2017 Achievement Award Nominations & Recipients

The North American Lake Management Society, NALMS, recognizes individuals, teams, and organizations for their efforts and contributions to enhance management of lakes and reservoirs. Each year NALMS receives nomination letters from members and supporters lifting up their peers – individuals and groups – worthy of receiving recognition for their dedication to NALMS’ mission and/or for strides made in leadership, education, and lake management. It is with great honor that we share these nomination letters, as well as the 2017 award recipients recognized at the NALMS 37th annual symposium in Westminster, Colorado.

Outgoing Officers & Directors

NALMS is a product of devoted individuals volunteering their time and efforts as officers and directors to advance the NALMS’ mission. Thank you outgoing officer and directors!

Officers

  • Frank Wilhelm, President
  • Mike Perry, Treasurer

Directors

  • Diane Lauritsen, Region 4
  • George Antoniou, Region 7
  • Mike Eytel, Region 8
  • Anna DeSellas, Region 11

Leadership & Service Awards:
Education & Outreach

Awards individuals or teams for design, facilitation, or performance of exceptional education and outreach activities supporting community understanding and appreciation of lake and reservoir management. Congratulations to our 2017 recipients!

Introduction to Lakes Online Certification Team (Michigan State University)
Nominated by Erick Englin
Award accepted on behalf of team by Ann St. Amand

Introduction to Lakes Online Certification Course has empowered communities to protect and manage their lakes through improved knowledge of lake science, management options, legal frameworks, and opportunities for public engagement. Introduction to Lakes Online Certification Course is a six-week online course specially designed for citizens and professionals who are interested in learning about inland lakes and their management. Extensive development of the program required the broad expertise represented by the MSU team. A wide-breadth of lake ecology and management topics were covered in six, week-long units: lake ecology; lakes and their watersheds; lakes and their shorelines; Michigan water law; aquatic plant management; and citizen involvement in lake stewardship

The inaugural 2015 class included 97 individuals representing 39 Michigan counties and three additional states. Sixty-eight percent of participants reported a high or very high level of satisfaction with the format and convenience of the online course. Sixty-nine percent of participants reported they intended to share what they learned, and 91% planned to use the information from the course in lake management efforts. Due to high demand, the program was again offered in 2016, and experienced continued success. The course reached 136 individuals representing 48 Michigan counties and 7 different states.

Parker Water & Sanitation District and the Rueter-Hess Recreational Authority
Nominated by Jamie Langer

Established in 1962, Parker Water and Sanitation District (PWSD), has always been proactive in its objectives to provide an ever-growing population with a secure and long-term, water service. PWSD currently serves 50,000 residents in its rapidly growing community that is projected to more than double its size by 2030. Beginning in 1985, PWSD embarked on a 30-year infrastructure development program designed to transition PWSD from deep groundwater aquifers to a more sustainable drinking water source. Nearly 27 years later, PWSD completed construction of the Rueter-Hess Reservoir; representing the culmination of PWSDs efforts.

PWSD worked hard to gain the respect and trust of its community. The Recreation Authority established in June 2013, banded together its surrounding city, district, and town organizations to start making recreation a reality at Rueter-Hess Reservoir while also making water quality the top priority. The Recreation Authority was able to create an in-depth master plan that would meet the needs and wants of the community while protecting the communities’ drinking water source. Today, the reservoir is a third full and has been providing PWSD customers with high-quality drinking water for more than two years.

SOLitude Lake Management
Nominated by Mariah Pohl
Award accepted by John Phelps

As part of SOLitude’s commitment to community outreach, staff from the company’s Mid-Atlantic team recently joined forces with 30 students from Maple Shade High School to begin a long-term restoration project at Steinhauer Pond in Burlington County, NJ. The pond, located in a park near the school, suffered from poor water quality, a lack of beneficial plants, foul odors, and insufficient water circulation.

Environmental Scientist and Senior Business Development Consultant John Phelps provided ongoing educational expertise for the project, meeting with the students throughout the spring to answer questions about pond management best practices, beneficial vegetation, and aeration, and help them develop a realistic and sustainable long-term restoration plan for the waterbody. He also provided talking points for students to use when speaking with city leaders about the project. The restoration program began with a dedicated trash cleanup in March and planting of more than 1,000 bulbs in May with guidance from SOLitude’s Director of Marketing Tracy Fleming and Business Development Specialist Shane Edwards. In 2018, the project will culminate with the introduction of native fish to the waterbody.

Lake Management Success Stories

Awarded to individuals or organizations accomplishing successful lake management efforts. Nominees must show demonstrable improvements in lake conditions through lake and watershed management.

Dr. Stephen Souza
Nominated by Ernest Hofer
Award accepted by Dr. Stephen Souza

Over the past 20 years, Dr. Souza has made significant contributions in lake management and lake water quality improvement to Lake Mohawk, the main water body within the 2500-acre private reservation of the Lake Mohawk Country Club, Sparta, New Jersey.  The primary focus of Lake Mohawk, a 770-acre man-made lake developed in 1929, is to provide recreational amenities to future reservation residents (approximately 6,000 member residents at build-out). By approximately 1990, the lake in its entirety had significantly deteriorated to the color of pea soup with the presence of algae and periodic blooms, low water clarity, and high levels of nutrients.

