September 2013 - Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council

September 2013
Volume 19, Issue 3
Lake Maxinkuckee Environmental Council
A Sunday regatta on Lake Maxinkuckee, oh summer, you pass too quickly….
Photo courtesy of GCM Photography
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“Humm, raking my leaves into the lake. Should I or
shouldn’t I? Such a tough question to ponder while I’m
lying here looking up at all the pretty colors in the trees.”
Is this what you are thinking right now?
consider some things for a moment…..
Well, let’s
Most summers, people call the LMEC office to question why
there are so many weeds in the lake, or even to ask about the
lake foam - what is it, what makes it happen.
I explain to them that nutrients entering the lake allow these
types of things to grow, or in the case of the lake foam, even
contribute to their existence. Leaves and yard waste decay in
the water and become food for the weeds to feast upon,
promoting more weed growth during the next year’s summer
season.
I began making the same plea just two years after becoming
the latest executive director of LMEC, the first time in July
2009. “Be a good neighbor, whether you do your own yard
work or hire it done, it is important to remember that what
happens to your yard waste affects the water we all play in.
The process of nutrient enrichment of lakes leads down a path
we are working hard to avoid. The misuse of lawn and garden
chemicals by home owners or lawn services is also a serious
problem. Wastes and fertilizers seep, pour and erode into the
water, causing unnatural concentrations of nutrients. These
nutrients produce a super abundance of unwanted algae and
rooted plants. Never use the lake or a stream as a disposal
site for leaves or other yard waste. Your neighbors don’t want
your trash drifting onto their shoreline and the lake gets enough
leaves and things blown in without man lending a helping hand!
We’ve found waste dumped in the woods, the lake, the
wetlands - be a good neighbor and arrange for the proper
disposal of your yard waste - be a good friend to your lake!”
While preparing for the LMEC exhibit at the Antiquarians
museum this summer, it seemed there was a trend showing up
in the old LMEC newsletters. Many articles on keeping leaves
and yard waste out of the lake have been written over the
years.
So for fall of 2013 I offer the following: Please... the preservation of the lake is important to all of us in this community.
Everyone here has invested heavily in Lake Maxinkuckee and
much of its value rests in its pristine condition. We all hope to
show future generations the lake we have grown to love. So
In the spring of 1994, Karen Dehne, the first executive director this year, before you even begin raking leaves or having your
lawn service do it for you, think twice….talk to the service
of LMEC wrote “Never use the lake as a disposal site for
people you use... DO NOT contribute to next summer’s weed
leaves or other yard refuse.”
crop. Dispose of your leaves responsibly, have them hauled
Almost as soon as Tina Hissong began her tenure as executive away, not moved to a neighbor’s woods next to a stream...nor
blown directly into the lake. Haul them away from our lake,
director of LMEC, she wrote the following statements about
burn them if you are in the country (banned in town), or comleaves and yard waste:
post them, just not near the lakeshore.
“NEVER throw leaves, grass clippings or other lawn refuse into
Yes, yes...I know, Mother Nature blows some leaves into the
the lake.” June, 1996.
lake, but does she really need us to dump 1000 times that
amount in too? I think not.
“Dissolved organic matter in the lake acts as a surfactant and
helps hold lake “foam” together. Leaves, grass clippings equal
The LMEF Board of Directors recently noticed that I have
organic matter.” November, 1997.
an aversion to having my photograph taken. They have gone
“DO NOT throw yard waste into the lake! This only increases
so far as to ’request’ that LMEC Council Chair Allen Chesser
nutrients and organic debris in the lake.” Summer, 2001.
take my photo whenever I am out on an LMEC
project! Don’t they realize that some of us just
“DO NOT RAKE LEAVES or yard waste into the lake. This
aren’t photogenic? So, under protest, I took
only increases nutrients and organic matter promoting weed
the following selfie and agreed to publish it
growth.” Summer, 2003.
here. Hey, you can still see it, it isn’t that
small!
Kathy Clark, Executive Director
September 2013
Page 2
Working toward the preservation of an ecologically sound
IT’S THAT TIME AGAIN, FALL IS UPON US!
Fall turnover has been written about here in our newsletters. But what is it really? Fall turnover in lakes is natural
and occurs when suddenly cooler surface water sinks to the bottom of the lake, while oxygen poor water from the
lake bottom rises. Most lakes stratify, or separate in layers, including Lake Maxinkuckee. The warmer surface
water during the summer months and the cooler, denser water at the bottom do not mix and so create layers or
stratification. In many lakes, again including Lake Maxinkuckee, the bottom layer of water becomes anoxic (lacking
oxygen). As the air cools in the fall, the top layers of water cool also. Since warm water is lighter than cool water,
the now cooler surface water sinks, mixing the previously separate water layers or “turning over the lake”.
Below are two one-dimensional graphs developed with 2008’s readings taken by a group from Purdue that actually
shows what is also know as “the Fall flip”, that day when the water temperature - from top to bottom - is the same.
