The challenge for clear lake, and most glacial lakes in northern indiana, is to accurately quantify and understand temporal patterns relative to lake external and internal nutrient and sediment…

The U.S. Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 3 awarded a $202,355.25 Project Grant to the Clear Lake Township Land Conservancy Inc., a non-profit organization, under the National Fish Habitat Partnership (CFDA 15.686) program. The grant will fund the installation of water quality gage stations at two major inflows and one outflow of Clear Lake in northern Indiana. The gage stations will collect water samples every 4 hours during April-June and weekly for the remainder of the year, as well as record discharge and water temperature data every 15 minutes annually. This data will be used to quantify nutrient and sediment loadings, improve water quality, protect fish habitat, and measure changes in cold-water habitat in Clear Lake compared to a reference lake. The grant will also support an education and outreach program to build conservation partnerships within the Clear Lake watershed.

The challenge for clear lake, and most glacial lakes in northern indiana, is to accurately quantify and understand temporal patterns relative to lake external and internal nutrient and sediment loadings. This data is essential to improve or maintain trophic status of the lake and fish habitat. Partnering with ecosystems connections institute, we propose to install a full water quality gage station at two major lake inflows and one partial gage station at the lake outflow. Gage stations will collected water samples every 4 hours april - june. Samples will then be collected weekly for the remainder of the year. Additionally, gages will record discharge and water temperature every 15 minutes annually. This study design will provide data to quantify loadings and load reductions to improve water quality in clear lake, protect fish habitat, and quantify cold-water habitat based on TDO3 compared to a reference lake (lake gage). Data will be threaded into a forward-thinking education outreach program to build a conservation cultural bridge across human endeavors creating lasting conservation partnerships for clear lake area watershed restoration and protection.