Podcasts about lake minnewanka

In this episode of the Canadian Podcast, I, Zak, invite you to join me on a journey into the hauntingly beautiful story of Lake Minnewanka. Beneath its serene, crystal-blue waters lies something extraordinary: the forgotten resort town of Minnewanka Landing. Picture this—a bustling community from the early 1900s, filled with life, laughter, and visitors from far and wide, now lying eerily silent and submerged. I'll walk you through how this once vibrant town met its watery fate when a dam project raised the lake's water level, drowning homes, businesses, and dreams in the name of progress. I'll share what still remains for scuba divers to discover and reflect on the lasting legacy of a community that's become an underwater ghost town. Join me as we uncover the secrets hidden in the depths of Lake Minnewanka and explore how time and nature can transform even the most lively places into whispers of history. Thank you for listening! ZAK

Come with us on a November winter journey 10 minutes out of the town of Banff to the Lake Minnewanka Scenic Drive. We will visit Cascade Ponds, Lower Bankhead, Lake Minnewanka, Two Jacks Lake, and Johnson Lake. We will also visit the Irish pub St James Gate and get some tequila at Anejo. Don't miss out on the mountains, lakes, snow, streams, and all the amazing things Banff has to offer.

In today's episode, I will explore the haunting stories of Lake Minnewanka. Those passed down from the indigenous of the area, the settlers who arrived later and the circumstances which lead to the resort town of Minnewanka Landing to find itself under the glacial waters of today's Lake Minnewanka. Links to Consider: Lake Minnewanka, AB, Canada | Banff & Lake Louise Tourism (banfflakelouise.com) Lake Minnewanka - Wikipedia Treaty 7 - Wikipedia HOME | T7CA (treaty7.org) This Canadian Lake Hides an Underwater Ghost Town | Travel | Smithsonian Magazine Seven of the weirdest spots in Alberta | Alberta Canada (travelalberta.com) https://freehandslife.com/en/spirits-of-minnewanka-lake/> https://groups.google.com/g/word-tasting-notes/c/yRo-YC1UEpc?pli=1> Haunted hikes and other spooky spots - Everything Zoomer The Lake Minnewanka Wildman | Alberta Sasquatch (sasquatchalberta.com) The Spirit of Minnewanka - Calgary Guardian https://www.ancient-origins.net/unexplained-phenomena/strange-merman-banff-legendary-lake-monster-or-just-trading-post-treasure-020583> The Lake Minnewanka Wildman - YouTube  https://youtu.be/-BO4H220cLU -  thedarkartsschoolhouse.teachable.com www.patreon.com/thedarksideoflightwork Music Credits: Myst on the Moor by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4104-myst-on-the-moor License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Dreams Become Real by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3678-dreams-become-real License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Sovereign by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4397-sovereign License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ghost Story by Kevin MacLeod Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3805-ghost-story License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thedarksideoflightwork/message

A full moon shoot at Lake Minnewanka and the importance of patience in photography.

Highway to the... danger hole? This week, Shelley tells us about the incredibly cool underwater lakeside resort ruins existing in the depths of Lake Minnewanka, Alberta. Mary's story, however, is of the first (known) serial killer of Canada, Clifford Olson, who was not only a horrific monster who murdered and raped 11 children, but caused plenty of legal controversy as well. Very strong trigger warnings for: rape, child sexual assault, murder, abuse. We talk about how he did his deeds in this one, so please be safe.

Rebecca Belmore's Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka's shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior's ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point's seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Rebecca Belmore's Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka's shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior's ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point's seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Rebecca Belmore's Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka's shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior's ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point's seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Rebecca Belmore’s Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka’s shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior’s ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point’s seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Rebecca Belmore’s Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka’s shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior’s ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point’s seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Rebecca Belmore’s Wave Sound sculptures encouraged people to pause and listen to the wind and waterways. Listen to soundscapes recorded at the three locations: Lake Minnewanka’s shoreline in Banff National Park (Alberta); Lake Superior’s ridge at Pukaskwa National Park (Ontario, near Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation); and Green Point’s seaside cliffs in Gros Morne National Park (Newfoundland).

