Turning Back the Clock – A Plan to Restore Lake Ketchum
by Marisa Burghdoff and Gene Williams, Snohomish County Public Works Surface Water Management
Lake Ketchum is a beautiful 25-acre lake in northern Snohomish County just a few miles from Puget Sound. With a fairly small watershed and limited residential development, it is not the type of lake you would expect to have serious water quality problems. Unfortunately, Lake Ketchum is the most polluted lake in Snohomish County and one of the worst in the state. After living with severe water quality problems for decades, the residents of Lake Ketchum, together with Snohomish County, have a plan to “turn back the clock” and restore the lake so residents and visitors can enjoy it once again.
Notes from the 2012 WALPA Conference
(or How to Have a Fun Time and Call it Work) by Jim Gawel
The 25th Annual WALPA Conference on October 24-26 in Wenatchee was a great success thanks to all its sponsors, exhibitors, volunteers, speakers and attendees! For those who couldn’t make it, let me fill you in on what you missed. Nearly 100 WALPA members attended, representing a wide array of federal, state, tribal, county and municipal agencies responsible for lake management as well as university faculty and students, analytical labs, lake associations, consulting companies, NGOs, lake management companies and companies demonstrating the latest monitoring methods and technologies.
Help us welcome the new WALPA Board members!
Please help us welcome our new 2013 board members, elected at the recent WALPA conference in Wenatchee.
2012 Scholarship winners announced
Each year at its annual conference, WALPA awards two student scholarships: the Nancy Weller Memorial Scholarship and the WALPA Student Scholarship. Candidates for these competitive scholarships must be students currently enrolled at a college or university proposing to do research on the biology, hydrology, ecology and management or restoration of lakes and watersheds in Washington or Idaho. As in past years, competition for these scholarships was stiff; applicants spanned the range from undergraduates to PhD students and demonstrated diverse interests. The scholarship committee had a difficult time choosing among the candidates. We thank all the students who applied and invite them to present their research at an upcoming WALPA conference. This year’s student session at the WALPA conference was well-attended, attesting to the excellent work done by our students. Please join the scholarship committee and the WALPA Board in congratulating this year’s winners. Below is a short background statement provided by each of the winners.
Bylaw changes approved at Wenatchee conference in October
The proposed bylaw changes described in last quarter’s Waterline were approved at this year’s WALPA conference in Wenatchee. A couple of small changes clarified the student membership category (college was added to the definition of student) and specified a formal mechanism for the resignation and dismissal of board members.
