The twinning of Lakes Windermere

(John Pinder, 10th July 2009)

It was the S.W. Scotland pioneer, Gilbert Sproat who in 1883, renamed the former British Columbian Lake Kootenae, ‘Lake Windermere’. The lake reminded him of the familiar Windermere in Cumbria UK, both in size and shape.

But the similarities go much further than that. At the Living Lakes conference at Lake Trasimeno in 2008, the two programme managers working on lake protection and restoration quickly recognised the opportunity of sharing their parallel experiences and by May 2009 the two communities represented by their mayors signed an agreement at the ‘Lakes for Living, Lakes for Life’ conference on the shores of Lake Windermere England.

On the photo: Marion Hammerl, President of Global Nature Fund, with Gerry Taft, Mayor of Invermere, and Bill Smith, Mayor of Windermere.

There are more similarities than just their names. Over the coming years, the two communities will explore and share the similarities and differences in environmental, economic, community, cultural heritage and educational activities centred on their lake and its catchment. 

We can only hope that thanks to this partnership both communities will come to realize how important their respective lakes are and that they bear responsibility to protect these precious assets.