Canada 150 Visitation Unless you've been living under a rock this past year, you know that 2017 represents the 150th birthday of Canada. As a nation, we were born just 150 years ago on July 1, 1867. Now this wasn't the Canada we know today, but a teeny tiny Canada with a lot of well, wilderness. Canada, such as it was, was made up of Upper and Lower Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and that's it. Upper Canada then became Ontario and Lower Canada, Quebec. Looking at the rest of what would become the rest of Canada, in the far west, there was the Crown Colony of British Columbia, but it would be 4 more years before it became a province on July 20, 1871. The vast majority of what is now Canada though, remained as either Rupert's Land or the Northwest Territories. If the water's flowed into Hudson Bay, it was part of Rupert's Land, and if it flowed north into the Mackenzie River system, it was part of the Northwest Territories. Alberta and Saskatchewan did not join Canada as full provinces until 1905. Canada's National Park system began with the 10 sq km Banff Hot Springs Preserve in 1885, with just a tiny section protected around the Cave and Basin Hot Springs. It sowed the seeds of Canada's National Park system though and was the third National Park in the world behind only Yellowstone National Park in the U.S. and Royal National Park in Australia. Today Canada's National Park system includes 47 National Parks and 970 National Historic Sites. These include the Cave and Basin, Abbots Pass Refuge Cabin, Banff Park Museum, Banff Springs Hotel, Howse Pass, Skoki Ski Lodge, and the Sulphur Mountain Cosmic Ray Station. Other sites across the Mountain National Parks include Athabasca Pass, Yellowhead Pass, the Jasper Park Information Centre, and the Prince of Wales Hotel in Waterton. Across Alberta, you can add Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Calgary City Hall, Nordegg, Atlas No. 3 Coal Mine, Coleman, Fort Edmonton, Fort Macleod, Fort Whoop-Up, and the Turner Valley Gas Plant. 2017 was a year steeped in history but also steeped in tourism. The Trudeau Government decided to make all visitation to National Parks and National Historic Sites free for 2017 and this led to huge fears that the parks would be inundated. I have been a strong critic of Parks Canada's focus on bringing more and more cars through the park gates for the past decade while allowing the backcountry to wither. All the marketing has focused on 4-5 million visitors pointing their cars and buses towards the same 2% of the park. Over the past few years, I have watched the park get swarmed by more and more and more visitors. In iconic locations like Lake Louise, Moraine Lake, and Peyto Lake, I've witnessed the crowds growing to levels unimaginable just a decade ago. Many of the park roads, like Sulphur Mountain, Lake Louise, and Moraine Lake, are one lane in and one lane out. This creates finite limits on the amount of traffic the roads can accommodate. In past years, I experienced wait times as long as 2-1/2 hours driving the 3 km or so between the Village of Lake Louise and the actual Lake. With traffic jams like these, nobody is having a good experience. Over the past year, after the announcement that park passes would be free this year, there was well-justified fear that these delays would just get longer and longer. Parks was regularly criticized by Banff and Jasper town counselors for their lack of transparency and discussion on how to deal with the influx of traffic. As the season approached, though, the pieces began to fall into place. Parks Canada made some very bold moves that dramatically reduced the congestion within Banff National Park. Some of these moves included: Permanent parking boundaries along narrow roads such as the approach to Moraine Lake, Johnston Canyon and Lake Minnewanka. These reflective pylons made sure that narrow sections of road weren't choked by cars parking in the driving lanes and making it very difficult for cars and buses to negotiate the road. Free shuttle buses between Banff and Lake Louise, Banff and the Lake Minnewanka Loop as well as from the Lake Louise Overflow Campground and both Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. These buses proved to be incredibly effective with some 280,000 people using these new shuttles. An additional half a million people took advantage of the local Roam bus routes during July and August. The Calgary to Banff bus averaged 260 people per day when it was running. This brought it into Banff where visitors could connect with other regional options. The free Lake Minnewanka shuttles average 470 people/day The free shuttle between Banff and Lake Louise has been averaging 200 people/day while The shuttles between the Lake Louise Overflow Campground and Lake Louise has moved over 150,000 people this summer. In an interview with Gord Gillies of Global