Immersing Myself in Lake Windermere

By Kirsten Harma, Lake Windermere Ambassadors

Four months after arriving in Invermere to head up the Lake Windermere Ambassadors program, I have finally taken a swim in Lake Windermere.

Lake water quality monitoring earlier this week showed the lake to be warm: a balmy 20 C from lake surface to 4 meters down. Beach bacteria results from a summer of monitoring showed Kinsmen Beach to meet Interior Health’s standards for safety. The week prior I had gone out on the lake with a group of plant biologists and learned to identify at least 8 species of plants growing on the lake bottom. Pushing a view scope into the water, I had watched schools of fish zip through waving forests of vegetation.

In short, I had learned that the lake was a warm, healthy, inviting place to take a swim, and has a whole underwater botanical garden to explore. I donned my goggles and dove in.
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Lake Windermere is in my mind, a jewel on this planet that is rapidly seeing depletion of its riches. I hail from the other end of the Columbia River - Oregon State – where the waters of the Columbia have passed through 12 major dams, passed a nuclear power plant, through hundreds of miles of agricultural land, and through major industrial centers. Few would see fit to swim in a widening of the Columbia River near its mouth. Those who live around Lake Windermere, and those who visit it on holiday, are truly fortunate.

Yet the relationships between people in this community and between people and the lake are not unlike those along the Columbia on any other part of its journey. Lake Windermere is one component of the natural systems that support our health and well-being, an asset to the local businesses and economy -- and the recipient of the impacts of many different uses of the water and land. As a common resource of a limited quantity from which everyone hopes to benefit, it is inevitable that conflicts will arise over how best to manage human activities on and around the lake.

In my short time learning about this lake and this community while working with the Lake Windermere Ambassadors, I have become aware of peoples’ hopes and fears for this shared resource. Shoreline landowners want to construct their piece of paradise in a way that matches their dreams. Upland homeowners want to pull clean water from the lake through their taps at limited cost- and not have to worry about ingesting their neighbors’ sewage. Young hearts set on pumping with adrenaline want to speed across the lake on motorboats, wake-boards, and seadoos. Fishermen want to float quietly on the lake in wait of the biggest catch. These interests do not always mesh, and sometimes the activity that brings the greatest joy to someone, takes a little bit away from the fish and wildlife that also call the lake home.

As the Ambassadors seek to find balance between the many human uses of the lake and its fish and wildlife values, they can take comfort in the fact that the challenges they face are those being faced by small and large communities all around the world.
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While I floated on the lake during my inaugural swim, a speedboat full of teenagers jetted by, creating a large wake in its path, someone blasted tunes from a shoreline home, and a train full of coal roared past. In that moment I wished for solitude to peacefully enjoy the warm, clean water and the mountain views. But I am not alone in the world on my own private lake. For better or for worse I share this planet with 7 billion others, and it’s going to take a lot of passionate people, in every community around the whole world, to figure out how to best meet our common needs without compromising the natural systems we value so much.