An update on the lake acidification mitigation project (LAMP)

Abstract

Limestone addition is a management tactic to mitigate acidic conditions in lakes. The Lake Acidification Mitigation Project is a long-term integrated project to study the ecological effects of liming and develop the technical information necessary for an effective liming program. Three Adirondack lakes have been limed: Cranberry Pond, a small, 60-day hydraulic residence time fishless lake; Woods Lake, a larger fishless lake with longer residence time (214 days); and Little Simon Pond, a large lake (160 ha) containing populations of brook trout, lake trout and other fishes, with a residence time of 450 days. Woods Lake has been limed twice and the stocked brook trout fishery has been maintained; Cranberry has been limed once and then allowed to reacidify with loss of the stocked fishery. Little Simon Pond showed no ill effects of liming on the extant populations. In general, short term evaluation of ecological effects has shown no major deleterious effects of liming. Methods for predicting reacidification are extremely accurate and use of different limestone particle-size fractions is recommended to achieve longer term in-lake neutralization.