Saturday, April 01, 2006
RESEARCHERS TRACK LAKE CLARITY FROM SPACE
MADISON Wisconsin ? Assisted by hundreds of volunteers around the state, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers and their cooperators have developed a method of assessing the water quality of Wisconsin?s lakes from space.
Using images captured 438 miles above the earth, they have completed the first satellite-based inventory of the clarity of the largest 8,000 lakes in the state. The inventory is available to the public in map form on the Web, where it is possible to zoom in for a close look at your favorite lake or group of lakes.
"We are pleased to help usher in the Year of Water in Wisconsin with a new tool to aid in monitoring lake water quality statewide," says Thomas Lillesand, who led the effort as director of UW-Madison?s Environmental Remote Sensing Center.
"Our research aims to integrate satellite data into the state?s day-to-day lake management programs. This won?t eliminate the need for conventional water quality monitoring, but it will greatly increase the benefits of ground-based sampling."
The statewide effort is part of a multifaceted research project funded by NASA called the Satellite Lake Observatory Initiative. The UW-Madison Center for Limnology, Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, Inc., and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have all cooperated to provide "ground truth" water quality data necessary to calibrate the satellite images.
As part of the DNR?s Self-Help Citizen Lake Monitoring Program, volunteers across Wisconsin routinely measure the clarity of their local lakes with simple tools called secchi discs, which look like oversized CDs with a bold black-and-white pattern on top. A metal secchi disc is lowered on a tether into the water until it is just deep enough to disappear from sight. At that point the user records the depth. The clarity of water often is expressed in terms of secchi depths.
To aid in the satellite inventory, Self-Help volunteers took secchi readings on lakes for the past three years while the Landsat satellite passed overhead, gathering its own electronic images of these and other lakes. Back at UW-Madison, researchers correlated the conventional water-clarity data with the corresponding Landsat data. Lillesand says in this way, secchi readings from fewer than 400 lakes made it possible to estimate the clarity of all other lakes in the satellite?s images without sampling each of them by hand.
Landsat uses picture elements, or pixels, that are 98 feet square at ground level. It takes approximately 160 million of these pixels to cover the entire state. Because of its relatively narrow field of view, Landsat captures images of any given geographic area only once every 16 days.
Lillesand says a new imaging system aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, called MODIS, has a much wider field of view and can provide coverage nearly every day. Although MODIS data are "coarser," revealing far less detail than Landsat?s, their broad coverage area and frequency permit scientists to monitor the clarity of large water bodies like Lake Winnebago and Green Bay daily except when clouds obscure them.
The new statewide water clarity map and daily MODIS images of Wisconsin are both viewable on the Web at www.ersc.wisc.edu.
The UW-Madison researchers also are working with their counterparts at the University of Minnesota and Michigan State University to develop a three-state regional picture of lake water clarity.
"Demonstrating that lake clarity can be estimated over very large areas via satellite data at this level of detail is just the beginning of our research," says Lillesand. "We want to be able to answer such questions as how lake clarity has changed over time, where lake management activities might be most useful, and which lakes will be most subject to change in the future due to such factors as changes in land use and climate."
To see the images: http://www.lakesat.org/lakes_from_space_graphics.php
Using images captured 438 miles above the earth, they have completed the first satellite-based inventory of the clarity of the largest 8,000 lakes in the state. The inventory is available to the public in map form on the Web, where it is possible to zoom in for a close look at your favorite lake or group of lakes.
"We are pleased to help usher in the Year of Water in Wisconsin with a new tool to aid in monitoring lake water quality statewide," says Thomas Lillesand, who led the effort as director of UW-Madison?s Environmental Remote Sensing Center.
"Our research aims to integrate satellite data into the state?s day-to-day lake management programs. This won?t eliminate the need for conventional water quality monitoring, but it will greatly increase the benefits of ground-based sampling."
