The Friends of Prospect Lake (FoPL) is an organization of local residents both full- and part-time, all interested in the health and uses of the lake.
To state things most simply, FoPL’s purpose is to keep Prospect Lake healthy and useable for all the flora and fauna that live in or around it and that make use of it for one purpose or another. More than anything else, that means managing the growth of weeds and algae. If you don’t get on top of weed growth and stay there, you’ll have a swamp on your hands. And the weeds grow fast and persistently. That’s why FoPL’s motto is “stubborn as the weeds.”
Blue heron is a familiar site at the lake and a
beneficiary of the good health of the Prospect
Lake watershed. Photo by Robin Goldberg
FoPL’s official mission statement
"To monitor, maintain, and enhance the environmental, aesthetic, recreational, and economic values of Prospect Lake and its watershed and to provide education with respect thereto."
Each spring brings new life and new families that take comfort and nourishment in and around the lake. Photo by Robin Goldberg
Founded in 2006 and incorporated as a not-for-profit 501c3 tax-exempt corporation, FoPL has dealt with lake weeds every year in a pattern of survey-treat-survey starting in the early spring. The idea is to see where and what kind of weeds are growing, then administer a carefully aimed dosage of herbicide where the GPS survey shows the preponderance of weeds, then survey again to check results and do a second treatment if necessary, as well as a treatment for algae if called for. Our treatment plan is subject to the regulations and limits set by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, with Egremont’s own local Conservation Commission kept informed of the Commonwealth’s decisions. From its inception, FoPL has hired a professional lake management firm to help it understand the lake and its changes through the seasons, to plan an approach to keeping it sustainably weed and algae free, to implement that plan, and to obtain the required permits.
This pair of bald eagles have been
lake neighbors for a number of years, attesting to the health of the lake and the surrounding watershed.
Photo by Roger Reed
The Friends devote a lot of time to looking carefully at various ways to manage weed growth, time spent in research, in sessions with our consultants, and in conversations with other lakes. So far, the practical way for us to go is to use a herbicide tested and approved by the Commonwealth’s Department of Environmental Protection. We continue to search for other practical possibilities.
FoPL is guided by a Board of Directors elected by members at our annual General Meeting in July, a meeting open to the public. Membership is open to anyone interested in the continued use of Prospect Lake for all the flora and fauna (including human!) that enjoy its benefits. If you want further information, please contact any member of our Board. (click to learn more)
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