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It was a busy summer for the Foundation, getting the message out about our research progress and also the need to bring in the International Joint Commission to coordinate water quality research, monitoring, and development of water quality objectives and management plans across all jurisdictions of this bi-national lake and watershed. 
The Foundation presented to a broad audience including at the Lake of the Woods District Property Owners Association summer meeting, the Royal Lake of the Woods Yacht Club, the Zig Zag Yacht Club, several private gatherings, municipal / county governments in Sioux Narrows-Nestor Falls Ontario and Koochiching and Lake of the Woods Counties in Minnesota. 

The Minnesota House bill HF0353 [D. Olin] and Senate companion bill SF0445 [L. Stumpf] calling for an IJC Reference for Lake of the Woods water quality made significant progress in the 86th Legislative Session this year.
The bill passed committee (Environment Policy and Oversight) and received second reading before the end of the session.  Having made it this far, the House of Representatives has held the bill over to be dealt with in the upcoming legislative session which starts in February, rather than having to re-introduce it. 
We are optimistic that this bill will move forward adding Minnesota’s voice to those of Ontario, Manitoba and the Foundation requesting that Canada and the United States bring in the IJC to coordinate water quality protection on Lake of the Woods. 
For those of you from Minnesota, put in a good word for this bill if you run into your Representative or Senator this winter!

Definitive Baseline Report on Water Quality and Ecology of the Lake of the Woods

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The State of the Basin Report for the Lake of the Woods and Rainy River Basin was released March 11, 2009 at the International Lake of the Woods Water Quality Forum.  This 140 page report is a comprehensive synthesis of what is known about the Lake of the Woods ecosystem, including climate, geography, hydrology, morphometry, water chemistry, trophic status and biological communities.

A Report from Kathryn Hargan, Trent University

The preliminary phosphorus budget for the Lake of the Woods (LoW) was presented at the 2009 International Lake of the Woods Water forum.  The purpose of this research is to quantify all sources of phosphorus to, and losses from, the lake.  These data will be applied to lake water quality models to predict current and future lake phosphorus concentrations and water quality conditions