The statewide effort is part of a multifaceted research project funded by NASA called the Satellite Lake Observatory Initiative. The UW-Madison Center for Limnology, Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District, Fox-Wolf Watershed Alliance, Inc., and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources have all cooperated to provide "ground truth" water quality data necessary to calibrate the satellite images.
As part of the DNR?s Self-Help Citizen Lake Monitoring Program, volunteers across Wisconsin routinely measure the clarity of their local lakes with simple tools called secchi discs, which look like oversized CDs with a bold black-and-white pattern on top. A metal secchi disc is lowered on a tether into the water until it is just deep enough to disappear from sight. At that point the user records the depth. The clarity of water often is expressed in terms of secchi depths.
To aid in the satellite inventory, Self-Help volunteers took secchi readings on lakes for the past three years while the Landsat satellite passed overhead, gathering its own electronic images of these and other lakes. Back at UW-Madison, researchers correlated the conventional water-clarity data with the corresponding Landsat data. Lillesand says in this way, secchi readings from fewer than 400 lakes made it possible to estimate the clarity of all other lakes in the satellite?s images without sampling each of them by hand.
Landsat uses picture elements, or pixels, that are 98 feet square at ground level. It takes approximately 160 million of these pixels to cover the entire state. Because of its relatively narrow field of view, Landsat captures images of any given geographic area only once every 16 days.
Lillesand says a new imaging system aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites, called MODIS, has a much wider field of view and can provide coverage nearly every day. Although MODIS data are "coarser," revealing far less detail than Landsat?s, their broad coverage area and frequency permit scientists to monitor the clarity of large water bodies like Lake Winnebago and Green Bay daily except when clouds obscure them.
The new statewide water clarity map and daily MODIS images of Wisconsin are both viewable on the Web at www.ersc.wisc.edu.
The UW-Madison researchers also are working with their counterparts at the University of Minnesota and Michigan State University to develop a three-state regional picture of lake water clarity.
"Demonstrating that lake clarity can be estimated over very large areas via satellite data at this level of detail is just the beginning of our research," says Lillesand. "We want to be able to answer such questions as how lake clarity has changed over time, where lake management activities might be most useful, and which lakes will be most subject to change in the future due to such factors as changes in land use and climate."
To see the images: http://www.lakesat.org/lakes_from_space_graphics.php
Friday, November 25, 2005
Shoreline Maint Begins in the fall
Love them, don't leaf them
Help lakes by keeping fall foliage out of gutters
By Bill Novak
October 13, 2005
This time of year, Madison lakes have a message for trees: "Don't Leaf Me!"
Leaves and grass clippings, while as natural as nature can get, unfortunately contribute to the "green" problem in Madison's big lakes by floating down storm sewers and decomposing in the water, adding tons of nutrients to the murky soup that is already scumming up the waters.
Local environmental groups are urging homeowners to give some leaf relief to the lakes this fall in the second annual "Love Your Lakes, Don't Leaf Them" campaign.
Sixteen billboards went up this week around Madison, urging residents to keep leaves and clippings out of the gutter so they don't wash into sewers and eventually into streams and lakes.
"Many people don't understand how leaves contribute to the pollution of our lakes," said Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. "I'm happy to see this effort to help raise awareness that whatever is in the street ends up in our lakes and streams, including leaves."
Yard signs and brochures promoting the leafless lakes are also being distributed throughout the city and county.
"Our mantra is, 'In Dane, only the rain goes down the drain,' " said Marcia Hartwig, storm water education coordinator for the Madison Area Municipal Storm Water Partnership. "We encourage folks to keep leaves and grass clippings out of lakes and streams by keeping them out of the street gutters and ditches."
The campaign is a joint effort of the Friends of Lake Wingra, Friends of Monona Bay, Friends of Starkweather Creek, Madison Advertising Federation, city of Madison and the Storm Water Partnership.
Not all leaves can be kept out of the lakes, but the campaign has some suggestions to keep as many leaves out of the flow as possible:
? Compost leaves for a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your gardens, or till them directly into the garden.
