Okanagan Lake Management Initiative

2018

$27,500

$20,000

The aim of this project is to identify policies, regulations and processes to enhance shoreline management for water source protection of Okanagan Lake. This project will create a working group of professionals to explore current and best practices in environmental and land use planning, develop recommendations for effective multi-jurisdictional shoreline management, and identify approaches for implementing the recommendations.

This project will also prepare a framework that sets out the need for, and potential approaches for developing a Lake Management Plan that would set standards for shoreline management around Okanagan Lake. The recommendations for multijurisdictional shoreline management, and the development of a Lake Management Plan was first identified in the 2005 Okanagan Lake Foreshore Inventory and Mapping (FIM) report. The 2016 (FIM) report also recommended increased collaboration for shoreline management, and noted the scale of loss of natural areas is negatively impacting ecosystems and their ability to provide clean, safe drinking water, and habitat for rare and endangered species.