We often talk about all the work we do to care for the Lake. This work includes water quality sampling, invasive weed eradication, aerator maintenance, stormwater infrastructure mapping and the promotion of sound environmental management practices when land use changes are being proposed in the watershed. Phew! What we rarely discuss is the deep bench of environmental professionals, both staff and consultants, who spend a lot of time working to solve problems on the Lake and its watershed.
Dr. Robert Kortmann, Principal Limnologist at Ecosystem Consulting Services, has worked on the Lake since the founding of the Task Force. He installed the first prototype of our in-lake aeration system in the early 1990s, which started the Lake’s incredible turnaround and continues to play an important role in water quality improvement today. Lakes are extraordinarily complicated organisms, and Dr. Kortmann is nationally recognized for his ability to understand, interpret, and predict how lakes behave. Currently, Dr. Kortmann is taking his successful ideas and management methods developed at Lake Waramaug and applying them to drinking water reservoirs across the Northeast.
Dr. George Knoecklein, Principal Limnologist at Northeast Aquatic Research, actually used Lake Waramaug data that he collected in the 1980s as part of his PhD thesis.
His decades of experience helping to improve water quality here in Connecticut has helped us improve the Lake. Dr. Knoecklein leads our efforts to eradicate invasive aquatic weeds. His expertise in their identification and broad understanding of their life cycle and habits has enabled us to virtually eradicate invasive weeds from the Lake.
Matt Vogt of New England Aquatic has been suction-harvesting invasive weeds on the Lake for over a decade, helping us achieve our current invasive weed-free state without the use of chemicals. We are so grateful to Matt and his team of divers.
Kelsey Sudol, our Research Assistant, received her B.S. in Biology and Environmental Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and contributed to research on the human impacts on lake ecosystems. Her experience has been valuable to our efforts to improve Lake water quality.
I am a Certified Soil Scientist with an educational background in Natural Resource Management. Over the past four decades I have worked in the US and abroad on many environmental restoration and sustainable resource management projects. I have truly enjoyed the opportunity the Task Force has given me to bring everything I have learned and apply it to improving the Lake and its watershed.
As you can see, we have an extremely talented team of experts. All that brain power draws on a significant portion of our budget. Your generous support, combined with our awesome team, helps to preserve and protect our clean, clear and swimmable Lake.
Sean Hayden
LWTF Executive Director