? Chop leaves into small particles with a lawnmower so they decompose directly into the lawn.
? Rake leaves into piles at the edge of the street but not into the street or ditch. Sweep or rake leaves out of the street, gutter or ditch so they don't wash down into the storm drain. When piled on the terrace (that area between the curb and sidewalk), leaves should be wet down so they don't blow around, or cover the pile with a tarp, or bag them into lawn cleanup bags.
"Improving leaf management to keep leaves from yards out of the street is a small but simple action that residents can take to help improve the health of Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and all the other lakes and streams in Madison," said Laura Hewitt, Friends of Starkweather Creek member.
E-mail: bnovak@madison.com
Help lakes by keeping fall foliage out of gutters
By Bill Novak
October 13, 2005
This time of year, Madison lakes have a message for trees: "Don't Leaf Me!"
Leaves and grass clippings, while as natural as nature can get, unfortunately contribute to the "green" problem in Madison's big lakes by floating down storm sewers and decomposing in the water, adding tons of nutrients to the murky soup that is already scumming up the waters.
Local environmental groups are urging homeowners to give some leaf relief to the lakes this fall in the second annual "Love Your Lakes, Don't Leaf Them" campaign.
Sixteen billboards went up this week around Madison, urging residents to keep leaves and clippings out of the gutter so they don't wash into sewers and eventually into streams and lakes.
"Many people don't understand how leaves contribute to the pollution of our lakes," said Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk. "I'm happy to see this effort to help raise awareness that whatever is in the street ends up in our lakes and streams, including leaves."
Yard signs and brochures promoting the leafless lakes are also being distributed throughout the city and county.
"Our mantra is, 'In Dane, only the rain goes down the drain,' " said Marcia Hartwig, storm water education coordinator for the Madison Area Municipal Storm Water Partnership. "We encourage folks to keep leaves and grass clippings out of lakes and streams by keeping them out of the street gutters and ditches."
The campaign is a joint effort of the Friends of Lake Wingra, Friends of Monona Bay, Friends of Starkweather Creek, Madison Advertising Federation, city of Madison and the Storm Water Partnership.
Not all leaves can be kept out of the lakes, but the campaign has some suggestions to keep as many leaves out of the flow as possible:
? Compost leaves for a nutrient-rich fertilizer for your gardens, or till them directly into the garden.
? Chop leaves into small particles with a lawnmower so they decompose directly into the lawn.
? Rake leaves into piles at the edge of the street but not into the street or ditch. Sweep or rake leaves out of the street, gutter or ditch so they don't wash down into the storm drain. When piled on the terrace (that area between the curb and sidewalk), leaves should be wet down so they don't blow around, or cover the pile with a tarp, or bag them into lawn cleanup bags.
"Improving leaf management to keep leaves from yards out of the street is a small but simple action that residents can take to help improve the health of Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and all the other lakes and streams in Madison," said Laura Hewitt, Friends of Starkweather Creek member.
E-mail: bnovak@madison.com
Friday, April 22, 2005
Why You Need A Lake or Pond Management Plan
Water? Lakes? Fishing? Swimming? Canoeing? Cabins?. These words bring to mind the fundamental Minnesota experience. We take the abundance and diversity of our lakes, rivers and wetlands for granted- and with good reason: Minnesota has more than 15,000 lakes that are 10 acres or larger. More than 5,000, covering more than three million acres, are actively managed for their fisheries. Many others are uesed for boating, water skiing, hunting and swimming, and just plain appreciated for their beauty.
We are blessed with these lakes but these LAKES CANNOT MANAGE THEMSELVES!
