Volunteers help borough monitor, protect lakes

MAT-SU — For the past dozen years, a handful of volunteers have monitored the water quality in more than 20 area lakes.

They’re not regulators out to bust the errant; rather, they are volunteers trained by the Matanuska-Susitna Borough Volunteer Lake Monitoring Program.

Harry and Jean Holt have lived on Finger Lake since 1981, and it was an algae bloom in their lake that led them to volunteer as lake monitors. Since no one was monitoring Finger Lake back then, no one knew at the time if it might be a naturally occurring bloom or whether it was a symptom of a man-made problem, like a septic tank installed wrong.

Warming water temperatures also can lead to algae blooms, Harry said.

For most of their time with the program — they’ve volunteered since before the borough had a formal monitoring program — the Holts also have volunteered to test sites on Lake Louise, Lake Tyone and Lake Susitna.

But just the test on those three lakes involves a 50-mile circuit of six test sites and an eight- to 10-hour day, the Holts said. So they recruited neighbors on Finger Lake to take over testing recently.

Lisa Borowsky, water quality technician for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said the 34 volunteers in the group genuinely care about their community.

“This shines through in their commitment to service,” she said. “We would like to acknowledge all of the volunteers in the program who commit their time and energy to training, collecting data and working toward the overall enhancement of water quality in the Mat-Su.”

Most of the volunteers in that group commit to monitoring one lake with two sites, but the Holts have taken their commitment farther, she said.

“While it is totally understandable and acceptable for volunteers to end their season once temperatures drop in late September, the Holts frequently continue to monitor late in the season regardless of temps,” Borowsky said.

Cumulatively, from 1999 to 2011, volunteers have given 2,312 hours of time monitoring 47 lakes, according to program records.

More volunteers are needed to help with the lake monitoring program, she said. The program is accepting volunteers for Rocky Lake, Big Beaver Lake, Matanuska Lake, Lake Lucille, Kepler Lake, Bradley Lake and Knik Lake.

Volunteers are not compensated for their time, but are trained and recertified annually. And the program also provides the necessary testing equipment like H2O probes and Secchi Discs, the Holts said.

The Holts use their own boat to navigate to the same six sets of GPS coordinates each time they test; once in the spring and again in the fall. Harry said they try to pick a day with nice weather since they will need to be anchored for an hour at each test site while they complete their data collection.

Volunteers use a set of forms to record data on water clarity, potential hydrogen, depth, temperature, dissolved oxygen and specific conductance. The forms are returned to the borough and added to the year-to-year record of the lake’s water.

Borowsky said the program was established to determine baseline conditions on area lakes that may change as a result of watershed development. She said it takes five to 10 years of data to fully assess a lake’s natural or existing condition.

“But even one year of data provides valuable information,” she said.

The Holts said the program also has an education component that helps teach people who live on lakes to help take care of them.

“We feel really passionate about it,” Jean said. “People don’t realize they have a responsibility when they live on a lake — a responsibility to everyone else to help protect it and keep it that way.”

Across Finger Lake from the Holts is Rick and Mary Mystrom’s new house. The Holts said when their new neighbors learned their landscaping could harm the lake they changed their design.

The borough Planning Department operates the lake monitoring program and trains and recertifies volunteers annually. The only rule in borough code for building on lakes is a 75-foot setback required for all structures, Jean said.

The borough has a packet of best-practice guidelines it provides to anyone who purchases a lakefront lot, Jean said. But best practices are voluntary, not required, she said.

So, property owners can opt to mow everything down to the shoreline and plant grass to the very edge, and some people do just that, Jean said.

“What’s good for your lawn is not good for a lake,” Harry said. “It’s important for people living on lakes to understand how landscaping impacts water quality.”

Three certification trainings for volunteers are planned this month.

For more information or to become a volunteer, contact lisa.borowsky@matsugov.us or Melanie Trost at Melanie.trost@matsugov.

Contact managing editor Heather A. Resz at 352-2268 or heather.resz@frontiersman.com.