Research Concern for water quality spurs PSU lake research by Cliff Johnson S everal PSU researchers currently are worklng to oroduce a statewlde lnventok and classificationof Oregon's principal lakes, reservoirs and watershed areas, with the long-rangegoal of helping to malntalnwater quality In Oregon's many lakes Providing the basis for the new Oregon lakes inventory is the federal EnvironmentalProtectionAgency's "Clean Lakes Program," which seeks to identify which of the nation's lakes currently show a decllne in water quality, with the intention to eventually restore them. PSU researchers. under project coordinator Daniel M. Johnson. assistant professor of geography. have begun contacting planners. representativesof fish and wildlife agencies, and others who have professlonalor long-standing personal expertise on Oregon lakes, asking them to step forward with advlce on whlch bodies of water should be included In their inventory. The E.P.A. awarded a $100,000 grant to begln the work in May, w~th two years alotted lo complete the project. While there is only enough federal money to conduct research on approximately 300 lakes. project cartographer D. R~chardLycan, head of PSU's geography department. thinks it should be enough to get the state's most importantwaters catalogued. "This is a concerted statewide effolf In Oregon to bring together the scattered Informationneeded to develop ratlonal policies for iake water quality management." said Lycan. Mher states, such as Mmnesota, Wisconsin, New York and Michigan, already have developed comprehensive management programs for water quality. In Oregon, PSU's lnventoty and classlf~cationof the state's prinapal lakes is the first step In reachingthat ooal =-- Although various enorts nave been made a ong tnese I nes *n ~ ' e i i o ~yesars ' Johnson s a d 'the results have been piece-meal, because much of the information remains unoublished. or is too OJtoatcd or IS loo oca zeo or else 1s scatlereo In a versa p-01 cabons 'F-rtler, he aooeo ~nlorrnat~on on lake watersheds onen is not included with informatlonabout the lakes themselves." R~chard L. Petersen, associate professor in PSU's biology department, wlll supervise the analysis of water samples to determine existing chemtcal and bdogical charactenstlcsof the lakes Cooperatingwith, PSU investigators is the Oregon Departmentof Environmental Quality. "We're now lrylng to choose where to invest our time most wisely," noted Lycan. "It would be best if we could collecl complete and current informallon in the fleid ourselves on each of Oregon's lakes: he added, "but our lhmited time and resources mean that we must ratlonour field efforts, and ~nsteadbase much of our time on collecting ~nformation from existing sources of data." Lycan sa~dhe and his s!aii, includ~noMark Neuhaus. oradu researc; assstant wanit6 con lhetr se ecl on ol akes by Ine e ate ~plete nd of itate's Wlll st1.c October. Information collected on the r priaclpal lakes and watersheds be included in a new statewlde ., While federal funds will pay for printing only 200 copies of the atlas. the copyright will be assigned to PSU. Lycan noted.
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