What is IISD Experimental Lakes Area, and why was it created?

IISD Experimental Lakes Area is the world’s freshwater laboratory—a natural research laboratory made up of 58 small lakes and their watersheds.

As one of the world’s most influential freshwater research facilities, we conduct experiments on real lakes and ecosystems—one of the only places in the world you can do this.

Over the last 5 decades, we have conducted research projects to explore the impacts of—and solutions to—algal blooms, climate change, agricultural runoff, contaminants such as mercury and estrogen, oil spills, and a growing list of threats to freshwater supplies.

We are located on Treaty 3 territory, the traditional land of the Anishinaabe Nation and the homeland of the Métis Nation. This land is in a sparsely populated area of northwestern Ontario in Canada, approximately 300 km east of Winnipeg, Manitoba and 100 km west of Dryden, Ontario.

IISD Experimental Lakes Area was originally created as a response to the growing concern surrounding algal blooms on the Great Lakes, specifically Lake Erie. In 1966, the Freshwater Institute was established in Winnipeg by the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. They appointed J.R. (Jack) Vallentyne as Director and W.E. (Wally) Johnson as Head Scientist to address the problem of eutrophication. In 2006, two new staff and student residences were constructed on-site and were named after the founding scientists, Vallentyne and Johnson.

In partnership with the governments of Canada and Ontario, a section of land and water was designated as the Experimental Lakes Area. The Experimental Lakes Area officially opened in 1968 with David Schindler as Leader of Experimental Lake Investigations, a position he held until 1989.

In 1991, Dr. Schindler was awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize, the highest award in limnological research, for research into excess nutrification and acidification of freshwater lakes. Don’t worry, we haven’t forgotten Dr. Schindler in our growing list of named residences! The Schindler cabin is a small, off-grid cabin on the north shore of Lake 239, only a short canoe trip away from camp.

In 2014, the International Institute for Sustainable Development assumed control over the Experimental Lakes Area from the Government of Canada under three new agreements to ensure the facility’s long-term operation. IISD Experimental Lakes Area celebrated 50 years of groundbreaking scientific research in 2018.

• Take a look at our ELA 50 Then and Now photo essay to see how we did science then and how we do science now!
• Click here to see a timeline of IISD-ELA’s history.