Lake monitoring program seeks volunteers

The Northwest Montana Lakes Volunteer Monitoring Network is seeking volunteer lake monitors.

The is an opportunity for those who love being on the water, are a property, home, or summer cabin owner or renter, a recreationist, or are just interested in lakes or water quality and you have a boat (motorized or non-motorized). There are currently 40 lakes in the program, and many are in need of a volunteer.

Lakes in Flathead County include: Beaver, Bootjack, Dollar, Fish, Loon, Murray, Skyles, Smith, Spencer, Upper Whitefish and on Flathead Lake Conrad Point, Indian Bay, Mackinaw Alley, Skiddo Bay, Woods Bay, Yellow Bay. Lakes in Lincoln County include: Big Therriault and Murphy. Jette Lake in Lake County and Holland Lake in Missoula County are also part of the network.

Volunteers will receive training and equipment to assist them in data collection. Training will be offered in May and monitoring will begin late spring/early summer. The 2018 spring training date is Saturday, May 5, 2018 from 10 a.m. to noon at City Beach in Whitefish.

Volunteers must be able to monitor their lake(s) twice monthly, weather permitting, and may spend one day with program staff collecting water chemistry data.

To learn more, visit www.nwmtlvmn.org. For those interested in becoming a volunteer, contact the Whitefish Lake Institute at 406-862-4327, or send an email to cynthia@whitefishlake.org.