May 2, 2003 -- The 16th annual national Conference on Enhancing the States' Lake Management Programs was held on April 23-25, 2003 in Chicago and was attended by 160 people with representatives from 34 states.
This year's conference theme was "Developing and Implementing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for Lakes and Reservoirs." A number of lake/reservoir TMDLs were discussed including TMDLs for Cherry Creek Reservoir in Colorado, Cascade Reservoir in Idaho, Lake Champlain in Vermont, Lake Mead in Nevada, and several others.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) participants at the meeting included: Chuck Sutfin, Director, EPA's Assessment and Watershed Protection Division (AWPD), who gave the keynote address on efforts to restore and protect our nation's waters; Tom Davenport, EPA Region 5, who gave some opening remarks; Ruth Chemery's, AWPD, who spoke on Mercury TMDLs; Tim Wool, EPA Region 4, who discussed modeling to support TMDL development; and Anne Weinberg, AWPD, who facilitated a session on the "ABC's of TMDLs for Lake Associations."
The conference included an interactive session which summarized a survey on the status of development of lake nutrient criteria-this survey was conducted by the North American Lake Management Society (NALMS) and should be posted on their web site soon at www.nalms.org.
The conference also included a pre-conference workshop on "Getting Your Watershed Plans Finalized, Funded and Working in the Field.." This day-long workshop highlighted the 9 minimum elements that should be included in watershed plans to receive funding. For more information on this conference visit the web site at: http://www.nalms.org/news/events.htm.
Next year's state lakes meeting will be held on April 20-23, 2004 - and the conference theme will be "Monitoring Lakes and Reservoirs."
This year's conference was organized by Bob Kirschner, Curator of Aquatics, Chicago Botanic Gardens, and co-sponsored by the Chicago Botanic Gardens, US EPA's Watershed Branch, US EPA Region 5, NALMS, and the Conservation Technology Information Center.
