Dr. Nate Bosch, director of the Lilly Center for Lakes and Streams at Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind., was part of the program recently for the Kosciusko Leadership Academy, a year-long program in Kosciusko County, Ind., to develop informed and innovative leaders who will serve the community into the future. His talk, along with that of Heather Harwood, executive director of the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation, was reported by the online news site, InkFree News. A portion of the story appears below. Click here for the complete article.
KLA HOSTS WATER RESOURCES SESSION
Kosciusko Leadership Academy met at the Wawasee Area Conservancy Foundation, located off SR 13 in Syracuse, for a session on the importance of protecting the Kosciusko County water resources. Guest speakers included Dr. Nate Bosch, Director, Lilly Center for Lakes & Streams at Grace College and Heather Harwood, Executive Director, WACF.
Cadets learned from Dr. Bosch that Kosciusko County is home to over 100 lakes and around 600 miles of streams. Over $313 million each year is brought into the county because of our local lakes. Lake Wawasee is the largest natural lake in the state of Indiana and Tippecanoe Lake is the deepest at 122 feet. He shared the Continental Divide is located just south of Syracuse. There is a plaque that marks the division between water draining into the Great Lakes system versus running towards the Mississippi drainage system.
Dr. Bosch refreshed the Cadets memory on high school biology and chemistry by sharing the importance of how a balanced lake food chain can impact the health of a lake. He stated, “the number one threat to our lakes is too much nutrients.” He went on to say, “having an excess amount of nutrients in a lake will cause more algae and weeds to grow, which eventually depletes oxygen levels within the water. Without oxygen, fish and other aquatic species cannot survive.”
Cadets also learned how lakes ‘turn over’ (mix) twice a year in the Fall and Spring, and the aging process each of our area lakes goes through depends on many factors.
Click here for the complete article.