Florida LAKEWATCH
Florida
LAKEWATCH was established by FAS faculty member Dr. Daniel Canfield, Jr. in
1986 in an effort to gain much needed baseline water chemistry information
on Florida lakes. Prior to that time, there was very little data
available. In 1991 the Florida Legislature recognized the importance
of the program and established it as a state-funded research program
(Chapter 91-69; 240.5329, Florida Statutes).
Coordinated through FAS, the Florida LAKEWATCH program has grown
to become one of the largest volunteer water monitoring programs
in the country, with nearly two thousand trained volunteers monitoring
over 600 lakes in more than 40 counties on a monthly basis.
Florida LAKEWATCH facilitates hands-on citizen participation in
water management by coordinating monthly monitoring activities,
collecting and compiling water chemistry data, and providing educational
materials. LAKEWATCH staff work directly with a broad spectrum of
the public including city and county governments; commercial and
recreational fishing interests; realtors; recreational boaters;
agriculture; as well as local, state and national regulatory agencies
to provide a framework for people to work within toward achieving
water management goals.
Graduate students are often recruited to assist in these endeavors,
gaining invaluable experience in the water management arena. The
LAKEWATCH database also provides a growing source of water chemistry
data for students to use for their academic and research needs.
FAS grad students have this information literally at their fingrtips.
Florida
LAKEWATCH has a web site at
http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu
The web site posts LAKEWATCH reports with summaries of water quality, aquatic
plant and fish census data, aqautic bird study information, bathymetric maps, newsletters, and special
publications (circulars). For more information
or to talk to someone about becoming a LAKEWATCH volunteer, or how to obtain
data in the various formats available, call 1-800-LAKEWATCH (1-800-525-3928).
E-mail: fl-lakewatch@ufl.edu
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