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Wellness
Checks for Aquatic Communities
The
Lake County Health Department recently completed a study
of 32 lakes to determine their overall ecological health
and guide future management decisions. The study, part of
the Lakes Management Initiative, included an analysis of
plant species by month and location, and looked at problems
such as shoreline erosion and invasives.
The
department was able to complete water quality surveys for
only about 10 lakes a year prior to receiving $125,000 in
January from the Lake County Board and the Lake County Forest
Preserves to fund the initiative. The additional staff and
lab equipment has led to some exciting finds. At Cranberry
Lake in Hainesville, for example, health department staff
found two endangered plant species and one very rare species.
"Until we start looking closely for these things, we don’t
even know they exist," said Mark Pfister, an aquatic biologist
and coordinator of the Lakes Management Unit.
This
is the first time all the lakes have been looked at by any
agency in this way. According to the 2000 study, 66 percent
of the lakes monitored are being used by threatened and
endangered bird species. "Ospreys were seen fishing those
lakes. Also, black-crowned night herons and double-crested
cormorants," Pfister stated. "We certainly want to maintain
the habitat for those species."
The
study has also provided information that may minimize the
impact of recreation. For example, Eurasian water milfoil,
a non-native aquatic plant that forms mats, obstructs light,
and displaces native plants and animals, was found in 44
percent of the lakes studied. However, this bad news is
better than the health department feared! Now the department
hopes protect the other 56 percent of the lakes by helping
agency managers educate boaters who inadvertently transport
the plant on trailers and boat propellers.
The
level of analysis accomplished in the Health Department
study can also help managers preserve a healthy site from
the moment it is acquired. In 2000, the Lake County Forest
Preserves purchased
Timber
Lake, a site identified in the study as a pristine glacial
lake. The Health Department hopes to identify other high
quality lakes and alert agencies or associations that might
be interested in preserving them.
The
department plans to study every body of water in Lake County
by 2004. "The goals of the Lakes Management Initiative include
improving water quality, enhancing biodiversity, and minimizing
exotics," Pfister stated. "After five years, we’ll
begin studying these lakes again to see how well we’ve
achieved these goals." — Alison Carney Brown
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