PSU Magazine Spring 1995

~veson ewater he environmental health of many of O regon's oft-neglected lake i getting scrutiny from an avid group of citizen vo lunteers who are part of a Portland State-ba ed program. Citizen Lake Watch, launched five years ago, keeps tabs on the health of the state's lakes. About 40 vo lunteers through ut the tate, supervised by P U adjunct biology instructor Mark Syt ma , check ome 30 lakes for inva ive weed , high nutrient levels, sedimentat ion, and other signs that may po int to declining water qua lity. The program, funded by a combina– tion of federal Environmental Protection Age ncy (EPA) and Oregon Department of Environmental Qua lity (DEQ) funds, helps fi ll in for taff and money shortages at DEQ. "The whole point of this program is to co llect sufficient data on key lake o that long-term trends can be identified and, in some cases, corrective mea ure can be taken," say ytsma, who coordinates the program through P U' Biology Department and the non-profit Oregon Lakes Association. The DEQ originally started the program under the EPA umbrella. Portland State's Biology Department, which ha been involved in the program ince 1991, receives technical and funding assistance from the DEQ and Oregon Department of Agriculture. In addition, PSU contributes to the program by providing monitoring and data processing equipment. All data 16 PSU Magaz ine obtained from the vo lunteers goes into EPA' nationwide database and is used by DEQ officials as we ll. "You need a long enough record about each lake before you ee long-term change," Sytsma says. "We're looking to get 10 years' worth of data on these lakes. Now, we're just starting to get the Citizen Lake Watch volunteers have made the health of Oregon's lakes their concern. Article and Photographs by Brian White Koren Marthaller uses a Secchi disk, an instrument that tests the clarity of water, from a dock off her yard on the south shore of Blue Lake near Troutdale. From May through October, she typically takes weekly measurements that include water temperature, air temperature, and pH.