Whiteswan Lake Foreshore Inventory Mapping Open

This dataset contains the open access data and reports for the FIMP survey carried out in Whiteswan Lake in 2020. Whiteswan Lake is a 378 ha montane lake nestled within the Kootenay Ranges of the Rocky Mountains in a mainly east-west orientation, approximately 30 km southeast of Canal Flats, BC. The lake is located within the Whiteswan Lake Provincial Park, which was created in 1978 with the primary focus to protect the underrepresented Dry Cool Montane Spruce (MSdk) biogeoclimatic subzone ecosystem while maintaining a recreational destination for outdoor opportunities. The lake has been managed as a monoculture rainbow trout fishery since the 1960s and there are concerns of hybridization of the introduced rainbow trout with the native westslope cutthroat trout downstream of the lake, which prompted management actions. The area has significant cultural values to First Nations as it provided a geographical link between the Columbia Valley and the Elk Valley and the prairies, and was used as a marshalling point, hunting camp and was also used for religious and social events.