Scugog Lake Stewards’ water monitoring begins
Every month during the summer, the Lake Stewards’ Research team will be heading out on the lake to monitor conditions and problems. The team, chaired by Dr. Ron Porter, and made up of Bill Eull, Barbara Karthein and Captain Ken Oldfield has already completed their first around-the-lake trip. (Our pontoon boat provided to us by John Mackey of Port Perry Marina) What did we discovered:
- That very few lake plants were up with the exception of a huge mass of Curlyleaf pondweed off the Port Perry Marina and north. (This plant starts its growth in the fall and is present as soon as the ice is out. By mid-June, early July, it has flowered, set seed and dropped living end tips called ‘turions’ which sit dormant over the summer and begin to grow in the fall. This thick invasive exotic lake weed after it has completed it cycle in early summer will drop to the bottom and compost allowing a second growth — another exotic, Eurasian watermilfoil.
- The other plants that were beginning to show at the surface were lilies as shown at the right. These plants are especially important for all lake life: mammals, frogs, turtles and fish. The fish use the big leaves of the lilies to provide shelter and shade from the sun while they feed from the tiny life that also thrives on the lily pads. Mammals eat the big nutritious roots in winter.
- At 10 inches down, the water uniformly ready 72 degrees F., a surprisingly high temperature for May 11.
- The water clarity was good with visibility to 4 ft or more.
- Raking of the bottom indicated that Eurasian watermilfoil would be up and growing strongly in many areas of the lake by early summer. Others areas showed the beginnings of the algae Chara growth. Still other areas had good evidence of native plant varieties.
Our next trip on the lake is scheduled for June 1, if conditions allow.
For our entire program see the section on Research and Monitoring in this website.