For the Sake of the Lake
Furman launches a major project to restore the environmental quality and integrity of the lake.
Furman students still follow the time-honored tradition of tossing their
friends in the lake on their birthdays.
In recent years, in conjunction with the ceremonial dowsings, a new tradition
has emerged. Students call it the “lake flu.”
As Adrienne DuBois ’06 described her experience in this magazine
last fall: “My freshman year I was thrown in the lake for my birthday.
I went in kicking and screaming and came out with a sickness that lasted
for a week and then was passed around my hall. It might have been a coincidence,
but if you’ve been in the lake recently . . .”
Coincidence? Probably not.
After Furman moved to its current location in the late 1950s, the lake
quickly became the visual heart of the university, a major campus draw
and a resource enjoyed by the university community and area residents.
No doubt many alumni who graduated before 1985 remember when it was a
popular spot for swimming, light boating and fishing.
But it has been many years since the lake’s water quality met Environmental
Protection Agency standards for recreational waters. And for the last
decade in particular, the lake has been declining in quality.
Anyone who has been in or around the lake recently has discovered that beneath its shiny surface lies an environmental mess — an ecosystem fouled by excessive algae and bacteria, and an eroding shoreline marred by waterfowl droppings. On damp, still evenings, residents of Lakeside Housing often are treated to an unpleasant odor emanating from the nearby water.
What’s to be done?
In this “Year of the Environment” at Furman, in which the
university is emphasizing its commitment to environmental citizenship
and sustainability — both educationally and operationally —
one of the signature projects is a plan that, over time, will restore
the quality of the lake and re-imagine its recreational and educational
possibilities.
Says Wade Worthen, professor of biology and head of the task force charged
with developing the restoration plan, “There are a lot of different
factors that contribute to the problems, and we have to address them all
if we’re going to change the environment.”
At least one of the key aspects of the plan will no doubt require a bit
of marketing finesse, especially with a public used to coming to the lake
for wholesome family fun. For not only is the university working to reduce
the waterfowl population to a more sustainable level, but it is also asking
visitors to please stop feeding (gasp!) the swans, ducks and geese that
make the lake their home.
Believe it or not, bread isn’t good for a bird’s digestive
system. And by making food so readily available, visitors to the lake
discourage Canada geese (the prime culprits in the fouling of the lakeshore)
and other birds from following their traditional migratory patterns. After
all, why not just hang where the living is easy — and the food comes
to you?
The problem: The 28-acre lake isn’t big enough to handle its current
population. So something must be done.
And maybe the “no feeding” idea won’t be such a tough
sell.
Says Worthen, who has made it a habit this year to take a weekly stroll around the lake and talk with visitors about its problems and needs, “Many of the people you meet have been coming to the lake for years. When you talk with them, they say that they’ve noticed the increase in feces on the shore and the decline in water quality. When you explain to them why things need to change, they put two and two together pretty quickly and are usually very supportive.”
A brief lesson
The Furman lake is, in essence, a simplified, human-made system, an “artificial
impoundment” built in the late 1950s by damming a tributary of the
Reedy River below the confluence of two small streams. It is surrounded
by a static wall and structurally simple, low diversity lawns.
Most of the “inputs” to the lake are also manmade —
most are actually pipes — rather than structurally and biologically
complex streams. The lake is the lowest point in a local watershed; it
collects water from the nearby North Village apartments, Lakeside Housing,
Daniel Dining Hall, the University Center, and the associated parking
lots, lawns and creeks.
As such, the lake doesn’t function like a complex natural system.
It doesn’t filter water or buffer flooding as effectively as a natural
lake, and it doesn’t provide a habitat for much wildlife besides
the human-fed waterfowl.
The restoration task force envisions a lake that is more of a natural
system, with high biological diversity and greater complexity. A more
“natural” lake would be better integrated with the surrounding
watershed and would filter water before sending it on to the Reedy. Such
a lake, the task force believes, could become an extraordinary educational
resource for Furman and the Greenville community.
To reach that point, Worthen and his group, which consists of students, faculty, administrators, alumni and community representatives, are focusing on several key areas.
Revegetating the lakeshore
Until very recently, the entire lakeshore had been mowed to the water
line, and tributary streams were mowed or sprayed to remove vegetation
from stream banks. The problem with this landscaping approach was that
it left nothing to impede water runoff caused by rain or sprinklers.