News, Park Superintendent Dave McDonough indicated that Parks Canada was planning: "to continue and improve that shuttle service as we go forward because as we continue to see we anticipate we'll continue to see increases in visitation over time, and this is a great way to get people out of their cars and eliminate some of that congestion issues that are associated with those increases." This was just one prong of the traffic management in the park this summer. Parks also had an army of traffic control personnel at all the intersections in the Lake Louise area this summer. They were part of ATS Traffic from Calgary and they did a superhuman job of keeping the vehicles flowing. Not once this years did I experience the huge delays that I have had in past years trying to get from the Village of Lake Louise to the actual Lake. Moraine Lake Road was much easier to negotiate without miles of cars parked half-way into the traffic lanes. On most days, by 9 am, the Moraine Lake Road was simply closed to most vehicles. Buses were given a priority but most private cars where SOL by 9 or 9:30 am. With all of the shuttles, traffic cones, flag people, and free park passes, what are the actual numbers this year? In the end, the increases were lower than many of us anticipated. In July and August, Banff had 1.7 million cars enter and exit the park. This was up 7% over 2016 and overall the vehicle numbers are up 3.5%. The town of Banff counted 4.6 million cars so far this year which is an astounding increase of 21% over 2014. A full 1.7 million of those were during the summer. While the maximum vehicle count was 34,275 on July 2, the average count was 27,512. This means that almost every day was above the congestion point of 24,000 cars. The town helped to alleviate this by manipulating the traffic lights to bias busier sections of road. The main bottleneck within the town of Banff is Sulphur Mountain Road. Cars come into Banff, drive Banff Avenue, cross the Bow River Bridge and then head up Sulphur Mountain. On the way down, they descend the road and hit a traffic light on Spray Ave where the traffic begins to stack. They then turn left for a short distance to wait to turn right onto Banff Avenue. The traffic continues to back up here. The challenge of biasing the lights to move this traffic up and down the mountain means that the Mount Norquay exit into Banff can backup. I June this year, I had to call the Park Wardens as the offramp coming from the east had backed up into the traffic lanes of the Trans Canada, setting up a dangerous situation. For 2017, as much as I didn't think I'd be able to do this, I need to give Parks a gold star for pulling some rabbits out of their hats at the eleventh hour. They were pilloried in the media for the simple fact that they didn't communicate with local communities, nor offer any additional support to help them deal with the realities of massive potential increases in tourism. Overall, it looks like Banff will see no larger increase in numbers then it has over the past few years. Visitation has been growing at a rate of around 5%/year and this year will fit right into that trend. Visitors seem to have gotten the message that things would be busy and so they are taking advantage of early and late season to try to avoid the biggest crowds. Did everything go smoothly, nope! However, I was impressed with most of the traffic control. With tightly controlled traffic at sites like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, the parking at Lake Louise and the road to Moraine were simply closed when they reached capacity. This meant that all the cars that wanted to visit were simply turned away. They had the option to head back to the highway and use the shuttles, and thousands took advantage of that option. To a certain extent, it actually reduced the number of bodies swarming the shoreline of these two iconic sites. Here is my call to action! There is a fear that much of the critical work that ATS Traffic did this year may have been a one-off, with funding coming from the Canada 150 funds. We simply can't go back to the chaos of past years. If you support the work this amazing group did this year, be sure to contact Parks Canada and make your voices heard. I for one, want to make sure that, at the very least, this is the new norm. Why were the increases in visitors not even higher? It has to do with the simple fact that there are only so many hotel rooms in the region. As the season got busier, so did the hotels get more expensive. There is a point at which there is simply no way for more people to access the mountains. When the rooms and campsites are gone, then people are limited to day trips from larger centres like Calgary. That being said, the current 4% increase in visitation still represents an additional 200,000 people visiting Banff this year. These are unsustainable growth numbers. At some