Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Contact: Jennifer Maleitzke, 651-296-7706 St. Paul, Minn. -- The end of the 2008 water monitoring season marks an important date for the Citizen Lake Monitoring Program -- it is the program's 35th anniversary. The CLMP is the longest running volunteer lake program in the nation. The CLMP was started in 1973 at the University of Minnesota by Dr. Joe Shapiro. During its first year, volunteers monitored 74 lakes. Administration of the CLMP was transferred to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) in 1978. In 2008, there were 1,940 volunteers and 1,290 lakes in the program. The anniversary is especially important for two program volunteers, Chuck Taylor and Dick Duerre. They are the only volunteers who have been involved in the program since its inception. Taylor and his wife live on Lake Jane in Washington County, and he first became interested in the lake back in 1973 when there were high-water problems. Since then, he's faithfully turned in his Secchi readings every year to the MPCA and he is known as the man to ask for information about lake levels in the watershed district. "Chuck has been providing year-round detailed data since 1979," said Lincoln Fetcher, Valley Branch Watershed District President. "He comes to our monthly watershed meetings and his data helps the board make policy decisions. Chuck is invaluable, truly inspirational and a man about the environment." Duerre decided to get involved when he saw an article looking for lake volunteers. Duerre has been a citizen lake volunteer in three different locations - Crystal Lake in Burnsville, and Gladstone Lake and Silver Lake in Crow Wing County. He said he keeps on monitoring because he's concerned about the future of the environment for his children and grandchildren. "People should get involved. If we can talk people into not destroying their shoreline and follow better policies like not fertilizing, and maintaining a natural barrier, it will help improve our water quality," Duerre said. "We need to educate people out of thinking they can't hurt the lake." With more than 12,200 lakes in Minnesota, the MPCA needs more volunteers like Duerre and Taylor. Often times, data that is received from volunteers is valuable because it is the only information that the MPCA has for some lakes. Lake monitoring is easy and fun and the MPCA provides the equipment and training. Beginning in the spring of 2009, the MPCA will be looking for more volunteers in specific watersheds to supplement the data that the agency and other local partners will be collecting. Those watersheds include: Big Fork River, Bois de Sioux River, Buffalo River, Cedar River, Chippewa River, Crow Wing River, Grand Marais Creek, Mississippi River (St. Cloud, Twin Cities and Winona), Minnesota River (Granite Falls), St. Croix River (Stillwater), and the St. Louis River. A complete list of the lakes that need volunteers can be found, by county, at: www.pca.state.mn.us/water/clmp-monitoringstatus.html or by calling toll-free at 1-800-657-3864.