A Shortened History of Research at Lacawac Sanctuary
Dr. Ruth Patrick
Lacawac Sanctuary was originally developed as a summer retreat for William Connell, a three-term Congressman, industrialist, and coal magnate. In 1912, the retreat and surrounding areas were purchased by Colonel Louis A. Watres to acquire a 16 ha parcel along the Wallenpaupack River. This parcel was part of a 2,300 ha area that was flooded in 1926 with the construction of a hydroelectric dam. The resulting impoundment, Lake Wallenpaupack, is now the largest lake in Eastern Pennsylvania and a major economic driver in the region. Lacawac Sanctuary owns 1.6 km of shoreline, which is one of the only undeveloped stretches of the 83 km perimeter of Lake Wallenpaupack.
The ecological value of Lake Lacawac was recognized by Radclyffe Roberts and Ruth Patrick of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia during visits at the invitation of Isabel and Arthur Watres (daughter-in-law and grandson of Louis Watres) in the 1950’s. Because access is strictly controlled and the shoreline and watershed are undeveloped, Lake Lacawac supports an unexploited fish community and a diverse community of native macrophytes, including several rare emergent species. In 1966, the Watres family donated the land and infrastructure to the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation, a not-for-profit (501c3) organization with a three-part mission of preservation, education, and research. In 1968, the National Park Service designated Lake Lacawac as a National Natural Landmark. There are also two locations on Lacawac’s property (natural boreal bog around Lake Lacawac and Wallenpaupack Natural Ledges area) that were designated in 2010 by Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as a Pennsylvanian Wild Plant Sanctuary.
Research Uses
Early research efforts at Lacawac were led by Clyde Goulden of the Academy of Natural Sciences in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Goulden 1969, 1971, Tessier and Goulden 1982, Tessier 1986). In 1988, Lehigh University emerged as a major user of Lacawac. Under the direction of Craig Williamson (then on the faculty of Lehigh University), Lacawac became a base for many research and educational projects involving investigators and students from multiple colleges and universities. Funding from the Andrew W. Mellon and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundations was used to develop and support the Pocono Comparative Lakes Program (PCLP), an informal consortium of scientists from several institutions. The primary focus of the PCLP was a long-term sampling program on three local lakes (including Lake Lacawac) across a productivity gradient (Moeller et al. 1995). Much of the sampling was conducted by undergraduates supported through NSF’s REU program. Research associated with the PCLP was coordinated through annual meetings held each fall at Lacawac.
In 1992, Bruce Hargreaves began a continuous electronic weather and lake monitoring program that has been expanded several times, continues today (described at http://www.lehigh.edu/~brh0/pocono_mon/), and contributes data to GLEON projects (e.g., Klug et al. 2012).
In addition, Lacawac has hosted two international workshops on the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems with an emphasis on advanced aquatic sensors (Sprules et al. 1992, Williamson and Zagarese 1994), the first annual international workshop for advanced aquatic sensors (LEOW) in 2012, and the first annual Lacawac Ecology Conference (LEC) in 2012 for current and potential faculty and student researchers.
Numerous Lacawac publications have resulted from work focusing on the impact of ultraviolet radiation (UV) on aquatic ecosystems. This research has been continuously funded with grants from NSF since 1993 including a large, 10 investigator Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology grant awarded in 2002 and the currently active NSF EARS IGERT (Miami and Kent State Universities). Mercury evasion research, supported by the EPA, was conducted in the mid to late 2000’s at Lacawac (Wollenberg and Peters 2009). Many advances in dissolved organic matter quality and optical metrics have come from research supported by Lacawac Sanctuary (Kirk et al. 1994, Morris et al 1995, Morris and Hargreaves 1997, Hargreaves 2003, Wollenberg & Peters, 2009). During this same time period, NSF supported hydrological research on Lake Lacawac (Nyquist et al. 2009).
Many Lacawac users have been advancing the concept of using lakes as sentinels of climate change. Lakes are at the lowest position in the landscape and thus provide chemical, biological and physical signals of change including those from the surrounding landscape (Williamson et al. 2009a, Williamson et al. 2009b). Sensors, including automated, high frequency weather and lake stations, have been a part of research conducted at Lacawac since 1992. Beginning in 2009, Lake Lacawac has been used for training new NSF IGERT fellows from Miami University and Kent State University on sensor use and technology.
