As the water levels receded, concerned residents took to Facebook community groups to raise the alarm. Locals Sheri Schickler and Hugh Pelmore, who have been actively pursuing the protection of the lake for many years, organized an interview with Castanet to bring the issue to the attention of Kelwona.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/573193/Nearby-residents-call-for-more-action-to-save-Kelowna-Lake-that-is-quickly-drying-up

Sam Foster (Wild) saw the community posts on Facebook, contacted the BC Ministry, and connected multiple agencies to organize the collection and rehabilitation of the lake’s Western Painted Turtles before the lake dried up.

A senior Biologist from the BC Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship, along with the Okanagan Similkameen Stewardship Society and local volunteers, met with Sam at the lake to collect the turtles. Volunteers, locals and families have been rescuing turtles from the lake and patrolling for hatchlings.

Local residents have been rescuing turtles that are leaving the Frazer Lake area in search of water. Sam has set up a temporary holding habitat where the turtles can be dropped off safely before being transported to rehabilitation centres for rehoming.

The turtles were being taken to Interior Wildlife Rehabilitation Society in Summerland by local volunteers to be temporarily housed until being released into suitable pond locations. Another rehabilitation centre is organizing permits with Sam and the local team to take the remaining turtles for relocation.

The local community team has obtained copies of the development permit and schedules from the City, which show ecological impact assessments and indicate that the City was made aware of the impacts that a 10,000m³ would have on the ecosystem and resilience to drought.

The local community team is reviewing the documents and looking for support to have the responsible parties remedy the situation and refill Frazer Lake.

Sam gave a presentation to students at Chute Lake Elementary who wanted to participate in saving the turtles and protecting the ecosystem.

Local resident and UBCO Engineering student, Kaleb Poitras, began a petition to urge the City of Kelowna to take action. Please sign here.

Local residents organized and opposed the construction of new development by Emil Anderson near Frazer Lake. They presented these objections to the City Council. You can read the meeting notes (pages 8 - 11) here.

Although Emil Anderson owns the land that the dam is on, the City of Kelowna are responsible for dam restoration and safety.

In 2022, the City of Kelowna began construction work on the new dam at Frazer Lake as instructed by the Ministry. The publicly available information on this project has been removed from their website. We have obtained copies of the permits and schedules, which you can view here.

The city spent $760,000 to build the new dam. The documents show that the option they selected was the smallest dam, allowing less than half the water needed to sustain the ecosystem and mitigate the lake drying up.

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April 2022, Castanet Reported:

“The City of Kelowna is beginning remediation work on the Frazer Lake Dam in the Upper Mission.

The work means the nearby trail will be closed to the public until the end of July as crews work to modernize the dam.

The dam is no longer needed in its current form so the amount of water held in the lake and the capacity of the dam will be reduced.

“The current dam was constructed in the early 1900s and does not meet the safety standards of today,” says Mike Kapiniak, project manager at the City of Kelowna. “Crews will be onsite to remove the old dam and construct a new one out of steel sheet piles.”

The overall height of the newly constructed dam will be lowered, and the walking path will be maintained. There will also be some tree removal as well as general clearing at the same.

“The lake is home to blue-listed species such as the painted turtle and spadefoot toad. To preserve these animals and their habitat, the dam will not be completely removed during construction,” said Kapiniak. “We are beginning the upgrades now to avoid the nesting season of the animals native to the area.”

An environmental management plan has been created to protect critical habitats and reduce the negative impacts to the lake and surrounding areas.

The work is projected to cost $760,000, the Frazer Lake Dam was originally constructed in the early 1900s to provide water storage for the irrigation needs in the Mission area.”

The City of Kelowna began a process to "naturalize" the lake in 2016, a project that has involved significant changes to the dam and the surrounding area. 

https://globalnews.ca/news/123136/mystery-of-disappearing-lake-solved/

In 2011 Frazer Lake started emptying. This was blamed on vandals damaging a valve.

Frazer Lake was formed by damming a portion of Bellevue Creek to store water for agricultural irrigation in the Mission area. 

Before this area was used for irrigation, it was a natural wetland.

Excerpt taken from Mission Creek Restoration Initiative:

Historically, Okanagan First Nations’ people were hunters and gatherers who travelled seasonally within a vast territory, including the areas in and around Mission Creek. These first inhabitants harvested kokanee and wildlife from the lower reaches of Mission Creek and the adjacent riparian zone. They also made use of various plants found along the creek for food, building materials, and medicines. As a result, many archeological sites remain along the creek today.

With the establishment of the Father Pandosy Mission in 1860, however, the dominant use on this part of the creek changed from fishing to agriculture. Until about 1900, the use of Mission Creek water was restricted almost exclusively to the extraction of small volumes carried relatively short distances to irrigate small local gardens, and to flood-irrigate hay flats and grain fields. In this sense, the creek itself acted as the reservoir that was later tapped for development purposes.