Monitoring lakes for restoration

Lake restoration projects require substantial monitoring. Primary purposes are to assess a lake problem, determine its causes and design or develop a corrective program. Hundreds of these lake monitoring projects have been initiated in the United States over the past decade. A number of field limnological activities can be improved to make the monitoring results more applicable to the objectives of a project. This paper discusses twenty of the most common limnology procedures that may go awry in applied limnology and makes suggestions, alternatives or improved field and project procedures. Expenditures may be reduced, but more important can be an increased use capability of the information for the scientific and engineering needs of a lake restoration effort.