– 1 –

public consultation during 2009
on the
skeleton lake watershed management plan

  1. February 15, 2009 - SLSA board members met with Mr. John van Doesberg, consultant to the Athabasca Regional Water Services Commission, respecting Skeleton Lake and its Watershed Management Plan.
  2. March 1, 2009 - SLSA board members met with Mr. John van Doesberg, consultant to the Athabasca Regional Water Services Commission, respecting Skeleton Lake and its Watershed Management Plan
  3. March 12, 2009 – SLSA wrote a letter to the two Summer Villages on the lake updating them on the Skeleton Lake Watershed Management Plan.
  4. March 19, 2009 - SLSA wrote a letter to the Minister of Environment updating him on the Skeleton Lake Watershed Management Plan.
  5. March 20, 2009 – SLSA board members met with Jack Wright representing Amisk Lake cottage owners to outline the Skeleton Lake Watershed Management Plan.
  6. April 5, 2009 - A presentation was given to Zone 4 representatives of the Alberta Fish & Game Association in Devon, Alberta by Hugh Harper.
  7. April 14, 2009 – SLSA board members met with the local MLA, Jeff Johnson to brief him on issues at the lake and the Skeleton Lake Watershed Management Plan.
  8. May 5, 2009 - A presentation was given by SLSA representatives to the Alberta Fish & Game Association (Zone 5) at 8:00 p.m. in St. Albert, Alberta.
  9. May 8, 2009 – SLSA representatives attended the ARWSC ground-breaking ceremony for the Colinton to Boyle pipeline and took the opportunity to speak with County and Town officials about the issues at Skeleton Lake.
  10. May 19 & 23, 2009 - SLSA conducted two open houses on the Watershed Management Plan – one on Tuesday, May 19th at 7:00 p.m. at the Beverly Heights Community Hall in Edmonton, Alberta and one on Saturday, May 23rd at 10:00 a.m. in Boyle.

Personal invitations to these open houses were sent out to a list of approximately 85 politicians, media representatives, business and industry representatives, dignitaries and environmental groups (see attached spreadsheet for a complete list of invitees). SLSA’s 1300 members were advised numerous times (8 e-mails over a period of 6 weeks). Each of the two Summer Villages and the campground delivered the notice of these two open houses to each one of their residents (approximately 600 cottages and campsites) and 800 flyers were hand delivered to each property outside of the two Summer Villages and the campground. We posted the invitation on the SLSA website and we mailed over 1000 notices from the mailing list that we had developed. Notices were posted around the lake and in businesses at Boyle.

Attendance in Edmonton was approximately 200
Attendance in Boyle was approximately 70

Aquality Environmental Consultants prepared and distributed two newsletters about the Watershed Management Plan – one prior to the open houses and one after the open houses. These were forwarded to all of the 1300 SLSA members, to the Town of Boyle, the County of Athabasca and the two Summer Villages around the lake. They were also put up on the SLSA website.

At the Town Hall meeting in Edmonton, Richard Chibaylo, Abdi Siad-Omar, and Jeff Toering all attended. Jeff Toering spoke on behalf of Alberta Environment. John van Doesberg spoke on behalf of the Aspen Regional Water Service. Jay White and Melissa Logan from Aquality Environmental Consultants presented the Watershed Management Plan. Representatives of SLSA spoke.

  1. May 30, 2009 – SLSA conducted a presentation to the Beaver River Watershed Alliance in Bonnyville meeting from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
  2. June 9, 2009 - A presentation was given by SLSA representatives to the Alberta Conservation Association in Edmonton.
  3. June 27, 2009 – SLSA representatives attended the AGM of the Summer Village of Mewatha Beach and presented the Watershed Management Plan.
  4. July 15, 2009 - SLSA representatives met with Aquality representatives to provide further feedback that they had received from the public following the two open houses on the Watershed Management Plan.
  5. July 21, 2009 – SLSA wrote to the County of Athabasca enclosing the Watershed Management Plan once again and soliciting their feedback.
  6. July 21, 2009 – SLSA wrote to the Summer Village of Mewatha Beach enclosing the Watershed Management Plan and soliciting their feedback.
  7. July 21, 2009 – SLSA wrote to the Summer Village of Bondiss enclosing the Watershed Management Plan and soliciting their feedback.
  8. August 21, 2009 – SLSA representatives met with Elaine Leeuw, the County of Athabasca Development Officer, respecting the portion of the Watershed Management Plan that addresses overdevelopment at Skeleton Lake.
  9. August 27, 2009 - A presentation on the Watershed Management Plan was given to the County of Athabasca Council at 9:30 a.m. by Hugh Harper, Don Johnston, Rick Tiedemann of SLSA and Melissa Logan of Aquality Environmental Consultants.
  10. September 3, 2009 – SLSA representatives met with Dr. Markus Thormann, biologist for Aquality Environmental Consultants, to provide further feedback on the Watershed Management Plan.
  11. September 10, 2009 – SLSA representatives met with Abdi Siad-Omar and other Alberta Environment representatives to discuss the watershed efficiency issues set out in the Watershed Management Plan.
  12. November 5, 2009 – SLSA board members met with the owner of the former Scout Camp to discuss the Skeleton Lake Watershed Management Plan and the future use of the former Scout Camp lands.
  13. November 5, 2009 – SLSA wrote to the Minister of Environment regarding the issues at Skeleton Lake.
  14. November 27, 2009 – SLSA representatives attended the Colinton/Boyle water pipeline valve opening ceremony and discussed the Watershed Management Plan with County and Village of Boyle representatives.
  15. December 18, 2009 – SLSA representatives and Aquality representatives met with Alberta Environment representatives to review and discuss the Watershed Management Plan.