Have you heard about the Clear Choices Clean Water® campaign? It is a program designed to increase awareness about the choices we make and the impacts they have on our streams, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs.
Clear Choices Clean Water® empowers everyone to do their part for water quality and conservation.
The effort started as a partnership between two watershed organizations in Indiana in 2010 and has now grown to multiple locations around the country.
The focal point of the program is a unique, interactive website that is supported by complementary outreach resources and built-in viral marketing elements. An action-oriented pledge platform provides website users with immediate personalized data about the positive impacts a specific action(s) has made for our waters. Pledges are also ‘put on the map’ via a push pin marker that helps the pledge taker visualize how their action pledge, alongside thousands of others, will protect water resources in their watershed. These two outcomes help people comprehend exactly how they made a difference and allow them to feel part of something bigger.
There’s an
Action Pledge
for Everyone
- Climate Change
- Plant Natives and Protect Pollinators
- Use Less Fertilizer
- Healthy Soils
- Water Conservation
- Pick Up Pet Poo
- Volunteer Service
- Don’t Feed Waterfowl
- Septic Maintenance
- Trees
- Super Kids
- Be a Stream Steward
- Stop and Prevent Litter
- Only Rain Down the Drain
Do Your Part for Lake Maxinkuckee Water Quality
LMEF is looking at several projects in the watershed to address the issue of excess nutrients flowing into the lake. One of the simplest ways to reduce phosphorous loading, a key nutrient we are focusing on, is to make sure that everyone who fertilizes their lawn is using phosphorous free fertilizer. This means checking the bag and looking for zero as the middle number. Or if you have a lawn service provider, make sure they are using phosphorous free fertilizer.
How To Read a Fertilizer Label
Better yet, before assuming you need to fertilize as part of your annual chores, why not check and see if your soil actually needs the added nutrients. A soil test is the best way to determine this. Soil testing means sending a sample of your lawn’s soil to a laboratory to learn what levels of nutrients currently exist. The test results also provide recommendations on what you may need (in terms of pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) to help your lawn and other plants be healthy and grow their best. Professional soil tests typically cost around $20, depending on how simple or complex of an analysis you want conducted. The soil report you receive will allow you to plan your next steps.
Local Extension offices can typically help or offer additional information. Contact the Marshall County Extension Office.
Take the Fertilizer Pledge
LMEF will begin a no-phosphorous fertilizer campaign in 2024. Let’s see how many homeowners we can get to take the fertilizer pledge and see what a difference individuals, working collectively, can make. More information about how to participate in the campaign will follow.
Hi, I’m Debbie Palmer. I received a BS in Horticulture from Purdue University. Here at LMEF, I am responsible for outreach presentations, monitoring the lake and it’s wetlands, project manager for restoration and research projects, and act as a community resource for all things related to the well-being of Lake Maxinkuckee and its surrounding watershed. I completed Indiana Watershed Leadership Academy, volunteer with the Indiana Clean Lakes Program, Hoosier River Watch and Marshall County Lakes and Waters and serve as a Board Member for Indiana Lakes Management Society.
Recent Comments