Originally published in Lake of the Woods Area News, Volume 55, Number 2, Spring 2025
On February 24, 2025, the Canada Water Agency launched its Lake of the Woods Freshwater Ecosystem Initiative (FEI) at an event in Winnipeg, hosted by Minister Terry Duguid (Winnipeg South) and MP Ben Carr (Winnipeg South Centre). It is a program of the Government of Canada to commit funding toward Lake of the Woods ecosystem science and planning over ten years.
The FEI includes $1.2M in funds to support four new projects in the Rainy-Lake of the Woods watershed, including a three year project led by LOWWSF to work with local communities, knowledge keepers, stakeholders and experts in the Canadian portions of Rainy River and the Lake of the Woods to develop a domestic phosphorus management plan.
Like the parallel plan already in place in Minnesota, the new Canadian plan will support international water quality goals, including the International Joint Commission’s watershed board’s alert levels for nutrients and algae, as well as any related future international water quality objectives. LOWWSF is currently establishing a network of interested parties to support this planning work. Together we will develop a framework to monitor and review progress toward achieving desired phosphorus-reduction outcomes for Lake of the Woods.
