Waders Rock -- More Volunteer Science on Lake Herman

Lake Herman is still 60-70% iced over, but that's not stopping our intrepid water quality monitors from starting a new year of bacteria and nutrient monitoring on the best little lake in the world. My neighbor Charlie Stoneback actually grabbed the first samples the last week of March; I got some new waders at Campbell's Supply and jumped in this morning. Charlie's working the north side of the lake; I'm taking the south. A couple more volunteers may join us soon to cover more sites (actually, if you're interested, give me or Charlie a call!). We'll be testing twice a month through the fall.

No bacteria information for you yet, but I can report some other conditions. At my testing sites of Camp Lakodia and the far south shore adjoining Rick Doblar's land, I found no sign of fish kill, just one bleached carp who thrashed his last well before winter. The air pumps may have done their job again.

The water temperature showed big differences. By the Camp Lakodia inlet, the water temp was just 2.5 degrees Celsius (36.5 Fahrenheit... 37 in Newfoundland ;-) ). Down in sunny shallows by the south tributary, the water temp was 6.5 degrees Celsius (44 degrees F).

The southern bay also has a good foot or more of sticky silt and mud. Yuck! I was one step away from pulling right out fo my waders.

Dale Droge and Donna Hazelwood at DSU are handling the testing for us this year -- we look forward to the results!

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Hmm... I wonder if I can get the Obama people to schedule an environmental event here at Lake Herman: Put Obama in some waders, take some water samples, make a speech on CRP and wetlands preservation right here at Cottonwood Cove, go eat at the Moonlite afterward -- oh! great photos, great steak, and friendly blog coverage to boot! Nate -- are you listening? Lake Herman is the key to a 20-point win for Obama in South Dakota! Bring him here!