The Region

The Summer Village of Birch Cove is located approximately 99 km northwest of Edmonton, Alberta between Highway 33 and Lac la Nonne on the west shore of the lake. Our village was incorporated on December 31, 1988. In 2013, there were 45 full-time residents and 60 dwellings. The village has a land area of 2.9 km². The closest large population centre is the town of Barrhead, 20 km to the north.

Lac la Nonne is a fairly large (11.8 km²) and deep (maximum depth 19.8 m) lake in the counties of Barrhead and Lac Ste. Anne. The lake is controlled by a dam, and drains through MacDonald Creek into the Pembina River. It is a highly developed and popular recreational lake.

Killdeer Beach Resort and Elksbeach Campground are the two commercial facilities at the lake. No commercial fisheries exist on the lake, although sport fishery, with the main catches being walleye and northern pike, is very popular in the summer.

Land acquisition around this lake and cottage development on the shoreline increased through to the 1970s until most of the shoreline became privately owned. Many cottages have been winterized and general lake use has intensified over the last half of the 1900s. Due to concerns about the quality of the lake, further development around the lake was halted through regulations enforced by Alberta Environment.

Lac La none State of the Watershed Report and the Atlas of Alberta Lakes are excellent resources to learn more about the lake, its history and its current use.

Environmentally, particularly as it relates to the lake itself, most (but not all) cottage owners and users of Lac la Nonne recognize the need to keep the lake free of pollution. In cooperation with the Provincial Government, the Summer Village of Birch Cove and other lakefront municipalities and stakeholders share an important role as environmental stewards of the lakes they are adjacent to and their surrounding lands.

There is a desire to see expansion and growth in our community yet maintain the current character and aesthetics of the summer village. Our Land Use Bylaw helps accomplish this goal.