In order to maintain these beneficial uses, lakes need help. With the ever increasing use and growing populations residing near and along waterways, lakes can suffer from small and large cumulative impacts and cannot manage themselves. We affect our lake by our actions with in the lake, along its shore lands and well up into the lakes watershed or drainage basin. Even distant acres can be connected to the lake by the downstream flow of water which, in turn, carry pollutants, sediments and nutrients overtime. We wall are a part of the problem, but we all can d do something no matter how apparently insignificantly such as raking and removing the weeds, leaves and debris from the lake bottom near our shoreline, removing grass clippings from our driveway and reducing the amount of salt we use on our driveways and surrounding streetways.
Ultimately, our lakes require systematically and purposeful management with long term management that overtime will improve the lake balance.
We encourage you to get as much expert advice as possible and choose reputable partners. We can provide a list of several excellent firms in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
We are blessed with these lakes but these LAKES CANNOT MANAGE THEMSELVES!
In order to maintain these beneficial uses, lakes need help. With the ever increasing use and growing populations residing near and along waterways, lakes can suffer from small and large cumulative impacts and cannot manage themselves. We affect our lake by our actions with in the lake, along its shore lands and well up into the lakes watershed or drainage basin. Even distant acres can be connected to the lake by the downstream flow of water which, in turn, carry pollutants, sediments and nutrients overtime. We wall are a part of the problem, but we all can d do something no matter how apparently insignificantly such as raking and removing the weeds, leaves and debris from the lake bottom near our shoreline, removing grass clippings from our driveway and reducing the amount of salt we use on our driveways and surrounding streetways.
Ultimately, our lakes require systematically and purposeful management with long term management that overtime will improve the lake balance.
We encourage you to get as much expert advice as possible and choose reputable partners. We can provide a list of several excellent firms in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Friday, March 18, 2005
Water Clarity Determines Property Value
Bemidji State University study reveals water clarity is most important factor in determining lakeshore property values
By VINCE MEYER Outdoors Editor Among the many factors affecting lakeshore property values, water clarity is the most important, according to a study by two Bemidji State University professors. Prof. Patrick Welle and Prof. Charles Parson examined 1,205 properties sold between 1996 and 2001 on 37 lakes in six regions in northern Minnesota: Aitkin, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Walker, Park Rapids and Bemidji. They found water clarity was the most significant factor in determining the purchase price in every region. The professors revealed their findings Thursday at the Brainerd office of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
"Now realtors can talk of location, location, location and clarity, clarity, clarity," Welle said. The study, funded by a $100,000 grant from the Legislative Commission for Minnesota Resources, was modeled after a similar study in Maine in 1996-2000. That study, conducted on 36 lakes in seven regions, found that improving water clarity significantly increases lakeshore property values. A drop in water clarity had a corresponding negative effect. Find the complete report at the Weeders Digest.com or simply click here:. Read The Full Report!
By VINCE MEYER Outdoors Editor Among the many factors affecting lakeshore property values, water clarity is the most important, according to a study by two Bemidji State University professors. Prof. Patrick Welle and Prof. Charles Parson examined 1,205 properties sold between 1996 and 2001 on 37 lakes in six regions in northern Minnesota: Aitkin, Brainerd, Grand Rapids, Walker, Park Rapids and Bemidji. They found water clarity was the most significant factor in determining the purchase price in every region. The professors revealed their findings Thursday at the Brainerd office of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
"Now realtors can talk of location, location, location and clarity, clarity, clarity," Welle said. The study, funded by a $100,000 grant from the Legislative Commission for Minnesota Resources, was modeled after a similar study in Maine in 1996-2000. That study, conducted on 36 lakes in seven regions, found that improving water clarity significantly increases lakeshore property values. A drop in water clarity had a corresponding negative effect. Find the complete report at the Weeders Digest.com or simply click here:. Read The Full Report!
Thursday, March 03, 2005
GO WILD!
Interested in restoring your shore? Here are a few tips on getting started:
? If you're not sure how to start or don't have much of a budget, just stop mowing along the shoreline and see what comes up, said Carrol Henderson, nongame wildlife program supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Plants that grow naturally on your shore won't need fertilizer to thrive and you might have some pleasant surprises. One Brainerd-area lakeshore owner discovered wild orchids, Henderson said.
