Celebrating 5 Years of Gathering and Sharing Information
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Western Painted Turtle.
The Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii) is the largest subspecies of painted turtle in Canada and British Columbia's only native freshwater pond turtle. If they can get through their threat-filled infancy, these turtles may live for 30 years. Some references state they are living well over 50 years.
These beautiful Western Painted Turtles are living in Hotel Lake and we hope to see them thrive. But their struggle to survive is fraught with peril from many quarters. Thanks, in part, to human intervention in recent years, we hope to see continuing monitoring and assistance for them. As we find out more and learn how to help, we hope to improve their survival rate.
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But, there is an arch villian in this story! Non-native, invasive red eared slider turtles, popular as home pets, are sometimes released by their human owners and today we are seeing them in Hotel Lake. If left unchecked, they will aggressively challenge, dominate and possibly eliminate the native Western Painted Turtles.
We hope you enjoy our new webpage, Western Painted Turtles.
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Western Painted Turtle
(Chrysemys picta bellii)
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https://www.hotellakeadvisory.com/wstern-painted-turtle
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Here is a new born ,about the size of a “looney”, photographed in May 2026, munching on lake vegetation on the north side of Hotel Lake.
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Lakeview!
There’s something personal about a lake.
Oceans offer their vast expanse, beckoning the heart outward and reminding the viewer that they are but a small piece of something much, much bigger. Rivers are nice but doubtless have their own agenda, a self-determination lurking just upstream that mere mortals are powerless against.
But lakes - and particularly Hotel Lake in Pender Harbour, British Columbia; lakes free the heart to look inward to seek answers from the soul to questions from the heart. You can learn who you are by sitting by a lake… and who you want to be there with. Brad McCannell
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New In Our Library
Our Library has been growing for some time and can be accessed via the main menu. We continue to add documents and here is just one recent addition that we are very proud of: Hotel Lake 2024 Year One Report published by BC Lake Stewardship Society; just go to our library to take a look.​​​ This is what local volunteers have been gathering data for and in a few years a final report will be published that will describe our lake in greater detail.