point, park managers will need to begin to say yes to saying no! We are nearing the moment when we need to begin to say "NO, you can't visit Lake Louise". We are too close to beginning to love this place to death! Farewell to Bear 148 If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you've heard me talk time and again about grizzly 148. This 6-1/2-year-old daughter of Bears 66 and 122, better known as the Boss, ran out of luck this summer when she wandered outside of Banff National Park just one too many times. This summer, the buffaloberry crop in Banff was not very strong, but in Canmore, we had fabulous berry patches. This attracted 148 out of the park and into the area around Canmore. In episode 38, I talk about the translocation of Bear 148 to northern Alberta and Kakwa Provincial Park. You can listen to the episode at www.mountainnaturepodcast.com/ep038. Essentially, after returning back to Canmore she had another run-in with people illegally violating a closure and bluff-charged them. This was the final straw for Alberta Environment and Parks, and she was trapped, trucked and translocated far from her home range. With a distant translocation like this, the odds of her surviving were very slim in the first place. Bears become intimately connected to their home ranges. They need to know where all their seasonal foods can be found and at what time of year. Moving them to a new territory is like being forced to shop in a new grocery. Not only is it difficult to find things that you usually eat, but it may not even have the same foods. There may also be other shoppers pushing you away from the best selections. Near the end of September, 148 wandered across the border with British Columbia, likely in search of late season foods, when she was legally shot by trophy hunters. Ironically, B.C. is set to ban grizzly hunting permanently as of Nov. 30. She had the misfortune of crossing the border just over a month too early and it cost 148 her life. Over the past few years, 148 became a symbol of what's wrong in Canmore. What good are wildlife corridors if animals are punished for using them? What good are corridors if people ignore the closures and put themselves and the wildlife in jeopardy? On Oct 7, well over 100 Canmore residents came out to say goodbye to 148 and to pledge to do better in the future. This has also become a major election issue and many of the presentations really focused on the need for political will if we are to keep grizzlies on the landscape. I was lucky enough to record the presentations during the event and I want to present them here. Please keep in mind that I was recording speakers using an old-fashioned bull-horn so the audio quality is not perfect - but their message is! First up was Harvey Locke, co-founder of the Yellowstone to Yukon and long-time conservationist. Following Harvey was Bree Todd, Bree is one of the co-creators of the Bear 148 Appreciation Page on Facebook and has been a strong voice advocating for viable wildlife corridors. Local NDP Member of the Legislature, Cam Westhead followed Bree. He vowed to help the province work harder to improve the situation for bears in the Bow Valley. Following Cam's presentation, the group marched through Canmore towards the Civic Centre for the final two speeches. First was Bill Snow of the Stoney Nakoda. He is the Stoney Consultation Manager and was instrumental in spearheading a Stoney grizzly study in 2016. The last speaker was Kay Anderson, another outspoken advocate of bears and corridors in Canmore, and one of the main organizers of the march. In addition to the presentations, I had the opportunity to speak to a few people outside of the presentations. First up is Mayoral candidate Ed Russell. Finally, I had the opportunity to ask Jeff Laidlaw a few questions. Jeff is looking to be elected to Canmore's town council in the upcoming election. Overall, this was a great event for Canmore. I showed that local people really care about our bears and keeping our corridors wild. This is our last chance to make the right decisions for wildlife. Let's hope that Bear 148 is the last bear to die because of local apathy. And with that, it's time to wrap this episode up. Don't forget that Ward Cameron Enterprises can offer you the expertise and local knowledge to make your visit to the Rockies a memorable one. Don't forget to check out the show notes for links to additional information and photos from this week's event. Drop me a line using the contact page on this site if you'd like to book a step-on or hiking guide, workshop facilitator or speaker. If you'd like to connect with me personally, you can hit me up on Twitter @wardcameron or at www.facebook.com/wardcameronenterprises. And with that said, the hills are snowy white so it's time to tune up the snowshoes - snowshoe animal tracking season is just around the corner. I'll talk to you next week.

