Looking at Lakes
Contact: Steve Kahl, Director, Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, 207-581-3286, kahl@maine.edu
Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777, houtman@maine.edu
ORONO, Maine — Lakes are a barometer for acid rain, climate change and other environmental factors. A $155,000 University of Maine research project jointly funded by the U.S Dept. of Agriculture and the U.S. Geological Survey will focus on a set of lakes from Maine to Pennsylvania first sampled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1984.
The goal is to evaluate 20-year changes in lake chemistry, for the purposes of understanding changes due to acid rain, and potential recovery in biological populations.
UMaine scientists conducting the study include Steve Kahl and Catherine Rosfjord of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research, Katherine Webster of the Dept. of Biological Sciences, and Ivan Fernandez of the Dept. of Plant Soil and Environmental Sciences. They will collaborate with scientists in the U.S. EPA.