Be Bold

Be bold. We manage lakes to protect them or to improve them. If some policy, process, or technique is not working, change it. I can think of no better example than the prevention of aquatic invasive species. Because most of these nasty plants, animals, and viruses cannot be eradicated once established in a lake, bold measures must be on the table. We must be open to cultural changes such as inspections or quarantines in some cases if we are serious about protecting lakes. Simply, we must be as aggressive as these exotic pests.

Another area where we must be open to new thinking is adapting to climate change. Changing climate may undermine the design criteria for many of our stormwater management and control facilities, thereby threatening to under-protect the lakes downstream. As well, many native flora and fauna in our lakes may not be able to weather (sorry, pun) altered climate patterns and our lakes may be less able to stand insults. Again, we are managing lakes in a changing environment (the theme of our symposium in November, see below) – so we will need to be open to different policies, processes, and techniques.

If you have developed a new approach or technique, please share it with NALMS members and the lake management community. Consider submitting your thoughts and observations in this newsletter, in LakeLine, in the Journal, or at a technical session in our symposium. We become better lake managers and our lakes become better managed the more we share our collective wisdom and experience.

Article by Guest Author, Dick Osgood, President, North American Lake Management Society (NALMS)
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