A clean lake is a happy lake. Here are some simple tips to consider to ensure your lake can be enjoyed by future generations. Posted September 25, 2009 by Freshwater Society If you live on a lake, stream or wetland, plant a buffer strip of native plants along the...
Lake Management
What is Blue-Green Algae and How to Prevent it in Your Lake
What Is A Blue-Green Algae Bloom? Blue-green algae reproduce rapidly in fresh water when the amount of sunlight, temperature and nutrients are adequate. Within a few days a “clear” lake, pond or ditch can become cloudy with algae growth. This is called a bloom. Blue-green blooms usually float to...
Lakes and Water Quality – Constant Change
Why does the water quality of our lake seem to get worse throughout the summer? Lakes change a great deal over the course of a year. Changes are caused by seasonal weather patterns, watershed influences, and the life cycles of the lake’s biota. During the winter, ice and snow...
Simple Tips to Keep Your Lake Healthy
A Buffer of Native Plants Preserving a natural buffer of native plants is one of the best ways to protect a lake. Shoreline plants filter sediment and chemicals from runoff, provide food and shelter for fish and wildlife and can slow or prevent shoreline erosion. Shade from overhanging shrubs...
Lakefront Living – What do Lake Associations do?
March 14th, 2012 by University of Maine Cooperative Extension I work with a number of lake associations throughout Maine. As I coordinate the Watershed Stewards Program Looking at Lake Water Quality (our lake education program), I get to know the people who care about their lakes – and most often,...
Lakefront Living – 10 Tips to Keep Your Lake Healthy
Loving Your Lake – 10 tips for keeping your waters clean and healthy– forever By Steve McComas, Published: August 1, 2005 People have a remarkable affinity for and attraction to water, so more and more of us are moving to the lake or dreaming about it. Maybe you have...
Lakefront Living – A Healthy Lake is a Happy Lake
What is a Watershed? A watershed is an area of land in which all the water drains into a particular low-lying river or other surface water body. The boundaries of a watershed are determined by higher areas of land which separate it from adjacent watersheds. Since all the land...
Lake Management: Please Don’t feed the lake!
Lakes age with time and have been going through a natural process of filling in over hundreds or thousands of years. Each fill in at different rates. The natural aging process in which a lake fills in with material (such as sediment and decayed organic material) and gets shallower...
The Massachusetts Lake and Pond Guide
If you are a lake and pond lover like me, you may want to learn more about lake ecology and lake management. The more educated you are, the more you will enjoy the lakefront living lifestyle! A publication by the MA Department of Conservation & Recreation Lakes & Ponds Division was...
The Dedicated Folks of Lake Associations: Long Pond in Lakeville, MA
Having been a part on my Lake Association for over 15 years, I certainly appreciate the work from dedicated residents who are focused on managing their special resource. Lake Associations are usually made up of a volunteer Board of Directors that are chartered with many lake management activities…everything from...