Eagan Lake Limnology Report

A Winter Limnology Survey

Prepared for:

B.C. Ministry of Environment Fisheries Branch Karnloops, B.C.

Conducted by

Fish, Wildlife, & Recreation Program B.C.I.T.

March 1994

I .O Introduction This report contains the methods and results of a winter limnological study. It is another

episode in the continuation of what has evolved into an annual co-operative field endevour

involving the Fish Wildlife and Recreation students of the British Columbia Institute of

Technology (B.C.I.T.) and the B.C. Ministry of Environment (M.O.E.), Kamloops

Region. The lakes completed in past years have included: Walloper, Stake and Lodgepole

in the Lac la Jeune area and Leighwood and Beaverdam Lakes near Clinton.

The objectives during the week of March 7-8, 1994 were to provide the students with a

working limnology field experience in winter, culminating in the co-ordinated production

of this final report. The results provide the MOE with current up-to-date information on

the winter status of an area which previously had little or no data available.

This year, the target was Eagan Lake, a relatively large lake in comparison to those

examined in previous years. As a result, the work involved movinb personnel and gear

greater distances. As luck (Mother Nature) would have it, winter conditions (no snow

and thick ice) allowed the use of trucks as transport mechanisms on the lake, thus

mininiizirig the use of humanpower on glare or frazzle ice to access sampling sites. These

favourable winter conditions facilitated movements of students, local residents, volunteers

and completion of the field work.

As well, and to make it even more logistically exciting, our mentor Marge Sidney (h4OE

Kamloops) became considerably more adventurous. This year she snuck another lake

into the sampling regime. Machete Lake, tlibutary to Eagan, was also subjected to our

mid-winter onslaught. Here, three glblnets were set by MOE before the arrival of BCLT on

the morning of March 7. Next year, Machete Lake is proposed as the target lake for "hll-

blown" limnology.

A total of 7 gdlnets were set this year, compared to a maximum of 3 in previous years.

This required that the fish capture, fish ageing and fish bio-trait crews work especially

organized and co-operatively. They did this; and it added to the product immensely.