working in our watershed.

3panel spet30 2023Massive algae bloom covers nearly 70% of Lake of the Woods, September 30, 2023. Panels (left to right) show sentinel satellite image, derived chlorophyll-a, and derived annual Bloom Severity index, Environment and Climate Change Canada (2023). EOLakeWatch 2023 Algal Bloom Report - Lake of the WoodsThe Kallemeyn Award recognizes Dr. Bindings outstanding scientific contributions to the watershed, including leading her team that developed the EOLakeWatch tool that uses satellite imagery to track algae blooms in Lake of the Woods (and other "Great Lakes") and derives indices of bloom extent, intensity and severity that will likely be foundational to long term monitoring for progress assessment as plans are implemented to cut phosphorus loads to the lake.

A heartfelt thanks and congratulations to Caren from the Foundation and the researchers gathered at the Forum for a well-deserved accolade!

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2024 Wilson Stewardship Award - Paul Anderson

Published: 06 March 2024

Wilson PaulAndersonPaul Anderson is the 2024 recipient of the Gerry Wilson Stewardship Award.  Paul was honored with this international award in recognition of his lifetime of environmental advocacy work on behalf of the Rainy Lake Conservancy, Voyageurs National Park and Voyageurs Conservancy and his service on the Community Advisory Group of the IJC International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Board. 

The Lake of the Woods Water Sustainability Foundation presented the award to Paul on behalf of the community of scientists, resource managers and water stewards from the United States and Canada at the 2024 International Rainy-Lake of the Woods Watershed Forum in International Falls, Minnesota.

Paul personifies the best of citizen engagement in conservation and protection. A life-long lover of Rainy Lake and the Rainy Lake watershed, Paul has been an active leader and contributor to initiatives to protect the watershed, including participating in oversight of hydropower and mining projects, advocating for emergency preparedness and response planning, reviewing the past two State of the Basin Reports, and advocating for improved land use and development planning. 

Congratulations to Paul on this well-deserved recognition of his volunteer contributions to our waters!

The Foundation presents the Wilson Stewardship Award annually to recognize individuals, groups, or projects that are making significant contributions to environmental stewardship in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed.  For more information about the Wilson Stewardship Award see: www.lowwsf.com/wilson-award.  

 

2023 Lake of the Woods Fall Algae Bloom Most Severe Since the Early 2000s

Published: 11 October 2023

Treaty I LoW 2023 10 01The view from space is compelling and confirms what we have seen firsthand on Lake of the Woods at the end of September. The cyanobacterial bloom (aka blue-green algae) on Lake of the Woods is tracking towards being one of the most severe since 2002.

By late September, a massive bloom extended across 2,800 km2 or 73% of the lake’s surface.  The bloom was extremely intense with satellite-derived measures of chlorophyll-a concentrations exceeding 60 µg/L over most of the southern and middle basins of the lake.

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Algae Bloom 2023 is on its way

Published: 28 August 2023

LoW Daily 20230827 640After a hot June but cool and sometimes smoky July, the algae bloom on Lake of the Woods started to develop in late July and early August as usual.  Blooms began in the southern Big Traverse Bay and in the Morson-Sabaskong area to the south-east.  By late August, the bloom covered 34% of the lake and has progressed northward through middle channel to Oak Point.  Satellite-derrived measures of chlorophyll-a (a pigment in the algae) ranged above 40 µg/L (red in the satellite image) indicating severe bloom formation in a few locations (anything above 10 µg/L is considered a bloom).  

Algal blooms in Lake of the Woods typically peak in the late fall, and progress into the north-central area of the lake. Thus, more extensive blooms are expected to come later, expanding in extent and severity into the fall. Last year, peak severity occurred on October 13, 2022.  We’ll have a complete report on the annual bloom conditions later in the fall, once the satellite tracking is complete for the season.

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  1. Second Phase Underway for IJC Watershed Board Review of Water Quality Objectives
  2. Ask an Expert Full Speakers List 2023
  3. IJC Watershed Board Public Meetings Report
  4. IJC Water Quality and Exceedance Report Coming this Fall

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