Submitted by Living Lakes Canada

Summer in Canada is synonymous with lake recreation. Our precious freshwater lakes provide us with a myriad of leisure activities for enjoying the warmer weather as well as respite from the heat.

As a way to celebrate their beauty and raise awareness around the growing climate change impacts on lake health, Living Lakes Canada invited people across the country to submit photos of their favourite lakes to the 2nd Annual Lake Biodiversity Photo Challenge.

From May to July, almost 300 photos were submitted capturing 160 lakes across Canada with representation from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Nunavut and the Yukon. From this incredible selection of entries, a Public Favourite winner was selected in three different categories via an online voting system that garnered a total of 800 votes.

Mitchell Brown won Public Favourite for Most Biodiverse for his beautiful sunrise photo of Blackstone Lake, ON; Kyndra Jones won Public Favourite for Most Impacted for her smoky image of Middle Joffre Lake in B.C. (“The smoky hue in the background is from the 2021 forest fires,” explained Kyndra in her submission. “The smoke blurring out the mountains in the distance is a reminder to us all that we need to protect what we have.”); and Braelyn Sterling won Public Favourite in the Kids’ Category for her sunset photo of Golden Lake, ON.

Three Judges’ Favourite winners were also selected. A Living Lakes Canada panel awarded Judges’ Favourite for Most Biodiverse to Lily Liang for her vibrant image of Western painted turtles at Maclean Ponds in B.C.; and Most Impacted to Jennifer Batiuk for her photo of Lac la Biche, AB that depicts the presence of toxic blue-green algae the same day the Alberta government had issued an advisory.

The kids’ conservation organization and Photo Challenge partner Earth Rangers awarded Judges’ Favourite in the Kids Category to Daniel Marques for his photo of Deer Lake, B.C., which he took on a walk with his mother.

Winners of the Most Biodiverse and Most Impacted categories will receive generous prize packages with items from Kicking Horse Coffee, DAVIDsTea and Lush.

Earth Rangers has supplied an awesome age-appropriate prize that will go out to the Kids’ Category winners.

Living Lakes Canada thanks everyone whose participation in this year’s Challenge and contributed to an amazing snapshot of lakes across the country. The entire online gallery can be viewed HERE.

The Lake Biodiversity Photo Challenge is the sister event to Living Lakes Canada’s National Lake Blitz program, a community-based lake monitoring initiative that provides volunteer participants from coast to coast with easy-to-use water monitoring tools to help them take personal responsibility over their local lake and monitor for climate change impacts.

To learn more, to get involved next year visit lakeblitz.livinglakescanada.ca or email the Lake Blitz Coordinators at [email protected].

Lead image: Winner of Judges’ Favourite for Most Biodiverse: Lily Liang, MaClean Ponds, BC. Photos submitted

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