Signs of Spring in Balsam Lake

Balsam responds quickly to springtime conditions. This significant season brings brighter light levels and longer daylight triggering plant growth on land and in the water. The increased sunlight also heats the surface waters gradually warming to greater depths as summer temperatures arrive.

This natural spring process triggers the regeneration of plant and animal life along the shoreline and later in June and July to the deeper waters of the lake.

For keen Lake observers you make see sudden changes in the water colour immediately after ice disappears continuing through June. Bright greens, changing to a murky reddish brown later in a week or sudden crashes leaving a crystal clear blue appearance are signs that aquatic life is preparing for a healthy and normal summer ahead.

This kaleidoscope of colour results from underwater life taking turns at exploding in the water column (called blooms) and in turn being consumed by other plankton or simply dissolving away to provide nutrients to the life beneath the waves. Each of these species of algae and plankton communities are responding to precise water conditions. For thousands of years, specifically sequenced, these aquatic species bloom and disappear giving life to another species in the food web beneath the waves. Aquatic biologists monitoring the health of the underwater food web study the blooms to forecast fish and ecosystem health and water quality.

This photo shows healthy shoreline algae in Balsam from mid May, 2020. This species attaches to rocks and logs in the wave zone. Importantly, it provides early season invertebrate grazers with food and dense growth to hide emerging (fish) fry from predators.