There are some places that seem just too serene, too beautiful, too majestic to be considered haunted or mysterious. And perhaps that is what is so interesting about this episode because no one suspects such a site exists, and yet it does, playing host to tens of thousands of people each year and revealing its mysteries to only a few.This is Unsolved Mysteries of the World Season One Episode 20, Lake Minnewanka.Lake Minnewanka is a glacially fed lake near the townsite of picturesque Banff Alberta in Canada that holds many legends, tales and mysteries.Lake Minnewanka literally means Lake of Water Spirits in the Nakoda language of first nations who have inhabited the area for centuries.But the beautiful clear lake had a more ominous name before tourists arrived. Native legend tells us of sea serpent like creature who inhabited the lake who would feed on unsuspecting men and women but preferred the taste of children. Before the national park was established and the area mined, the lake was known to natives and early explorers as Cannibal lake due to the amount of suspected drownings and disappearances blamed on the sea creature. The entire surrounding area has ominous names associated with them, Devil's Gap, Ghost Lake, Devil's Crag, Ghost River Road and Deadman's Flats and equally legends and lore associated with each.Beyond the beauty of the surrounding vistas and clear blue water we find an ghost town, sunken, at the bottom of Lake Minnewanka and early native battle sites littered along its shores.Visitors report seeing ghostly apparitions of horses, natives and early settlers. The area is also a hot spot for bigfoot sightings. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Story 1 - New Stampede Foods Every year, the Calgary Stampede introduces new menu items for the midway…and this year is no different. As usual, some are tasty, and others nasty. Last week they announced 40 new foods to their usual fare of corn dogs, French fries and pizza. Wait…did someone say pizza? How about the world's hottest pizza…yup you heard that right, this year the Stampede offers pizza infused with ghost peppers. If that doesn't make you want to head on down to the grounds, how about some crispy chicken feet on a stick…oh yah, that's a thing this year. Like always, there are a million ways to have your fries, starting with the Tropical Bobster. Think poutine topped with lobster and garnished with mango salsa and fresh coriander. Or how about clam chowder poutine. On top of a bed of fries, you'll find "creamy clammy goodness" garnished with crispy crab meat and parsley. This list only scratches the surface as to the entire list of new food offerings. If you'd like to check out the complete list, check out this link: 2017 Stampede Foods Story 2 - Johnson Lake Johnson Lake has been a fixture in the news ever since whirling disease was discovered in the lake last August, and subsequently throughout the entire Bow and Oldman River systems. While Bow River downstream of Johnson Lake has been impacted by the parasite, rivers upstream still seem to be free of the disease. Johnson Lake has the potential to form as a buffer between the lower Bow and the Upper Cascade River system. The Upper Cascade is important as it is home to 4 of the most important populations of the endangered westslope cutthroat trout. These include Sawback Lake, Sawback Creek, Cuthead Creek and Elk Lake. Johnson Lake is separated from these upper rivers by the dam on Lake Minnewanka, but with the ease with which whirling disease can be transferred from one lake to another, the lake can form an important buffer helping to make the transfer a little more unlikely. How does it spread? It can carried by fishermen on their gear or in the tread of their boots - especially felt-tipped waders. The myxospores can also be carried on the feathers of birds from one lake to another. Park managers are currently using electro-fishing and gill nets to remove as many fish from the lake as possible. The lake will reopen to public use for the summer, but after Labour Day weekend, they'll resume their electro-fishing and gill netting to try to kill more fish. They'll also bring in a contractor to help lower the water level to force the fish into a smaller area to enable their capture. The hope is that by removing all of the fish from Johnson Lake, that the disease will naturally die out over time. Story 3 - Living with Wildlife There's a new film that everyone living and traveling to the Canadian Rockies should definitely watch. It's called Living with Wildlife and has been produced in cooperation with Necessary Journeys, Bear Conflict Solutions and Front Range Films. Check out the show notes for this episode for a link to watch the actual film. Story 4 - McDougall Church On May 22nd, 2017, Alberta lost an important piece of its history when