Armand Belanger

The East Interlake Conservation District formed in 2005. And one of the first questions that the board members wanted to answer was, what is the water quality in the Interlake and how does it affect Lake Winnipeg? So, since 2005 we've been monitoring nine waterways four times a year. And for the past two years we've been partnering with the Lake Winnipeg Foundation to monitor three waterways intensely during the spring run-off and the summer rain events.

And that's to help us understand the state of our watershed and where to implement beneficial management practices. Things like enhancing wetlands, water storage, riparian vegetation, enhancing native vegetation. And we use these things to act as a buffer for the water running over the surface and filtering out contaminants such as phosphorus or other things.

I grew up along the shores of Lake Winnipeg and I'm really excited to be part of the movement that shows a compassion towards the ecology and the state of our lake.