GREENSBORO – A kiosk at the Caspian Lake beach offers public education on water quality in Greensboro watersheds, especially in Caspian Lake.
The kiosk, made of recycled plastic with six individual panels, was constructed at the town beach last August, where each of six panels displays information about an important topic for maintaining the health of Caspian Lake.
A welcome panel greets visitors with a brief description of the lake attributes and the composition of vegetation types within the lake’s watershed, showing a little over 50 percent is forested.
The Caspian Lake status panel describes how the condition of the shoreline, water quality, mercury levels and invasive species are quantified by the Agency of Natural Resources. Phosphorus, which results in increases in alga, has risen significantly over the past 25 years due to the amount of development on the shoreline. The lake’s condition is now considered stressed.
The importance of maintaining water quality in streams that flow into Caspian Lake is covered on a panel titled, “Clean Streams: Clean Waters.” It suggests that maintaining complex vegetated buffers is the goal. Revegetating these stream buffers will be a critical factor in improving the lake’s water quality.
Information on keeping a proper distance from nesting loons and their young, advising fishermen on the risks of lead tackle and fishing line for common loons is the subject of another panel.
“Keep Caspian Clear of Invasive Species” calls out one panel, sharing that Caspian Lake has no known aquatic invasive species such as zebra mussels or Eurasian watermilfoil. It offers recommendations for cleaning boats and sanitizing boat bilge tanks to keep these destructive species out of the lake.
The “Improving Caspian Lake’s Shoreline” panel suggests leaving “a wide buffer of natural vegetation along the lake,” eliminating impervious surfaces and making sure that septic systems are working properly are critical to improving the “stressed” classification that the Agency of Natural Resources has given Caspian Lake’s shoreline. Lake land owners can have their property assessed with a Lake Wise assessment.
The Stewards of the Greensboro Watersheds, a committee of the Greensboro Association, received an ARPA grant from the Town of Greensboro to support their mission to maintain or improve water quality in Greensboro.
Committee members constructed the kiosk from recycled plastic materials and developed the educational materials. Jim Fredericks volunteered time to do the kiosk graphics. The panels’ posters are removable and can be replaced with new information when the committee deems necessary.
The kiosk was installed by John Moffat, Jim Fredericks, Stew Arnold and Jed Feffer.
Contact JoAnn Hanowski with comments and ideas for future kiosk topics at [email protected]
JoAnn Hanowski
