Lake Champlain Community Scientist Volunteer Network Communicates Critical Cyanobacteria Information to Region‐wide Stakeholders

Abstract

Lake Champlain is a treasured resource for recreation, tourism, and drinking water situated in New York, Vermont (U.S.), and Québec (Canada). Because its shores span two states and two countries, management strategies for the lake require strong cross-boundary partnerships and cooperation. In recent decades, increased prevalence of harmful cyanobacteria blooms has impacted public health and recreation. A lake-wide cyanobacteria monitoring program was established in 2001 with an emphasis on water sample collection and analysis to inform management strategies. In 2012, this program transitioned from laboratorybased analyses at a limited number of locations to a visual assessment protocol validated by water samples. This transition opened the door to more effective and widespread monitoring, communication, and inclusion of a greater number of monitoring locations and stakeholders. Today, through a unique partnership of community scientist volunteers, public beach managers, nonprofit organizations, and state and federal agencies, a comprehensive network of trained cyanobacteria monitors generates timely data on water quality conditions to relay critical public health information. The majority of these reports are provided by trained community scientist volunteers, strengthening the geographic coverage of the program and the environmental literacy of lake users. This program now trains hundreds of community scientists, documents thousands of water quality condition reports annually, and communicates cyanobacteria conditions to the public via an online Cyanobacteria Tracker map. In this article, we describe the evolution of this successful program, discuss key findings from analysis of these volunteer-collected data, and suggest how similar programs could be effectively developed in other regions.

Patterns and impacts of cyanobacteria in a deep, thermally stratified, oligotrophic lake

“…The importance of surface measurements and observations, including surrogates and visual observations, is consistent with other successful cyanoHAB monitoring programs (Stone & Bress, 2007; Vaughan et al, 2021) and with the Alert Level Framework approach described in Chorus and Welker (2021). The methods utilized here could be adopted by researchers or lake managers in other low‐nutrient systems to evaluate open water cyanoHABs and understand impacts at depth.…”

“…In such systems, dense cyanoHABs can often be found throughout the water column. However, in the past several decades, cyanoHABs and associated impacts have been increasingly reported in low‐ and moderate‐nutrient lakes and reservoirs (Callieri et al, 2014; Carey et al, 2014; Reinl et al, 2021), including deep, thermally stratified systems in the United States (Sterner et al, 2020) and in New York State (NYS; Matthews et al, 2021; Smith et al, 2020; Vaughan et al, 2021). Several factors that may be important for cyanoHAB formation in low nutrient waters include: increases in water temperature (Carey et al, 2012; Paerl & Otten, 2013), alteration of thermal stratification patterns (Planas & Paquet, 2016; Stetler et al, 2021), the presence of dreissenid mussels (Raikow et al, 2004; Sarnelle et al, 2012), physiological adaptative advantages of cyanobacteria, such as buoyancy regulation to utilize light and available nutrients (Ibelings et al, 1991; Reynolds, 2006), uptake and storage of phosphorus (Carr & Whitton, 1982; Coleman, 1992; Whitton et al, 1991), and sequestration of reduced iron (Fe 2+ ; Pick, 2016; Reinl et al, 2021).…”

“…When present, cyanoHABs in oligotrophic lakes are especially problematic because these systems are frequently utilized as source waters for public water systems (PWS), support a wide range of primary (i.e., swimming) and secondary (i.e., boating and fishing) recreational uses, and are critical drivers of local economies (Chorus & Welker, 2021; Reinl et al, 2021). Despite the lower overall productivity of these systems, surface scums and shoreline accumulations of blooms can limit recreational uses and cause significant public concern (Chorus & Welker, 2021; Vaughan et al, 2021). Of particular concern is the potential short‐ and long‐term health effects of cyanotoxins on wildlife, pets, and humans (Carmichael & Boyer, 2016; Chorus & Welker, 2021; Falconer, 1999).…”