The Penn State Water Resources Extension team will provide a live, one hour webinar from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. on June 25 on Five Steps to a Healthier Pond.

The live webinar can be viewed online and will be presented by Bryan Swistock, a water resources extension specialist in the College of Agricultural Sciences at Penn State.

There are thousands of earthen ponds and lakes across Pennsylvania that provide many benefits to homeowners and farmers, but they have their share of problems”, says Swistock. "Some may develop leaks or fill with sediment. The water may be muddy, or choked with weeds and algae. And sometimes, that big fish you hoped would be there for the kids to catch just doesn't materialize."

During the webinar, Swistock will offer five strategies that pond and lake owners can implement to try to create a more satisfactory and sustainable water body.

“The most frequent questions involve the control of aquatic plants and weeds," says Swistock, "so several of the strategies that we'll discuss will focus on identification and control of nuisance plants and algae. We also get a lot of questions about fish and wildlife, so we'll discuss some tips to promote desirable species while discouraging those that can create a nuisance."

The webinar is free to view. The strategies discussed in the webinar are mainly intended for homeowners with ponds or lakes larger than 1/8 of an acre rather than smaller landscape or garden ponds.

Those wishing to learn more about past and future webinars sponsored by the Penn State Water Resources Extension team should visit the Penn State Extension Water Resources website.

(Written By: Bryan Swistock, Water Resources Specialist, Renewable Natural Resources, Penn State Extension, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and reprinted from June 16 Penn State Extension Watershed Winds newsletter.)

6/23/2014