Pictured: A young citizen scientist makes observations about the water flowing into the lake from the Curtis sub-watershed (by the Country Club), adding to years of data.

Time for a quick refresher from the blog archives: "What To Do With All Those Leaves!" (2020). (Go on, take a read, I'll be here when you get back).

Admittedly, I had always been a little skeptical of the ubiquitous advice from lake conservation organizations who advise on keeping leaves out of lakes. Really?! Trees have been dropping leaves into the lake for thousands of years.

It's good to be skeptical... that's how science can separate fact from fiction. But I also try to remember the wise words of the late Hans Rosling: "Let my dataset change your mindset." We should be ready to update our perspectives as we learn.

I changed my mind when I learned that Clay Bottom Farms - a small urban farm in Goshen - uses composted leaves from the city for 100% of their on-farm nutrients. Yes, you read that right! That's proof in the pudding (or in the potatoes, rather). 

It's important to study and consider historical lake conditions, but we aren't trying to return to some Edenic "natural" state. ("Natural" is a word is oft-abused and ill-defined... that's for another blog post). We know that an of excess nutrients -- phosphorus in particular -- is one of the biggest stressors on Lake Maxinkuckee. So any additional nutrients we can keep out of the system is a win, regardless of origin.


Also... it's illegal to dump material into a public water body, even leaves, wood, and trees. We try not to attribute malice where it is often a lack of education... so if you see something, say something (politely) or call our office. 

For those within The Town of Culver, just rake to the curb (no sticks!) and the town will vacuum them up for removal to a city-owned parcel outside of the watershed.

For those outside the Town, check the blog linked above for more ideas. 

Which has me thinking... what could the Town do with these nutrients? It's been something we've been thinking about. Call us if you have ideas!

LMEF keeps tabs on six locations where water flows directly into Lake Maxinkuckee. These observations help us spot new threats, they build up a long-term dataset, and they also inform our work so that we can be responsible and effective with our projects and programming.

Would you like to be a scientist with us?

Several of our citizen scientists have had to move on... so we need more hands in the summer months (May - September). We will provide all the training and equipment you need, and hours are flexible. Please reach out to us if you'd like to learn more!

We were recently on an expedition with LMEF Research Vessel USS Minnow (a proudly flapping LMEF flag gives us away) to do a little troubleshooting on our data buoy.

Despite being over a hundred yards from shore, we found it crawling with spiders. No... I didn't release them there to discourage people from messing with our research equipment. They flew there all on their own.

Yes, you heard that right. Flying spiders. Any of our sailors have a guess how they did it?

I won't spoil it... you can read about it here, and watch a short video here.

As for the buoy, it was none the worse for wear. Nothing our highly specialized buoy cleaning instrument couldn't handle.

We did admire the spiders' choice of location. If you were looking for mayflies, gnats, damselflies, etc... a couple feet over a lake surface was a good spot!

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