Lake School weekend for community associations

The Lake School, an immersive, hands-on, field-based lake stewardship course for members of community associations tasked with managing their community’s lakes, will be held the weekend of May 19-21. A sponsored program of the Pocono Lake Ecological Observatory Network (PLEON), the course will be held at the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation in Lake Ariel.

Participants will learn lake ecology basics, gain hands-on experience monitoring water quality, practice interpreting data, discuss emerging threats to Pennsylvania lakes, and join a network of regional lake associations facing the same challenges.

Topics include chemical and physical characteristics of lakes; lake food webs; invasive species; harmful algal blooms; nutrient enrichment and other lake threats; designing and implementing a monitoring program on your lake; and communicating lake data to your community.

PLEON is a regional lake monitoring program focused on educating the public and lake associations on water quality and lake management. The program’s goals include empowering the public to better understand and manage their fresh waters; creating a community scientists, students, environmental educators, and landowners to work together in improving the ecological state of Pennsylvania’s lake ecosystems and provide ongoing monitoring data on lakes and ensuring that landowners fully understand the advantages and limitations of different lake management approaches.

Financial and other support for the PLEON Lake School has been provided by the Department of Environmental Protection’s 2022 Environmental Education Grants Program. Additional support provided by Lacawac Sanctuary, Brookfield Renewable US and the National Science Foundation.

Lacawac Sanctuary is a nonprofit association founded in 1966 for the purpose of protecting a gift of the original Connell Park lands by Arthur and Isabel Watres and facilitating environmental education and research. Located on Lake Wallenpaupack, the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation plays an important role in the preservation of Lake Lacawac which is one of the southernmost glacial lakes in the hemisphere and has been preserved in pristine condition free from development and encroachment. For more information, visit www.lacawac.org.

For more details about the weekend training and registration, email Dr. Beth Norman at beth.norman@lacawac.org log onto lacawac.org/pleon-lake-school.html.