Lake and terrestrial sites at Lacawac Sanctuary are also routinely used to test new sensors and prototypes by researchers from Miami University, Lehigh University, and Fondriest Environmental Inc. who have funding support from NSF and NASA. For example, Lake Lacawac is the testing site for a prototype of a small, portable profiling buoy equipped with optical instruments for chlorophyll-a, chromophoric dissolved organic matter, and turbidity that will enable small lakes to be networked to understand regional to continental scale influences of climate change. Lacawac is also currently hosting a NASA funded project to evaluate new types of snow-melt sensors to better predict catchment runoff via remote sensing.
In addition to aquatic-related research, Lacawac has supported a long-term field experiment on the impacts of deer browsing on forest understories. With funding from the Pennsylvania Wild Resources Conservation Fund, Dan Townsend of the University of Scranton set up a pair of 0.7 ha deer exclosures in two different forest types. The experiment, which ran from 1994 to 2004, involved sampling of understory vegetation, small mammals, amphibians, and soil nutrient concentrations (Townsend and Meyer 2002, Byman 2011). Much of the sampling and exclosure maintenance was conducted by undergraduates from the University of Scranton, as well as local volunteers. A nature trail that runs past one of the exclosures allows visitors to continue to see the effects of deer browsing first hand.
In 2011, two additional exclosures were erected (0.8 hectare) with funding provided by Lacawac’s Forest Fund. The fund was created with adopt-a-tree donations, selective timber harvest for our regeneration forestry plan, and a small grant. For site selection we worked with the forester who created Lacawac’s current Forest Stewardship Plan. The exclosures were placed in areas damaged by high winds and Adelges tsugae (hemlock woolly adelgids) with high tree mortality and little regeneration due to heavy deer browsing. One of the new exclosures serves as a control site. The other exclosure is experimental and uses the Nature Conservancy’s plan to restore old-growth forest characteristics. All four exclosures are monitored and maintained weekly by exclosure researchers and dedicated local volunteers. We currently have two on-going projects in the forest exclosures. Other terrestrial studies include projects on Lacawac’s diverse lichen community (Lendemer 2010, Lendemer and Hodkinson 2010) and studies on forest regeneration failure (Townsend et al. 2002).
The ecological value of Lake Lacawac was recognized by Radclyffe Roberts and Ruth Patrick of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia during visits at the invitation of Isabel and Arthur Watres (daughter-in-law and grandson of Louis Watres) in the 1950’s. Because access is strictly controlled and the shoreline and watershed are undeveloped, Lake Lacawac supports an unexploited fish community and a diverse community of native macrophytes, including several rare emergent species. In 1966, the Watres family donated the land and infrastructure to the Lacawac Sanctuary Foundation, a not-for-profit (501c3) organization with a three-part mission of preservation, education, and research. In 1968, the National Park Service designated Lake Lacawac as a National Natural Landmark. There are also two locations on Lacawac’s property (natural boreal bog around Lake Lacawac and Wallenpaupack Natural Ledges area) that were designated in 2010 by Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources as a Pennsylvanian Wild Plant Sanctuary.
Research Uses
Early research efforts at Lacawac were led by Clyde Goulden of the Academy of Natural Sciences in the 1970’s and 1980’s (Goulden 1969, 1971, Tessier and Goulden 1982, Tessier 1986). In 1988, Lehigh University emerged as a major user of Lacawac. Under the direction of Craig Williamson (then on the faculty of Lehigh University), Lacawac became a base for many research and educational projects involving investigators and students from multiple colleges and universities. Funding from the Andrew W. Mellon and Geraldine R. Dodge Foundations was used to develop and support the Pocono Comparative Lakes Program (PCLP), an informal consortium of scientists from several institutions. The primary focus of the PCLP was a long-term sampling program on three local lakes (including Lake Lacawac) across a productivity gradient (Moeller et al. 1995). Much of the sampling was conducted by undergraduates supported through NSF’s REU program. Research associated with the PCLP was coordinated through annual meetings held each fall at Lacawac.
