LAKE OR WETLAND; SEMANTICS VS. MANAGEMENT PRACTICES

Koinonia is a private Lutheran campground located in Sullivan County, New York. In 1965, Mill Brook (a spring on the property) was impounded by a class I earthen-dam with a spillway. The body of water was considered a shallow lake (z-bar = 1 m, z_m= 2 m) by stakeholders. The board of directors commissioned the Lake Management program through the State University of New York College at Oneonta to manage abundant aquatic macrophytes. During preliminary research, the waterbody was discovered to be a Federal and State-Protected wetland. Efforts for a management plan that integrates lake, stream, and wetland ecology have since been redirected toward education, conservation, and preservation. This wetland has been assessed for ecosystem services such as water filtration abilities, carbon, nutrient, and sediment sequestration, aquatic habitat evaluation, flood control, and local property value contribution.