Local group monitors Rose Valley Lake for future generations

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Will Rose Valley Lake continue to support aquatic life and be the draw for fishermen in 50 years the way that it does today?

Dr. Mel Zimmerman, a biology professor at Lycoming College and director of the college's Clean Water Institute, along with several interns, helped instruct members of the Rose Valley/Mill Creek Watershed Association, who will become the lake's future environmental monitors.

"We hope to learn how to monitor water quality in Rose Valley," Cindy Bower, secretary of the association, said of the training Tuesday afternoon.

Bower said through learning how to collect water, habitat samples from the lake will show what's going on in the water, what's right and how to maintain a stable living environment for organisms in it.

"Clear water is not always what you want," Bower said, as too-clear water can mean the water is oligotrophic, or sterile.

Zimmerman said Rose Valley Lake falls in the mesotrophic category on a scale of "trophies," which means the living environment falls in the middle, which "is where you want to be because that provides food for fish and plankton."

Water clarity can mean the difference between being able to sustain life due to very little nutrients, or too much, which could "choke" the lake, Zimmerman said.

For the last four years, Zimmerman said data has been collected and contributed to the association along seven different sites on the lake.

A "Preliminary Watershed Assessment for Rose Valley/Mill Creek Watershed" manual was created by the professor and his interns, based on already-collected samples, as a comparable guide to future data collections, Bower added.

Virgil Probasco, association president, said learning data collection skills necessary to monitor the lake is very important, as that is a key function of the watershed and its movement forward as an organization.

Tuesday's session was held in conjunction with The Great North American Secchi Dip-In.