Washington State Lake Protection Association - WALPA

Washington State Lake Protection Association - WALPA Our mission is to allow diverse interests to speak with one voice to protect lakes.

The Washington State Lake Protection Association (WALPA) is a non-profit organization made up of more than 200 members concerned for the future of lakes in this state.

05/13/2026

A pair of barred owls strengthen their connection through mating calls, close perching, and affectionate preening

Barred owls are native to eastern North America, reaching the Pacific Northwest around the 1970s, likely facilitated by European settlement and human-caused climate change. Today, they’re an invasive species within Washington, Oregon, and California.

Their presence displaces northern spotted owls, a smaller and less aggressive threatened species that depends on similar habitat and food sources.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service approved a long-term barred owl management strategy across parts of Washington, Oregon, and California allowing the removal of barred owls in specific areas to help reduce pressure on spotted owl populations.

Owls sit near the top of the food web, so changes in owl populations can reflect changes happening throughout an ecosystem — from forests to wetlands to lakes. Healthy forests help regulate water temperature, reduce erosion, and filter runoff before it reaches streams and lakes. When ecosystems become unbalanced, the effects can ripple far beyond just one species. Wildlife interactions like this are reminders that forest health, water quality, and biodiversity are all tied together.

05/11/2026

https://wix.to/ylCUJUW
Every summer, a barge is piloted up the Dworshak reservoir and liquid nitrogen fertilizer is added into the water. And no — that's not an environmental violation. It's an EPA-permitted ecosystem restoration project.

Dworshak Reservoir is in north-central Idaho. Spring runoff delivers a pulse of nutrients into the system — but the flows are so high and the water so cold it moves through the reservoir faster than the biology can use it. This low residence time means the spring nutrients are flushed out before phytoplankton can exploit them. By summer, when productivity should peak, there is not enough of the nutrient NITROGEN to keep the reservoir’s food web functioning correctly. By correctly we mean that the phytoplankton production that occurs no longer supports suitable zooplankton or fish populations. Another complication is that when the nitrogen runs short in Dworshak, the algae that takes over are blue-green cyanobacteria that can produce toxins and the zooplankton can't eat. This increase in cyanobacteria taxa short-circuits the carbon pathway all the way up to the fish.

So ammonium nitrate is added in carefully calculated doses. They are targeting a specific nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio in the epilimnion to favor edible flagellates and green algae over cyanobacteria. This does two things. 1) it increases the productivity of the system and 2) reduces the risk of toxic blue-green algae blooms.

In the 14 years of this project the zooplankton biomass has almost doubled compared to the levels seen before the project started.

Reservoirs are controversial and full of societal and environmental tradeoffs. They do not behave naturally but there are things that can be done to help the ecosystems function better within reservoirs. That's the goal of this project — and the data says it's working.

05/11/2026

https://wix.to/07nkNJ2
Every summer, a barge is piloted up the Dworshak reservoir and liquid nitrogen fertilizer is added into the water. And no — that's not an environmental violation. It's an EPA-permitted ecosystem restoration project.

Dworshak Reservoir is in north-central Idaho. Spring runoff delivers a pulse of nutrients into the system — but the flows are so high and the water so cold it moves through the reservoir faster than the biology can use it. This low residence time means the spring nutrients are flushed out before phytoplankton can exploit them. By summer, when productivity should peak, there is not enough of the nutrient NITROGEN to keep the reservoir’s food web functioning correctly. By correctly we mean that the phytoplankton production that occurs no longer supports suitable zooplankton or fish populations. Another complication is that when the nitrogen runs short in Dworshak, the algae that takes over are blue-green cyanobacteria that can produce toxins and the zooplankton can't eat. This increase in cyanobacteria taxa short-circuits the carbon pathway all the way up to the fish.

So ammonium nitrate is added in carefully calculated doses. They are targeting a specific nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio in the epilimnion to favor edible flagellates and green algae over cyanobacteria. This does two things. 1) it increases the productivity of the system and 2) reduces the risk of toxic blue-green algae blooms.

In the 14 years of this project the zooplankton biomass has almost doubled compared to the levels seen before the project started.

Reservoirs are controversial and full of societal and environmental tradeoffs. They do not behave naturally but there are things that can be done to help the ecosystems function better within reservoirs. That's the goal of this project — and the data says it's working.