Dr. Souza, working closely with his staff, the late Fran Smith (former General Manager of Lake Mohawk Country Club), many members of the Lake Mohawk Country Club, and Sparta Township and Sussex County personnel developed a strategic plan to completely reverse the degradation and unhealthy condition of the lake. Twenty-five years later there has been an increase in water quality and clarity, including reduced nutrient levels. The recreational amenities have been re-established to the extent that Lake Mohawk is now the role model for all lakes within the State of New Jersey.

Friends of NALMS Award

Awarded to individuals or corporations making major contributions to NALMS. Recipients do not need to be NALMS members and contributions extend beyond monetary donations.

Anne Weinberg
Nominated by Bob Kirschner & Chris Holdren
Award accepted on behalf of Anne by Tom Davenport

Anne C. Weinberg, recently retired from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., has been a great friend to NALMS and a dedicated steward of lakes for nearly two decades.  In her roles as the Agency’s lakes program manager, director of its Watershed Academy, and communications coordinator, Anne was always willing to collaborate with NALMS, and she was a quiet yet persistent force in promoting several initiatives that were vital to helping NALMS achieve its mission.

A few of Anne’s many collaborations with NALMS include:

  • The Secchi Dip-In, an international effort in which volunteers produce an annual snapshot of the transparency of waters in the United States and Canada
  • Lakes Appreciation Month, an annual celebration that educates citizens about the importance of lakes and what they can do to protect them
  • Myriad lake management publications, notably Managing Lakes and Reservoirs—a manual containing valuable information on lake and reservoir management for lake users, scientists, and engineers
  • Tireless efforts to secure funding support
  • Service as a key conference planning committee member for 15 consecutive years at the Annual National Conference on Enhancing the States’ Lake Management Programs in Chicago

Jim Flynn Outstanding Corporation Award

Awarded to an organizational member to have contributed the most to NALMS’s goal. Recipient must be a NALMS Corporate member.

HAB Aquatic Solutions
Nominated by Shannon Brattebo
Award accepted by John Holz, Tadd Barrow, & Catherine Bosley of HAB Aquatic Solutions

HAB has been a corporate member of NALMS since 2011 when they first sponsored and exhibited at the 2011 Symposium in Spokane, WA. The two owners of HAB, Dr. John Holz and Tadd Barrow, promote the mission of NALMS since their graduate school days in the mid to late 1990s.

HAB specializes in improving surface water quality through the use of aluminum-based products (alum and sodium aluminate). Their research and development have contributed to the improvement of traditional alum treatment approaches to address the unique challenges many of water resource management projects face. HAB works with several different clients across the US and continually promotes NALMS as an organization as well as the NALMS mission. They work every day to educate others while increasing their own understanding of lakes and management needs to enhance the quality of lakes and reservoirs.

HAB took over sponsorship of the annual “Nutrient Inactivation/Alum” symposium workshop and continues to promote the exchange of information and research developments of the use of alum throughout the NALMS organization. HAB has been an exhibitor and/or sponsor at every NALMS symposium since their first in 2011.

Jim LaBounty Best Paper Award

Lake and Reservoir Management selects the best paper published in 2016 in the Journal of Lake and Reservoir Management.

C. Nelligan, A. Jeziorski, K. M. Rühland, A. M. Paterson & J. P. Smol. 2016. Managing lake trout lakes in a warming world: a paleolimnological assessment of nutrients and lake production at three Ontario sites. 32:4, 315-328.

 

 

Secchi Disk Award

Award recognizes an individual member considered to have contributed the most to the achievement of NALMS’ goal.

Al Sosiak
Nominated by Ken Wagner
Award accepted by Al Sosiak

Al was employed by the Alberta Provincial Government working with lakes for many years, and his background as a fishery scientist and water quality expert has served Alberta’s lakes well. He is known for collaborating with many other scientists in Canada and working to find practical solutions to water resource problems. In retirement from the Province of Alberta, he has started his own consulting firm and continues to support sound lake management efforts. He is a competent aquatic scientist and a Certified Lake Manager.  Al would be deserving of an award for his exemplary career, without even considering his service to NALMS, but it is in this latter area where he has really shined.

Al has been involved in NALMS for over 20 years and has been instrumental in many of its successes. He was the part of the leadership team for the spectacular symposium in Banff in 1998, and again provided key support for the 2016 return to Banff. He also chaired the wonderful Lake Louise symposium in 2008. He has been a member of the Board of Directors and President of NALMS, and also filled in as Acting President when President Anne Shortelle had to take a leave due to illness. After a long stint of voluntary service, he took over the direction of Lake and Reservoir Management as Editor in Chief; while a paid position, this is one where the job calls for a lot more than the payment covers, and Al has done a great job advancing our scientific journal. Al steps down from the editorship this year and will remain on the Editorial Board. He has been involved for many years with the NALMS affiliate in Alberta as well. He has epitomized service to NALMS.

Al Sosiak is generally quiet and unassuming and never looks to be recognized for what he has accomplished. He continually passes credit on to others and mentors them to be better scientists and stewards of the environment. Al has done so much for NALMS and asked for nothing in return. It is most fitting we bestow the Secchi Disk Award on Al Sosiak.

All banquet photos courtesy of Todd Tietjen.