Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper featured at KNPS talk

Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper officials will be talking about the lake and protecting it for future generations at Kinnickinnick Native Plant Society's upcoming program.

The program will be held Saturday, May 22, only be offered online via Zoom. There will be no in-person meeting at Sandpoint Community Hall. However, KNPS is working on plans to re-open in-person meetings in the fall.

Guest speaker for the May 22 program is Steve Holt, executive director of Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper. This program will be a live, with opportunity to ask questions via chat, but it will also be recorded for later viewing. KNPS programs are co-sponsored by Sandpoint Parks & Recreation.

The call will begin at 9 a.m. for a coffee klatch and casual conversation preceding the program. There will be a 15-minute break at 9:45 a.m., with the program starting at 10 a.m.

LPOW founded in 2009, works to protect the water quality of the Pend Oreille/Clark Fork Watershed for future generations through education, community engagement, and advocacy. Its Water Quality Monitoring Program, supported by citizen scientists, has been monitoring the water quality of the lake and river for 10 years. LPOW also offers its Watershed Discovery Camp for kids, Shoreline Clean Up on Earth Day each year, and a Water Summit to communicate to the public the state of this invaluable water resource. LPOW’s area of focus includes Lake Pend Oreille, the Pend Oreille River to Albeni Falls Dam, the Clark Fork River up to Cabinet Gorge Dam, and all of the tributaries that flow into the lake.

Holt moved to Sandpoint in 1993, attracted to the incredible beauty of Lake Pend Oreille and the surrounding region. He founded The Eureka Institute, a non-profit whose mission is to support life-long learning by providing unique educational opportunities. He is the owner/developer of the Eureka Center, a 42-acre educational retreat facility in support of this goal.

Holt also is a founding member of the Bonner County Aquatic Invasive Species Task Force, a group comprised of federal, state, and local officials tasked with advising the Idaho Department of Agriculture on aquatic weed control best management practices. He is also a founding member of the Lake Pend Oreille Waterkeeper and has worked with the organization since its inception.

To register, go online to https://bit.ly/3evxFPL . After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about how to join the Zoom program.

Information: [email protected].