05/07/2026

Happy Mother's Day!

05/04/2026

In the 1950s, locals called it Lake Stinko. Post-WWII suburban growth was pumping 20 million gallons of sewage into Lake Washington every day, throwing its nitrogen-to-phosphorus ratio dangerously out of balance. A grad student's water sample revealed a toxic blue-green algae bloom — and his old adviser, limnologist W.T. Edmondson, figured out exactly why. What followed was a nine-page report the city ignored, two elections, three years of political fighting, and ultimately the largest pollution control project in U.S. history. The result: water clarity jumped from 2.5 feet to 10 feet, and by 1976 the algae was gone. Every eutrophication study in the Western world carries a trace of Lake Washington's story.
🌊 Love lakes? Join us at walpa.org

04/29/2026

Swamp lantern (skunk cabbage) is one of the first signs of spring in our wetlands — melting snow, attracting early pollinators, and signaling a healthy watershed.

For generations, Indigenous communities have understood its value, using it for food preparation, storage, medicine, and more — a reminder that these ecosystems hold both ecological and cultural significance.

When wetlands thrive, our lakes and streams do too!

04/27/2026

https://wix.to/huHMOKB
Lake Coeur d'Alene, Idaho is one of the most photographed lakes in the American West.

But beneath that beauty lies one of the largest toxic legacies in U.S. history.

Starting in the 1880s, silver mines in Idaho's Silver Valley dumped waste directly into the Coeur d'Alene River. For nearly a century, contaminated sediment flowed downstream. Today, an estimated 75 million metric tons of lakebed sediment is laden with lead, zinc, arsenic, and cadmium.

Right now, those metals aren't moving. Oxygen at the sediment-water interface keeps them chemically locked in place. They are entombed beneath the water you swim in, fish in, and boat on.

But….. if nutrients increase — from either development or warming; the oxygen in the bottom can become depleted, this will cause chemistry shifts, and a tomb a century in the making will open.

That's why the Coeur d'Alene Tribe, the state of Idaho, and local communities have spent decades managing nutrient and metal inputs, cleaning contaminated soils, and monitoring the lake's chemistry. Their efforts are working and metal concentrations in the lake water are declining.

But 75 million metric tons are still there.. buried at the bottom of the lake.

So the next time you see DEQ or Coeur d'Alene Tribe crews on the water, or hear about new rules protecting the lake — remember, that's not bureaucracy. That's the only thing keeping that metal tomb sealed.

04/22/2026

🌏🌱🌿HAPPY EARTH DAY 🌍🌸🌳

04/20/2026

In 1967, the world's top lake scientists couldn't agree on what was killing lakes like Erie. Was it phosphorus? Nitrogen? Carbon? Nobody could agree — and nobody invited the Swiss-Italian limnologist who had already figured it out. Richard Vollenweider spent years reviewing data from lakes across Europe and North America and built the first mathematical model linking phosphorus loading to algal blooms. His 1968 report — never formally peer-reviewed — quietly became the foundation of lake management worldwide. By 1972, his model had shaped the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement between the U.S. and Canada. The lakes that recovered did so because someone eventually listened.

https://wix.to/XXKJWMS

WALPA is excited to announce our 39th Annual Conference, taking place October 7–9, 2026 in Bellingham, WA.This year’s th...
04/20/2026

WALPA is excited to announce our 39th Annual Conference, taking place October 7–9, 2026 in Bellingham, WA.

This year’s theme is “Celebrating Lake Heroes: Critters and Champions.” From aquatic organisms throughout the food web to the researchers and lake managers protecting and restoring our lakes, this conference highlights the many heroes behind lake stewardship.

📅 Conference Highlights
• Learning sessions + keynote speakers
• Evening social, poster presentations + auctions supporting student scholarships
• Algae identification workshop with Dr. Robin A. Matthews (Western Washington University)

📢 Call for Abstracts – Now Open
We want to hear from you! We welcome presentations on a wide range of lake-related topics.

Submit a poster or presentation abstract here: https://conta.cc/4cPWOCB

Stay tuned for additional conference details and the registration page on our website: www.walpa.org/annual-conference

We look forward to seeing you in Bellingham!

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Seattle, WA
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