The North American Lake Management Society is a lake-focused group composed of lake scientists, policy makers, volunteers, residents, and visitors. Their mission is to ‘forge partnerships among citizens, scientists, and professionals to foster management’ of lakes and reservoirs. Though NALMS is a membership-based organization, there are several good lake resources available to the general public. These short winter days are perfect for browsing through their website.
- NALMS recently released a white paper on nature-based solutions (NbS) for urban lake management. These approaches to watershed and lake management are just what their name suggests – they are designed to use or replicate the natural processes that we know are key to clean water and healthy ecosystems. The paper explains and provides examples of NbS, the benefits they provide, and the need for NbS language in legislation. All of these are equally important for our more rural Vermont lakes and the very large watershed of Lake Champlain.
- the bimonthly NALMS Notes and Lake News is available to non-members. Though most of the newsletter is NALMS-focused, there are also links to lake-related news at the national level, upcoming webinars and presentations, and lake-focused literature.
- open access issues of LakeLine, a quarterly-magazine focused on lakes. Current open issues focus on cyanobacteria, lake browning, and water source protection.
- a webinar page with listings of upcoming and archived webinars. Many of the archived presentations are available to non-members through YouTube.
- Lake Appreciation Month resources
- Cyanobacteria resources are available through the Inland HABs Program page.
NALMS is a great resource for those of us interested in learning more about lakes and lake management. Their member publications are some of the best places to go when looking for lake management approaches and successes. These are available through many college and university library systems. Often non-university readers can get access to journals by visiting the library in person and using the local computer terminals. In some cases, you can download PDFs to a personal data drive as well.
