In 2002 the Real Estate Foundation approved a grant of up to $10,000 to the Fraser Basin Council. The grant was made to support research and GIS mapping of environmental features around Shuswap and Mara Lakes. We hope this summary and the other documents provided via our website will help community groups and individuals in the Columbia Shuswap Regional District to make informed decisions about the ways in which they use land and water resources--both in the watersheds of these lakes, and elsewhere.

Introduction (from Fraser Basin Council website)

In December of 2000 a unique partnership was formed between Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the former BC Ministry of Environment, Lands and Parks, the Columbia Shuswap Regional District and the Fraser Basin Council. The partnership identified a need, within the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, to gather the existing information on Shuswap and Mara lakes to help determine land values for subdivision proposals. These values include fish, wildlife, and foreshore/riparian habitat, water quality, hydrologic interactions, human activities, and historic and cultural uses.

An Assistant Regional Coordinator was hired and placed in the regional office of the Fraser Basin Council to work collaboratively with the Columbia Shuswap Regional District to carry out the Study. The intent of this study was to gather, analyse and report on existing information on Shuswap and Mara Lakes.

The challenge to FBC was in identifying information sources, designing a vehicle that would encourage all the parties to share the information and making it accessible to all. There are a total of 217 information sources on various topics that were gathered from users, experts and professionals, from various agencies, business and non-government organizations.