The runoff carried chemical nutrients (such as phosphorus and nitrogen)
from fertilizers, mowed grass and animal waste directly into the lake
and tributary streams. The result: increased algal growth in the lake.
When these algal mats decay, they produce the offensive odors noticed
by students in Lakeside Housing.
New construction that has served the university well over the last decade
has also changed the landscape near and around the lake, and ultimately
added to the problems. In building North Village and the Amphitheater,
Furman converted forested areas that had acted as natural nutrient filters
into lawns and parking lots. Once the wooded buffers were gone, nutrients
and sediment flowed more easily into the lake.
To combat these problems, the lakeshore is taking on a different look.
Furman is allowing vegetation to flourish along the lake’s perimeter.
The plant growth along the shore and shallows will filter runoff water
and help absorb surplus nutrients while easing the erosion of the shoreline.
The increased vegetation should also help reduce the temperature of the
water. High temperatures contribute to the growth of bacteria and algae.
Along the same lines, the university is working to increase vegetation
along the “inputs” to the lake (streams and storm drains).
Parking areas, lawns and roadways in the lake’s watershed have storm
drains that empty directly into the lake or into two tributary streams.
According to the task force, retaining stormwater on site is ecologically
appropriate — as long as the water is released slowly into the ecosystem.
However, transferring it directly to the lake and streams has likely had
a negative effect on these habitats.
Storm drains allow water to bypass the normally slow transit through the
soil to the water table, and to pass quickly through drainpipes or channels.
This huge volume of water, traveling quickly under high pressure, erodes
the lakeshore or stream bank at the point of entry and contributes large
volumes of nutrients and sediments. Managing the inputs more effectively
will help reduce surface runoff and water temperature and increase nutrient
absorption.
Worthen also hopes to introduce new aquatic plants to the lake. These
plants, such as cattails and water lilies, would take root in the lake
bottom, add to its beauty and help absorb excess nutrients.
In the future, it’s possible that some form of dredging may be necessary
to cut channels in the wetland areas to maximize water flow, and aerators
may be needed to reduce algae.
The system won’t change overnight, Worthen emphasizes. “We can’t create wetlands in one fell swoop,” he says. “It’s a process that requires patience and study. We need to take the experimental approach and measure the response of the system to each change to determine how it affects water quality. The goal is to use this lake restoration project as an educational opportunity.”
Please don’t feed the birds
On occasion, visitors such as herons stop by for a visit.
Changing the landscape around the lakeshore is expected to help with the
other major contributor to the lake’s problems: the growth in the
waterfowl population.
The lake is home to a large flock of resident waterfowl, including many
birds that ordinarily would migrate in the spring or fall. These birds
— ducks, swans and, in particular, Canada geese — are a well
known part of the lake’s charm, and visitors to campus have long
enjoyed outings to “Furman State Park” to feed them.
Now, though, the bird population has grown to the point that it is having
a severe impact on the ecology of the lake and its environs, principally
through fecal contamination of the lawns and water.
The ideal bird population for the 28-acre lake would be 50 or 60 individuals,
a mix of swans, ducks and geese. At one point last July, the number had
reached 362 — six times the appropriate density.
“One reason we have that many birds is that they have learned people
will feed them, so there’s no reason to migrate elsewhere,”
says Worthen.
Domestic ducks — the white ones — are part of the problem.
But much of the population explosion is due to the influx of Canada geese.
And the problem isn’t restricted to Furman. Canada geese are making
their presence known throughout the eastern United States.
Although the geese are beautiful, especially in flight, they tend to be
aggressive, territorial and noisy. At Furman, small children have had
to be rescued after being surrounded by a pack of hungry geese, and students
sunbathing beside the lake have been attacked.
The geese are messy, too. One Canada goose can produce up to two pounds
of feces per day, so even a conservative estimate suggests that the lake
environment could be fouled by more than 100 pounds of waterfowl feces
daily. The feces are the likely cause of the high bacterial content of
the lake.
Recent analyses show that the lake’s fecal and E. coli bacteria
counts are, in some cases, 30 to 50 times higher than the recommended
limits for recreational waters prescribed by the federal (Environmental
Protection Agency) and state (Department of Health and Environmental Control)
governments. Obviously, this represents a concern for human health. In
addition, the feces and accompanying nitrogenous waste feed the growth
of algae and other bacteria.