If your shore is covered with dense sod, you're less likely to see interesting plants appear, said Carolyn Dindorf, a Twin Cities limnologist (lake expert) with Fortin Consulting and co-author, with Henderson, of "Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality."But up north sometimes you get good stuff, like sedges."
? How much shoreline should be left natural? The DNR recommends that about three-quarters of your lake frontage, ideally, should have a buffer zone, about 25 feet deep, of native plants, with about one-quarter left open or lawn-covered for easy lake access.
? Tell your neighbors what you're doing and why, so that they'll understand when your new landscape is in its early stages and won't just think you're letting things go.
? Consult "Restore Your Shore," a CD-ROM guide produced by the DNR. It includes tips for getting started, plus a searchable database of more than 400 plants native to Minnesota, including what plants to avoid and how to control them. "Restore Your Shore" is available for $29.95 at Minnesota's Bookstore, 660 Olive St., St. Paul, 651-297-3000. ALSO AVAILABLE @ Lakes & Ponds Unlimited by scrolling down the right side of the page.
Kim Palmer, Star Tribune
August 18, 2004 LBOX0818
? If you're not sure how to start or don't have much of a budget, just stop mowing along the shoreline and see what comes up, said Carrol Henderson, nongame wildlife program supervisor for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Plants that grow naturally on your shore won't need fertilizer to thrive and you might have some pleasant surprises. One Brainerd-area lakeshore owner discovered wild orchids, Henderson said.
If your shore is covered with dense sod, you're less likely to see interesting plants appear, said Carolyn Dindorf, a Twin Cities limnologist (lake expert) with Fortin Consulting and co-author, with Henderson, of "Lakescaping for Wildlife and Water Quality."But up north sometimes you get good stuff, like sedges."
? How much shoreline should be left natural? The DNR recommends that about three-quarters of your lake frontage, ideally, should have a buffer zone, about 25 feet deep, of native plants, with about one-quarter left open or lawn-covered for easy lake access.
? Tell your neighbors what you're doing and why, so that they'll understand when your new landscape is in its early stages and won't just think you're letting things go.
? Consult "Restore Your Shore," a CD-ROM guide produced by the DNR. It includes tips for getting started, plus a searchable database of more than 400 plants native to Minnesota, including what plants to avoid and how to control them. "Restore Your Shore" is available for $29.95 at Minnesota's Bookstore, 660 Olive St., St. Paul, 651-297-3000. ALSO AVAILABLE @ Lakes & Ponds Unlimited by scrolling down the right side of the page.
Kim Palmer, Star Tribune
August 18, 2004 LBOX0818
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Curlyleaf Pondweed: Another Exotic Aquatic Plant in Minnesota
Source: MN Lakes
Eurasian watermilfoil made quite a splash in 1988 when it showed up for the first time in Minnesota in Lake Minnetonka. But another exotic plant invader in Minnesota beats milfoil by a mile-curlyleaf pondweed. It has been in Minnesota since the early 1900s, and it is documented to be present in over 500 lakes today. It does not cause problems in every lake it inhabits, but it can be a nuisance in lakes where it does well.
It has an alternative lifestyle
Curlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) has several life cycle attributes that make it unique. Curlyleaf acts like a winter annual, although it is supposed to be a perennial. Nearly all other aquatic plants are perennials. Curlyleaf 's winter and spring growth spurt is one of its keys to success because there is very little competition from native plants at this time of the year.
Curlyleaf turions
In a typical year, curlyleaf pondweed sprouts from seed-like growths, called turions, in September through October. It will grow for a month or two until ice cover. Then growth slows down; the plant is just rest-ing. As soon as the ice goes off, curlyleaf growth explodes, and it can reach the lake's surface by mid-May. Typically, it's the first plant to make it to the lake surface and is the early summer nuisance on many lakes. After growing up, curlyleaf starts producing turions. Then, in late May or early June, a flower stalk grows above the water line signaling the end of its spring growth. After that point, the whole crop dies back and is often gone by mid-June. The turions lie on the lake bottom and the cycle starts again in September, when the turions sprout.
