Lake health for 2025!

[Chris Moore]

Hello to the Mount Riga Community as we look to start the season!

As we enter the first official weekend of summer, the Lake Management Committee wanted to send an update and a reminder about what you and your camp can do for the health of our lakes.

Please see an attached flier (working on getting this uploaded to the website – will be at the bulletin board this weekend hopefully) on Lake Health that will also be available at the bulletin board through the summer and that we hope to distribute to the camps and at the public beach.

Most importantly, we need to stay vigilant about the possibility of introducing Hydrilla (or other invasives) to the lakes. As you may be aware, Hydrilla has taken hold at the nearby Twin Lakes and they are likely spending more than a half a million dollars this season on mitigation efforts. By far the best approach is prevention – please be mindful of anything that may go in the water and if you think you see Hydrilla let us know.

We are also monitoring water quality and human impact. The 2023 season was particularly bad for this and may have been a bit of an outlier, but overall we are seeing increasing phosphorous levels that can impact the trophic level of the lake with increased plant growth and decreased clarity over time. Much of this may be from overall environmental sources beyond our control, but we also need to be mindful of any human impact on the lakes. Ideally we would minimize or eliminate any soaps, shampoos, detergent, human waste or fertilizer getting into the lake.

Please ensure any products that are used are low impact with a list available on the MRI website: https://mountriga.org/environmental-info/product-recommendations/

There is also a nice list that the Doolittle lake association has shared:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sFU77O-usKc-iQmBNRlpbhuxhg0IVizS47uW5VAJ6x8/edit?gid=0#gid=0

There is more information about invasives, lake quality, and the efforts of the LMC on the MRI Website.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions or comments.

Happy summer!

The Mount Riga Lake Management Committee
Barbara Heinemann, co-chair, [email protected] 781-962-3223
Chris Moore, co-chair, [email protected] 203-687-6776
Hillary Blaker
Rea Thornberry
Emily Vail
Conrad Wells
Jesse Wildrick
Helen Antoshak, lower lake testing coordinator
Maggie Moore, upper lake testing coordinator

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