Page 35 - Vacation Okoboji Tourist Guide 2022

BY KATELYN WEISBROD\u000A \u201CA lake is a reflection of the land that flows to it,\u201D said Mike Hawkins, a fisheries management biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources\u000AThe key is slowing down water from rushing into the lake After a rainstorm, water that falls onto pavement and into storm drains, or on a cornfield lined with a network of agricultural tiling, is quickly siphoned into the nearest water body\u000ATo learn about the extensive beautification projects happening in the Iowa Great Lakes region, visit Imagine Iowa Great Lakes at imagineigl.com.\u000ABut rain water that drains through a wetland or a prairie, the kind of ecosystem that existed in this region before European settlement in the 19th Century, slowly flows through the soil and a network of roots before reaching the lake Slowing this drainage gives sediments time to settle out of the water Plus, plants in these ecosystems can absorb nutrients out of the water, like phosphorus, common in agricultural fertilizers, keeping them out of the lakes where they could fuel growth of undesirable weeds and algae\u000AThe Okoboji community has invested in these technologies for decades, and data collected by a group of local volunteers involved in the Cooperative Lakes Area Monitoring Project (CLAMP) shows they have paid off spectacularly Every other week during the late spring,\u000Athrough the summer, and into the early fall, CLAMP volunteers take measurements and water samples from nine lakes in Dickinson County, which are processed at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, a research facility operated by the state board of regents This data, which has been collected for more than 20 years, provides valuable information about the state of the lakes and how they change throughout the season\u000A\u201CThis data has given us a really phenomenal view of the lakes that really is unmatched in terms of any other monitoring we have in the state of Iowa,\u201D said Mary Skopec, director at Iowa Lakeside Laboratory\u201CItreallyhasgivenus a good sense of how quickly the improvement can happen \u201D\u000AAllium Christophii\u000ACommon Name: Star of Persia\u000A\u00A9blinkmarketing\u000A VACATIONOKOBOJI.COM 33\u000A