Why control is important
Curlyleaf pondweed has two ways to make conditions unpleasant in a lake. First, it can grow very dense, and when it reaches the surface, it creates a block of vegetation that is difficult for fish to swim through and boats to motor through. Stem densities have been recorded at up to 2,000 stems per square yard, making it a denser growing plant than Eurasian watermilfoil and nearly all other native plants.
The second unpleasant aspect of curlyleaf is the timing of its die-off. Native aquatic plants live through the growing season and die back in late summer and early fall when temperatures are cooler and the days are shorter. Nutrients from fall plants dying back go into bacterial growth rather than algae growth. However, curlyleaf has the peculiar distinction of dying back in early summer at the same time the algae population is growing rapidly and can readily take up the nutrients coming from the decomposing plants. Thus, the curlyleaf decomposition contributes to algae blooms.
If curlyleaf growth can be reduced, native plants should do better with less competition from curlyleaf, and recreational and ecological aspects of lake use will be enhanced.
There's hope: curlyleaf experiences from other lakes
Because of curlyleaf 's unique life cycle, harvesting and cutting approaches have to be implemented in late spring or early summer to get long-term curlyleaf control. Likewise, if herbicides are used, they have to be used early enough to kill the plant before turions are produced. Sometimes label restrictions prohibit early season herbicide use because water temperatures are too cold. Currently, herbicides have not been very effective, but this is an area of research.
About the author: Steve McComas, owner of Blue Water Science in St. Paul (651-690-9602), is an aquatic scientist, specializing in lake and watershed management. He is author of the book, Lake Smarts:The First Lake Maintenance Handbook, a do-it-yourself guide to solving lake problems that was developed in cooperation with the U.S. EPA's Clean Lakes Program. The 228-page book is available for $21.95 (includes shipping) from the Terrene Institute, 202-833-8317.
How curlyleaf pondweed control can reduce algae growth:
Work done by Blue Water Science, St. Paul, has found that there is 5.5 pounds of phosphorus in the plant tissue per acre of curlyleaf pondweed. The nearly 300 acres of curlyleaf pondweed in Bald Eagle Lake represent over 1,600 pounds of phosphorus that is released into Bald Eagle Lake when the curlyleaf plant dies back in mid-summer.
Eurasian watermilfoil made quite a splash in 1988 when it showed up for the first time in Minnesota in Lake Minnetonka. But another exotic plant invader in Minnesota beats milfoil by a mile-curlyleaf pondweed. It has been in Minnesota since the early 1900s, and it is documented to be present in over 500 lakes today. It does not cause problems in every lake it inhabits, but it can be a nuisance in lakes where it does well.
It has an alternative lifestyle
Curlyleaf pondweed (Potamogeton crispus) has several life cycle attributes that make it unique. Curlyleaf acts like a winter annual, although it is supposed to be a perennial. Nearly all other aquatic plants are perennials. Curlyleaf 's winter and spring growth spurt is one of its keys to success because there is very little competition from native plants at this time of the year.
Curlyleaf turions
In a typical year, curlyleaf pondweed sprouts from seed-like growths, called turions, in September through October. It will grow for a month or two until ice cover. Then growth slows down; the plant is just rest-ing. As soon as the ice goes off, curlyleaf growth explodes, and it can reach the lake's surface by mid-May. Typically, it's the first plant to make it to the lake surface and is the early summer nuisance on many lakes. After growing up, curlyleaf starts producing turions. Then, in late May or early June, a flower stalk grows above the water line signaling the end of its spring growth. After that point, the whole crop dies back and is often gone by mid-June. The turions lie on the lake bottom and the cycle starts again in September, when the turions sprout.