Cold water is heavier than warm water so as temperatures begin to equal out there is actually a “turnover” action
that takes place. That minute, or day, is shown by the yellow band on the graph below. Professor Troy is working
on developing a three dimensional computer model as his experiments progress.
The larger graph below shows clearly that on October 23rd 2008
Lake Maxinkuckee’s water ‘flipped’ over, top to bottom.
USGS FOLLOW-UP
The latest report on the USGS lakebed sampling project begun this past spring is that the samples are now at the
labs undergoing analysis. The laboratories doing the work for USGS have been reporting in to our office and a
couple have already sent in DVDs of their work. Michael D. Agbeti, PhD, President of Bio-limno Research &
Consulting, Inc. of Halifax, Nova Scotia explained to me the other day that there are two steps in their process of
looking at the diatoms, those microscopic, single-celled alga fossils. The first is digesting the samples to prepare
diatom slides - these are now in progress. The second step is identifying and counting the slides using a
microscope. He notes he is a bit technologically disadvantaged in regards to videoing the work, but that he will find
someone to help him through the process. Everyone has been more than accommodating to our request. Others
involved are: Harland Goldstein, USGS lab for particle-size analyses; LaDonna Choate, USGS lab for carbon,
phosphorus, and trace element analyses; Gary Cottrell, USGS lab for nitrogen analyses; Marci Marot, USGS lab for
radionuclide (cesium-137, lead-210, radium-226) analysis. These folks are checking in as they move through their
own processes. Assembling the final video should prove to be an exciting part of this project, I just hope I can find
someone who knows how to edit the various pieces into a cohesive product to use as an educational tool. Anybody out there proficient at this type of thing? Please call the LMEC office!
Lake Maxinkuckee and its surrounding watershed
September 2013
Page 3
LMEC AT THE CULVER MUSEUM
“Lakes don’t want to be lakes. They were created by nature and, overtime - if not
protected - sediment, plants, and debris will fill them in and make them land once more.”
Jody Arthur, Indiana Department of Environmental Management (2009)
The above statement is part of the LMEC exhibit that ran in the Center for Culver History from August 19th through September
22nd this year. Thanks to former curator Rachel Meade, who asked the LMEC executive director if she would be interested in
preparing an exhibit on Lake Maxinkuckee and the LMEC’s history of caring for it, many Culver Woodcraft campers and Culver
Boys & Girls club members were able to spend some time learning about our watershed and our lake. The children participated
in an interactive Enviroscape game (shown below), had a map scavenger hunt, and learned about animal tracks, all under the
supervision of the current curator, Gregory Waksmulski. Gregory did a fantastic job
demonstrating the exhibits and teaching the children so much about the lake they all
share. An excerpt from the Antiquarian & Historical Society’s website follows.
“Covering 1,864 acres, with eleven miles of shoreline, twenty-one underground springs
and four tributaries, our lake is the second largest in the state. In the 70’s though, the
lake was facing a decline due to pollution. The ‘crystal water’ as the Potowatomi
Indians had named it, was in trouble.
Enter the Lake Management Committee, set up by action taken at a Culver Plan
Commission meeting in 1981. A few years later, the group had grown to both an
environmental fund, known as the LMEF, and an environmental council, the LMEC, the
first functioning conservation network for the area. The organization subsequently took the lead in several key conservation
efforts around the lake. These projects include the formation of three wetlands and most recently a core sampling study that will
help to develop a timeline of the last two to three hundred years in the lake, while determining the impact of the group’s efforts.
The Center for Culver History is proud to collaborate with LMEC on this wonderful, interactive exhibit.
The exhibit tells the story of our lake from its glacial beginnings to the problems and issues it has faced, past and present. Loads
of interactive displays helped to educate exhibit-goers on the flora and fauna as well as the dynamics of the lake itself. Displays
also cover the group’s history as caretakers protecting and preserving the lake over the last thirty two years.”
As you can see below, a good time was had by all.
Photos by
museum staff
and others.
This newsletter is written by Kathy Clark, unless otherwise noted on a specific article. Photos are credited to the photographer who took them.
September 2013
Volume 19
HERE COMES FALL!
Issue 3
www.lakemax.org
Lake Maxinkuckee
Environmental Council
Allen Chesser, Chair
Dusty Henricks
Eric March
Dan Osborn
Bill Rhodes
Dan Baughman
Gary Shaffer
Dr. John Bernero
Tammy Shaffer
Dave Blalock
Lake Maxinkuckee
Environmental Fund
Marabeth Levett, President
Litt Clark, Vice President
Merritt Becker, Treasurer
Alan Chesser, Council Chair
Carol Zeglis, IPP
Mary Anna Swennumson
Kevin Berger
Jim Sturman
Pam Buxton, Advisor
Tom Sams, Advisor
Tom Story, Advisor
574-842-3686
116 N. Main St. Culver Indiana
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