WALPA recognizes Terry McNabb with the 2025 Secchi Disk Award 

The 2025 Secchi Award winner, announced at October’s conference, was Terry McNabb, principal of Aquatechnex, for his contributions to actively manage aquatic invasive plants and harmful algae in lakes and his strong support of WALPA over the years. The award was presented by Toni Pennington (Environmental Science Associates), with the nomination written by Jennifer Oden and Marisa Burghdoff (Snohomish County). The nomination delivered at the conference was: Terry has been active in aquatic plant management for over 40 years and has been instrumental in fulfilling WALPA’s mission to protect and advocate for our region’s lakes. He is the owner of Aquatechnex, LLC which specializes in restoring lakes impacted by invasive aquatic species and cyanobacteria. Through his decades of work in Washington, Idaho and the broader Northwest, he has worked with lake communities at hundreds of lakes to manage and reduce invasive aquatic plants such as Lake Coeur d'Alene, Lake Goodwin and Lake Washington. In the past few decades, his firm has worked in the field of phosphorus neutralization helping to reduce harmful algal blooms including projects at Lake Stevens, Moses Lake and Kitsap Lake. Terry is seen as an expert in the aquatic plant field and is always researching and working on emerging problems such as hybrid milfoil and slender arrowhead. He has been an involved member of the lake professional community serving as the past president of the Aquatic Plant Management Society, the North American Lake Management Society, and the Western Aquatic Plant Management Society. Finally, Terry has been a strong WALPA supporter and advocate. Aquatechnex is a long-time conference sponsor and Terry is an annual donor, funding WALPA’s Dave Lamb scholarship to honor his good friend.