Why control is important
Curlyleaf pondweed has two ways to make conditions unpleasant in a lake. First, it can grow very dense, and when it reaches the surface, it creates a block of vegetation that is difficult for fish to swim through and boats to motor through. Stem densities have been recorded at up to 2,000 stems per square yard, making it a denser growing plant than Eurasian watermilfoil and nearly all other native plants.
The second unpleasant aspect of curlyleaf is the timing of its die-off. Native aquatic plants live through the growing season and die back in late summer and early fall when temperatures are cooler and the days are shorter. Nutrients from fall plants dying back go into bacterial growth rather than algae growth. However, curlyleaf has the peculiar distinction of dying back in early summer at the same time the algae population is growing rapidly and can readily take up the nutrients coming from the decomposing plants. Thus, the curlyleaf decomposition contributes to algae blooms.
If curlyleaf growth can be reduced, native plants should do better with less competition from curlyleaf, and recreational and ecological aspects of lake use will be enhanced.
There's hope: curlyleaf experiences from other lakes
Because of curlyleaf 's unique life cycle, harvesting and cutting approaches have to be implemented in late spring or early summer to get long-term curlyleaf control. Likewise, if herbicides are used, they have to be used early enough to kill the plant before turions are produced. Sometimes label restrictions prohibit early season herbicide use because water temperatures are too cold. Currently, herbicides have not been very effective, but this is an area of research.
About the author: Steve McComas, owner of Blue Water Science in St. Paul (651-690-9602), is an aquatic scientist, specializing in lake and watershed management. He is author of the book, Lake Smarts:The First Lake Maintenance Handbook, a do-it-yourself guide to solving lake problems that was developed in cooperation with the U.S. EPA's Clean Lakes Program. The 228-page book is available for $21.95 (includes shipping) from the Terrene Institute, 202-833-8317.
How curlyleaf pondweed control can reduce algae growth:
Work done by Blue Water Science, St. Paul, has found that there is 5.5 pounds of phosphorus in the plant tissue per acre of curlyleaf pondweed. The nearly 300 acres of curlyleaf pondweed in Bald Eagle Lake represent over 1,600 pounds of phosphorus that is released into Bald Eagle Lake when the curlyleaf plant dies back in mid-summer.
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sustainable Lakes Workbook now available
The Sustainable Lakes Workbook contains a detailed description of a model process for lake management planning developed from the experiences of five pilot lakes in Minnesota. It was a two year project of the Minnesota Lakes Association in conjunction with the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs at the University of Minnesota.
The 150-page workbook includes instructions on conducting a lakeshore property owners survey, color watershed maps, pilot lake management plans, a Data Assessment Manual, and a series of articles on land-use impacts to water quality. It is also available in hard copy for $25 (including shipping) from the MLA office at lakes@mnlakes.org or call 800-515-5253. It is also available in pdf format.
For questions about the report, contact George Orning, Sustainable Lakes Project Director at (612) 625-0081 or ornin002@tc.umn.edu, or Paula West, MLA Excutive Director, at pwest@mnlakes.org or 218-824-5565.
The workbook is posted in PDF format which requires Adobe Reader to read. The software is easy to install and use.
The 150-page workbook includes instructions on conducting a lakeshore property owners survey, color watershed maps, pilot lake management plans, a Data Assessment Manual, and a series of articles on land-use impacts to water quality. It is also available in hard copy for $25 (including shipping) from the MLA office at lakes@mnlakes.org or call 800-515-5253. It is also available in pdf format.
For questions about the report, contact George Orning, Sustainable Lakes Project Director at (612) 625-0081 or ornin002@tc.umn.edu, or Paula West, MLA Excutive Director, at pwest@mnlakes.org or 218-824-5565.
The workbook is posted in PDF format which requires Adobe Reader to read. The software is easy to install and use.
