History
Pakowki Lake History
| Date | Event |
| July 2005 | A colony of gold-edged gems is found in the Pakowki Lake sand dunes. This is one of four sites in Alberta where this endangered species has been found. |
| Early 2000s | Pakowki Lake is recognized as an Important Bird Area. Canada’s Important Bird Areas (IBA) program is a science-based initiative to identify, conserve and monitor a network of sites that provide essential habitat for Canada’s bird populations. The IBA program is an international conservation initiative coordinated by BirdLife International. The Canadian co-partners for the IBA program are Bird Studies Canada and Nature Canada. |
| Spring 1999 | A dry winter and chinook winds prevent a frost seal from forming on the lake. All precipitation goes straight into the ground. As a result, Pakowki Lake is almost completely dry, something not seen since the late 1980s. |
| 1996 | A water quality sampling program is implemented by the Water Sciences Branch of Alberta Environmental Protection to determine whether the physical, biological, and chemical characteristics of the lake influence the timing and severity of avian botulism outbreaks. |
| 1995 | Clostridium botulinum type C, the most frequent cause of avian botulism, is confirmed in Pakowki Lake. It is estimated that more than 200,000 birds die during the most severe outbreak of avian botulism ever recorded in Pakowki Lake (104,000 green-winged teal, 40,000 northern pintail, 20,000 northern shoveler and 16,000 mallards make up 90 percent of the losses). A total of 100,825 carcasses are collected during efforts to control the outbreak. Continuous clean-up operations from July 17 to October 18 involve 54 people and require 4,800 person-hours of work. |
| 1995 | The Pakowki Lake Working Group is formed, with the goal of investigating and implementing methods of limiting avian mortality at Pakowki Lake. |
| 1994 | An outbreak of avian botulism occurs at Pakowki Lake, killing more than 100,000 birds. Similar outbreaks have occurred in the past, including in 1980, 1975, and 1928. |
| 1974 | A single white-faced ibis is photographed at Pakowki Lake – the first authenticated sighting of this species in Alberta. |
| January 1, 1974 | Pakowki Lake is designated a Provincial Game Bird Sanctuary. |
| 1951 | The Alberta government gives
permission for the export of natural gas from the Pakowki Lake area to
Butte, Montana. |
| 1916 | The international (U.S.-Canada) Treaty to Protect Migratory Birds is signed by the Dominion Government. |
| 1915 | In order to protect North American waterbird species, which were decimated through uncontrolled commercial hunting for the food and feather trade in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Canada protects Pakowki Lake, along with 13 other Alberta lakes and 12 Saskatchewan lakes (Northern Prairie and Parkland Waterbird Conservation Plan 2004). A federal ministerial order approves federal reservations on “all the vacant quarter-sections immediately adjoining the following lakes in Saskatchewan and Alberta, with a view to the future establishment of permanent bird reserves.” The order withdraws 14 lakes in Alberta from settlement, many of which are subsequently established as reserves, including Pakowki Lake. Federal Migratory Bird Officers and provincial Game Guardians are hired to administer them (Fish, Fur and Feathers, Chapter 8). |
| Mid-1800s | The Blood First Nation, well-known traders of both the American Fur Company and the Hudson's Bay Company, move south into the Pakowki La |
