by Brooke Andrus/Bigfork Eagle Hagadone Corporation – Oct. 13, 2011 Like many lakes in Northwest Montana, Swan Lake is known for its pristine water conditions, and Hugh Corn would like to keep it that way. Corn is the president of the Swan Lakers, a community service organization dedicated to protecting the water quality and other natural resources of Swan Lake and the surrounding area. The group has recently become involved with efforts to monitor water conditions in the lake and prevent aquatic invasive species from damaging its ecosystem. The water-testing project, which Corn likens to “giving the lake an annual physical,” began last year and was funded primarily by Kootenai Lodge Estates. Sampling and analysis were provided by the Whitefish Lake Institute. “There was never really a baseline measurement of the quality of water in Swan Lake, and as the lake develops and as the rivers upstream develop — which they will — it’s good to know where we are now so that if the water quality does begin to change, we can better identify why it’s changing,” Corn said. During the first round of testing in 2010, water sampling was conducted at three different times throughout the year. This year, the Swan Ecosystem Center provided funding for additional water chemistry samples to be taken and processed in order to determine the changes in water quality since last year. “There are a lot of things that can affect the quality of the water,” Corn said. “For example, there are a lot of old septic systems in some of the older places around Swan Lake, and those things don’t last...
Recent Comments