Kezar Lake Watershed Analysis
Our Mid-Project Recap
Mid-Project Presentation
The Community-Based Project class at Colby-Sawyer College presented the mid-project presentation on December 2nd, to members of the Kezar Lake Protective Association as well as the surrounding community. The presentation took place in Colby-Sawyer College’s Clements Hall and was simultaneously broadcast via Zoom to members of the community that could not attend the presentation in person. We had a great turnout of approximately 49 people, 25 of which joined us via Zoom. The goal of our presentation was to inform community members and members of the KLPA of accomplishments during our fall semester, general trends in water quality and observations. We also outlined our plans for next semester. The mid-project presentation can be viewed here.
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Going On Break
The Community-Based Project class will be taking a break from sampling while focusing on finals during the week of Dec 13th - Dec 17th followed by winter break from Dec 18th - Jan17th. The Community-Based Project class will begin sampling again next semester when we get back to campus!
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Plans For Next Semester
Our plans for next semester include further lake and tributary water sampling, sediment core sampling, community workshops for landscaping and aquatic vegetation, volunteer opportunities, and a year-long Kezar Lake Assessment with recommendations. The class will be collecting sediment cores at the deep site to assess the aluminum salt treatment conducted during the 1980’s. The aquatic vegetation and landscaping groups plan to have a workshop for community members, providing information and recommendations. At the end of the semester, the Community-Based Project will present an in-depth analysis to the community and provide recommendations
Our class is very excited to learn new skills next semester while collecting sediment core samples. We get to use new equipment during this process such as a Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer! The spectrometer will allow us to analyze for both aluminum and iron in the sediment core samples.
We are excited to assess seasonal data from fall, winter, and spring that is outside the usual summer sampling that has occurred historically. We expect some parameter, such as Chlorophyll-a and E. coli to decline while chlorides increase during winter.
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Lake Turnover!
There is something unique happening in Kezar Lake during these winter months. It's called Lake Turnover! Lakes have natural stratification due to varying temperatures in the water. During summer months, the temperature is warmer in the epilimnion (top) and cooler in the hypolimnion (bottom). As air and water temperatures cool in the fall and winter months, the epilimnion water becomes denser and sinks to the bottom. The less dense water from the hypolimnion rises to the top, which starts the lake turnover. This natural process mixes nutrients and oxygen through different stratification layers.
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Volunteers?
Volunteers are always welcome throughout the entire process of the Community-Based Project at Kezar Lake. We want to recognize a few of the community stakeholders that assisted us in various ways in the classroom, field, and laboratory. Joanne Sigua, Lynn Wittman, and Jonathan Brown were all very helpful in providing feedback on what the Kezar Lake Protective Association would like to accomplish with this Community-Based Project. We greatly appreciate each of their time and help as they joined our sampling and analysis teams in at Kezar Lake and participated in our weekly meetings. All are welcome to join during sampling days every other Friday next semester, in the lab after sampling or while analyzing phosphorus! Below is a link to a Sign-Up sheet for Volunteers.
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Colby-Sawyer College
Email: john.landrigan@my.colby-sawyer.edu
Website: https://colby-sawyer.edu/
Location: 541 Main Street, New London, New Hampshire, USA
Phone: (603) 526 - 3000