Many of the large shallow lakes in the Prairie provinces are drying up as well. For example Miquelon lake in central Alberta has shrunk by at least half since European settlers arrived. Not to mention the fact that many smaller lakes are now overgrown with algal blooms during the summer months due to fertilizer runoff. There is very little natural prairie left in the west, and pressure from agriculture and development are growing every year.<p>Question is, is there anything we can do about it, or is it just the price we pay for human development? When you look at the ecological sterilization that happened in places like the San Joaquin valley in California things start to look pretty bleak.