Assessing the Trophic State of Rose Valley Lake

Elaine Langone Center, Terrace Room

Rose Valley Lake is a 369 acre man-made reservoir located in Lycoming County and managed by the PA Fish and Boat Commission for recreational fishing and boating. Since 2000, the Lycoming College Clean Water Institute (CWI) has been a partner with the Rose Valley/Mill Creek Watershed Association to complete the chemical and biological assessment of the lake and Mill Creek watershed. A major part of this assessment is the determination of the trophic state of the reservoir. This involves measurement of chemical and biological parameters following the protocols of Carlson’s Tropic State Index as outlined in the Secchi Dip-In. The first North American Secchi Dip-In started in 1994 and now thanks to the support of volunteer programs and volunteers, the North American Lake Management Society, and the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dip-In database has grown to more than 41,000 records on more than 7,000 separate water bodies (not including different sites, such as along rivers and estuaries). Macroinvertebrate, macrophyte, phytoplankton , zooplankton, and fish counts were completed in order to compare to historical data. Trends found in the data suggest an appropriate amount of aging in the lake environment, but also a negative trend in ecological health. Several threatening factors are present in the area, including nearby Marcellus gas drilling, erosion, and other factors related to increasing amount of human occupation/visitation.