the McDougall Memorial United Church was lost to fire. The church, first built in 1875, the same year the Northwest Mounted Police marched westward, has been an important place of worship for more than 140 years. The fire is currently believed to have been accidental and arson is not suspected. Cochrane RCMP reported that they could find no signs of arson at the scene. In a CBC story, they quote an investigator who felt that the cause will likely be listed as "inappropriate use of, or disposal of, an unknown ignition source". Story 5 - The Crowds Cometh For months I've been talking about the crowds that will be heading to Banff and Jasper National Parks this summer. Well this year's Victoria Day weekend shows that the pilgrimage has begun. Throughout the park, the campgrounds and hotels were full, the highways choked and the townsite was incredibly busy. Traffic counters showed that a record 31,600 vehicles arrived at the townsite - and this doesn't count vehicles that were already there. The congestion limit for Banff is 24,000 vehicles so we were way above that on just the first long weekend of summer. I ended up calling the Warden's office when I arrived in Banff to find the highway exits were backed up beyond the exit and were stretching into the driving lane. It was a scary situation as cars were suddenly braking when they noticed that traffic in the right lane had stopped. With Canada's 150th birthday, park passes are free this year and so we may see numbers exceeding all previous records. If you are planning on visiting, it is worthwhile to look at some of the public transit options that will allow you to visit without having to fight traffic or try to find elusive parking spots.

Chatting with Megan Dunn (of Canmore, AB) on moving from Australia, an account of our first winter overnighter to Lake Minnewanka, making time for trips with the family, gearing up for the 2017 Tour Divide, and being a weirdo tea drinker.

Story 1 - Canada Jay selected to be our national bird For the past year, the Royal Canadian Geographic Society has been listening to Canadians suggestions for a national bird. While the Americans have the bald eagle, Canada has never adopted a national bird. The Royal Canadian Geographic Society listened to some 50,000 submissions from Canadians to whittle down the many suggestions into 5 finalists. After long deliberations, the Canada jay beat out the finalists which included the common loon, Canada Goose, black-capped chickadee and snowy owl.  Story 2 - World Cup Cancelled The first men's World Cup Downhill of the season, scheduled to be at Lake Louise Ski Hill on November 26-27th has been cancelled. After a great start to the winter in October, suddenly the weather warmed to more than 10 degrees above average for this time of year. The warm temperatures made it impossible to make enough snow to safely run the event and organizers had to make the hard choice to cancel the event. The women's downhill season kicks off, also at Lake Louise on Dec 2-4th but the conditions seem to have cooled down significantly so hopefully they will be able to go ahead with these races. Story 3 - Desperate Measures for Johnson Lake Recently, Parks Canada has been looking at some drastic measures to see if Johnson Lake can be rehabilitated. The challenge with whirling disease is that once it infects a lake, the parasites produce spores that can last for decades in the lake sediments. Johnson Lake is an ideal home because it is shallow and warm during the summers with a nice muddy bottom. The goal at the moment is to keep it from spreading upstream towards Two Jack Lake, Lake Minnewanka and the upper Cascade River system. In particular, the Cascade holds some critical populations of westslope cutthroat trout. How can they clean the lake? Well it would take several steps. The first would be to remove all of the fish. That would interrupt the life cycle, but not do anything about the spores. New fish populations arriving in the lake would still be susceptible to the long lasting spores and be reinfected. To deal with the spores in the muddy bottom, on idea is to largely drain the lake and allow the mud to freeze during the winter. This has been shown to kill the spores. Freezing, when combined with removing the fish, may allow parks to clean up this particular body of water. Johnson Lake would then not only provide a buffer between downstream infected waters and the upper Cascade River, but it would also make it possible for Parks Canada to reopen Johnson Lake for summer recreation. It is one of the only lakes in Banff that gets warm enough to swim and so on hot summer days, it is one of the busiest places in the area. The challenge now for officials is to balance the ecological and financial consequences of the various mitigations against the option of leaving things as is.