Eagle Lake First Nation relies on Eagle Lake as a primary food source. The community has observed the impacts of industrial operations, mining, land development, forestry, and climate change (e.g., forest fires and flooding) on their territory for decades. These observations, coupled with fish advisories and elevated mercury levels in larger walleye of nearby waterbodies, caused great concern in the community. 

 

EnCompass Environmental was retained to support ELFN to carry-out the project. We updated the community's fish consumption survey; monitored mercury concentrations in water, sediment, and fish in Eagle Lake; built capacity within the community for environmental sampling and analysis through training and hands-on support; developed a database of data from previous sampling programs, and completed an exposure assessment to quantify safe levels of fish consumption .

 

The project findings helped ELFN members feel safe about consuming fish from the high quality waters of Eagle Lake, as mercury concentrations were not found to be of concern.