In 1992, Bruce Hargreaves began a continuous electronic weather and lake monitoring program that has been expanded several times, continues today (described at http://www.lehigh.edu/~brh0/pocono_mon/), and contributes data to GLEON projects (e.g., Klug et al. 2012).
In addition, Lacawac has hosted two international workshops on the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems with an emphasis on advanced aquatic sensors (Sprules et al. 1992, Williamson and Zagarese 1994), the first annual international workshop for advanced aquatic sensors (LEOW) in 2012, and the first annual Lacawac Ecology Conference (LEC) in 2012 for current and potential faculty and student researchers.
Numerous Lacawac publications have resulted from work focusing on the impact of ultraviolet radiation (UV) on aquatic ecosystems. This research has been continuously funded with grants from NSF since 1993 including a large, 10 investigator Integrated Research Challenges in Environmental Biology grant awarded in 2002 and the currently active NSF EARS IGERT (Miami and Kent State Universities). Mercury evasion research, supported by the EPA, was conducted in the mid to late 2000’s at Lacawac (Wollenberg and Peters 2009). Many advances in dissolved organic matter quality and optical metrics have come from research supported by Lacawac Sanctuary (Kirk et al. 1994, Morris et al 1995, Morris and Hargreaves 1997, Hargreaves 2003, Wollenberg & Peters, 2009). During this same time period, NSF supported hydrological research on Lake Lacawac (Nyquist et al. 2009).
Many Lacawac users have been advancing the concept of using lakes as sentinels of climate change. Lakes are at the lowest position in the landscape and thus provide chemical, biological and physical signals of change including those from the surrounding landscape (Williamson et al. 2009a, Williamson et al. 2009b). Sensors, including automated, high frequency weather and lake stations, have been a part of research conducted at Lacawac since 1992. Beginning in 2009, Lake Lacawac has been used for training new NSF IGERT fellows from Miami University and Kent State University on sensor use and technology.
Lake and terrestrial sites at Lacawac Sanctuary are also routinely used to test new sensors and prototypes by researchers from Miami University, Lehigh University, and Fondriest Environmental Inc. who have funding support from NSF and NASA. For example, Lake Lacawac is the testing site for a prototype of a small, portable profiling buoy equipped with optical instruments for chlorophyll-a, chromophoric dissolved organic matter, and turbidity that will enable small lakes to be networked to understand regional to continental scale influences of climate change. Lacawac is also currently hosting a NASA funded project to evaluate new types of snow-melt sensors to better predict catchment runoff via remote sensing.
In addition to aquatic-related research, Lacawac has supported a long-term field experiment on the impacts of deer browsing on forest understories. With funding from the Pennsylvania Wild Resources Conservation Fund, Dan Townsend of the University of Scranton set up a pair of 0.7 ha deer exclosures in two different forest types. The experiment, which ran from 1994 to 2004, involved sampling of understory vegetation, small mammals, amphibians, and soil nutrient concentrations (Townsend and Meyer 2002, Byman 2011). Much of the sampling and exclosure maintenance was conducted by undergraduates from the University of Scranton, as well as local volunteers. A nature trail that runs past one of the exclosures allows visitors to continue to see the effects of deer browsing first hand.
In 2011, two additional exclosures were erected (0.8 hectare) with funding provided by Lacawac’s Forest Fund. The fund was created with adopt-a-tree donations, selective timber harvest for our regeneration forestry plan, and a small grant. For site selection we worked with the forester who created Lacawac’s current Forest Stewardship Plan. The exclosures were placed in areas damaged by high winds and Adelges tsugae (hemlock woolly adelgids) with high tree mortality and little regeneration due to heavy deer browsing. One of the new exclosures serves as a control site. The other exclosure is experimental and uses the Nature Conservancy’s plan to restore old-growth forest characteristics. All four exclosures are monitored and maintained weekly by exclosure researchers and dedicated local volunteers. We currently have two on-going projects in the forest exclosures. Other terrestrial studies include projects on Lacawac’s diverse lichen community (Lendemer 2010, Lendemer and Hodkinson 2010) and studies on forest regeneration failure (Townsend et al. 2002).
A scientist from the Academy of Natural Sciences in Lake Lacawac
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Dr. Robert Moeller
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