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	Vol. 15, No. 1		Summer 2010

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We place a strong emphasis on understanding the way that lakes are connected—to each other, to the streams that flow from their watersheds, to rivers and estuaries. All of our water resources are ultimately connected. Our understanding of how lakes work, how they should be monitored, and how to effectively protect them, is through this interconnectedness.

Understanding hydrologic connections is essential to gathering and interpreting lake data. But there is another type of connectedness that plays a role in our efforts to understand and protect lakes. Lake scientists, volunteer monitors, conservationists and others are increasingly contemplating the PERSONAL connections that all of us have to lakes, because for many of us, our experiences are ultimately what motivate us to take action on their behalf. When volunteer lake monitors are asked what motivates them to monitor their lake, they often reflect on the time that they have spent on the water, and ways in which such experiences have enriched their lives.

The most recent edition (Spring 2010) of LakeLine, a publication of the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS), contains articles written by seasoned lake scientists, lake management specialists, environmental educators and conservationists. The group of articles is collectively referred to as “Reflections,” because it focuses on the many ways in which lakes have moved and inspired the authors, their families, friends and colleagues, and have caused them to consider the role that personal experience plays in lake management and protection.

In his article, A Tale of Two Lakes, lifelong lake conservationist and educator Lowell Klessig writes about his spiritual connection to two lakes—one of which is a small spring pond near his family home, the other being the largest body of fresh water on the planet—Lake Baikal in Siberia. He explains how, in his view, lakes provide nearly all of the essential components required to sustain life and culture. Klessig also discusses stewardship, a term that comes to mind for many of us when we think of our connection to lakes. But he feels that stewardship may not be sufficient to protect lakes, because while stewards “protect lakes for the benefit of present and future generations”, “nature is treated as a commodity to be managed for wise human use”. Klessig feels that this relationship needs to change to one of “interdependence and a broad sense of community”, if lakes and their many benefits are to survive.

On a similar theme, notable lake scientist and advocate Ken Wagner speaks to the importance of keeping people, lakes and life connected. He emphasizes the value of exploring ways for people to experience lakes throughout their lives. Ken points out that the ways in which we relate to lakes have not only “a profound impact on our lives and wellbeing,” but also affect the degree to which society is willing to manage and protect lakes. Consequently, the way that we connect to them is beneficial from truly holistic, ecological perspective.

Reading through these powerful essays, I reflected on why I am here, writing this newsletter article. My most powerful recollections of summer are clustered around more than three decades spent with family and friends on a lake in Western Maine. We were fortunate to have a small camp along what was at that time a mostly wooded shoreline. My siblings and I spent a great deal of time in, or on, the water, swimming, fishing, exploring lake ecology (although we didn’t know it, as such), paddling our small wooden boat, or sitting with three generations of family around an outside fieldstone fireplace near the water. I vividly recall the quality of the light at the water’s edge in early morning, the scent of the water, and the peace and contentment that I felt whenever I was there. I spent many hours sitting on a large hillside boulder that provided a great perspective on the meeting of land and water. I loved getting up early in the morning to walk through the woods with my grandfather to a hand-dug spring, where we bottled our drinking water. In the evenings, the musical sound of the waves lapping the rocks at the waters’ edge was the perfect sleeping potion. It is not by chance that I have been involved professionally with lakes for more than three decades.

Maine’s VLMP is all about gathering lake data. Our ultimate goal is to use this information to assess the health of individual lakes, diagnose specific problems, and to provide information to state, regional and local agencies and organizations, to be used for a wide range of purposes, ranging from education to establishing protective standards. But, as Ken Wagner states in his article, although he is a scientist, and “a data guy to [his] core,” he knows that ultimately, it won’t be the data alone that will protect lakes, but that helping others feel this connectedness will! He urges all of us to find ways to connect family, friends and community to lakes, because “our well-being, as well as that of our lakes is likely to depend on it.”

Some of us form strong connections
to lakes early in our lives.

Mark Hoyer is the current President of NALMS, as well as the assistant director of Florida Lakewatch, a volunteer lake monitoring program similar to Maine’s VLMP. In his LakeLine article, Mark notes that we are all pretty well connected via, and consumed by, email, cell phones, voicemail, texting, and other devices that help ensure that someone can always find us. But those same devices may also be keeping us, and new generations, from sitting on the lake shoreline and taking it all in. Mark ponders when he was last on a lake for the simple joy of being there.

He notes a Lake User Survey conducted in 2006 of 2,000 lake users in Southwest Florida (Chart right) that asked respondents to rank the amount of time that that they spend at a list of 12 different lake user activities. The number one use was to “sit and enjoy” the lake, with 43 percent of the respondents enjoying this use at least twice weekly!

Mark goes on to say “As with me, the water has a calming aspect for many people, and for most of us protecting lakes and all that they do for us, this is probably why I got into the business.” No doubt, these sentiments strike a chord with many volunteer lake monitors!

In an article entitled Loving Lakes, Tom Gordon, former Director of Maine’s Cobbossee Watershed District, comments that while many of us “address lake issues in the context of research, water quality monitoring, watershed planning, regulation, public education, and restoration”, we often overlook the underlying motivation for these important aspects of lake protection. Tom writes “Our purpose in protecting and restoring lakes is defined by our essential connection to the natural world.” And like his colleagues, he acknowledges and emphasizes that “recognizing our deeply personal connection with lakes, our sense of place with lakes, and the significance of story in our work with lakes can build public support for lake projects, and revitalize our commitment.”

Through the years, you, Maine’s volunteer lake monitors, have discussed your motivations for doing what you do, whether it be taking Secchi disk readings, or conducting invasive plant screening surveys. We have heard you say that you recognize how important it is to gather data for the lake that you monitor, in order to help protect the qualities of the lake experiences that enhance your life. The stories of those experiences convey important messages to your lake communities, and they underscore the value of your work.

Please consider sharing your lake experiences and stories with all of us. The VLMP website has an individual page for the lake that you monitor. Each page includes a place for you to tell us how you came to be a volunteer monitor, and why you continue, year after year, to monitor you lake’s health. The VLMP is a wide-ranging state-wide enterprise involving hundreds of individuals and groups. Your stories help to weave the fabric that keep all of us connected.

Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program

vlmp@mainevlmp.org
24 Maple Hill Road, Auburn, ME 04210
(207) 783-7733
www.MaineVolunteerLakeMonitors.org
copyright 2010 Maine Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program | website comments to: vlmp@mainevlmp.org