Furman wants to reduce the waterfowl population to an appropriate level
— 50 to 60 resident birds. The lake task force believes doing so
would significantly moderate the human health risks associated with E.
coli contamination and would help restore the aesthetics of the lake environment.
The key elements in the plan: changing the habitat, and reducing the availability
of food.
Because Canada geese have become such a problem, considerable research
has been done to determine how to modify their living conditions to encourage
them to move on and migrate normally. It has been learned that the geese
prefer open water habitats with easy accessibility from shore, and they
prefer their feeding areas to be directly adjacent to bodies of water.
A border of vegetation 12 to 18 inches high along the lakeshore should
help discourage their culinary interests.
The geese typically feed on algae in the lake, grasses at the lakeshore,
and bread provided by lake visitors. Once the lawn around the lake grows,
Worthen says that it will eventually transition, through natural succession,
to less palatable grasses and perennial herbs. The university will likely
stimulate this transition by replacing the turf grasses currently growing
around the lake with native flowering perennials.
Step two, and it’s a big step, is to discourage public feeding of
all waterfowl. As Worthen says, “We understand the long cultural
history of feeding the ducks and geese at Furman, but the availability
of food is a major factor in sustaining and encouraging the surplus population
of waterfowl. We think that an educational approach, in which the public
is asked to join in addressing this problem, can be effective and socially
sensitive.”
Furman realizes it may have to pursue other humane solutions to help combat
the growth in waterfowl. For example, geese tend to return to the same
breeding ground each year, so with the help of the S.C. Department of
Natural Resources, the university has already relocated some of them to
Lake Hartwell, 30 to 45 minutes away. Additional measures may require
outside professional help as well, given that the birds are protected
by federal law.
Whatever the method of removal, the problem won’t disappear overnight.
Worthen points out that, over the summer, the university was able to reduce
the number of geese from 200 to 50. By October, the population had rebounded
to 150. And, as he adds, “Geese can live 20 to 30 years.”
A more valuable resource
One consequence of making the lake and its surroundings less attractive
to waterfowl is that human access will also be affected. Realizing that
people are naturally drawn to the water, Worthen and the task force have
compiled a number of ideas that they believe will encourage visitors to
enjoy the revamped lake area. Their suggestions include:
· Upgrading the main picnic area near the Bell Tower, and adding
others.
· Extending an observation deck into the lake.
· Building boardwalks near wetlands to provide viewing areas for
wading birds, songbirds, butterflies and dragonflies.
· Developing a nature trail and observation stations with permanent
binocular stands.
· Posting educational signs to describe different species, ecological
principles and elements of the lake restoration project.
The project is already providing extended research opportunities for Furman
students and faculty. Biology professor Min-Ken Liao and students are
involved in an ongoing study of bacteria in the lake, and others are examining
the water’s nutrient content and biodiversity. As a faculty fellow
for the Associated Colleges of the South, Worthen conducts weekly surveys
with the help of ACS interns Joanna Hawley ’07 and Angel Cruz ’08,
who walk the lake and talk with visitors about the new feeding policy.
In addition, Furman has contracted with a landscape design firm to create
a master plan for the lake that will identify key design elements and
locate them to best maximize their environmental utility and visual appeal.
While all of this will take time and patience, Worthen foresees a day
when businesses, colleges and municipalities with similar problems will
visit Furman to study its progress. Ultimately, he says, “By changing
the habitat, we will create a more diverse ecosystem. There will be different
kinds of plant and animal life, and a natural system will draw different
kinds of birds. Butterflies will return to the area, and the naturalized
lake will be a destination for field trips by local schools and nature
groups.
“In the end, the lake will be an even more valuable resource for Furman and the greater community, and a living example of restoration ecology.”
More lake photos:
Restoring the water quality will take time.
Canada geese are the main culprits in contributing to the fouling of the lakeshore.
Students pitched in to do some lake cleaning work during Sustainability Day in October.
The cleanup was hard work.
Biology professor Wade Worthen heads the lake restoration task force.
Swans take a break along shore.
If all goes according to plan, the lake will serve as a living example of restoration ecology.