This discussion of NALMS and its functions is intended to provide background on the organization to members, potential members, and people who interact with our organization. It is not exhaustive, and as changes occur in any organization, may require occasional updating. It does, however, provide information that will help you understand what NALMS is, what it seeks to accomplish, and how it is organized to meet its goals.
Foundation and Mission: The North American Lake Management Society – NALMS – was founded in 1980 at the third gathering of lake scientists in Portland, ME (two previous gatherings in Madison, WI and Minneapolis, MN paved the way in 1978 and 1979).
The focus of NALMS is on lake management for a wide variety of uses, but to do this it is necessary to address land use and other issues on a watershed level. We get involved in land, streams, wetland and even estuaries in the course of our activities, as lakes are a logical “endpoint” in systems that incorporate all of these resource types. The focus is lakes, but the medium is water, and it defies governmental boundaries, human ownership, and even physical form. The management target of NALMS is lakes, but this involves activities in all landscape forms.
The primary function is educational, but on a variety of levels: professional lake managers, politicians, policy makers, regulators, volunteer monitors, lake users, anyone interested in lakes.
The mission statement is simple and clear:
The purpose of the Society is to forge partnerships among citizens, scientists, and professionals to foster the management and protection of lakes and reservoirs for today and tomorrow.
The implication of this mission is that we are not a society with a narrow focus on professionals, academic researchers, or any smaller interest group. NALMS is a melting pot in terms of membership, and welcomes anyone interested in lakes and lake management.
Over the years since the formation of NALMS, efforts to become more of a grass roots organization with emphasis on citizen members through Chapters have been less effective than hoped. Efforts to focus on just professional members have met strong opposition. We are to some extent limited by our greatest strength – diversity. This should not be a limiting factor, but we have yet to harness the power of having so many member groups. Recent planning efforts focus on working toward that goal.
The specific goals of the society, as spelled out in the Constitution and Bylaws, are as follows:
- To facilitate the exchange of information on the technical and administrative aspects of managing lakes and their watersheds.
- To promote public awareness of lake ecosystems.
- To encourage public support for national, state or provincial, and local programs promoting management of lakes and their watersheds.
- To provide guidance to public and private agencies involved in or planning management activities for lakes and their watersheds.
- To improve the professional status of all persons engaged in any aspect of managing lakes and their watersheds.
- To identify needs and encourage research on lake ecology and watershed management.
These documents govern NALMS, and are amended by the membership as proposed and warranted. Most structural aspects of NALMS are spelled out in these documents, or at least the method by which structural aspects are to be established is outlined. It specifies:
- what leaders we will have,
- how they are elected,
- who they represent,
- what committees we must have,
- how we can establish other needed entities within NALMS,
- that we can maintain an office and staff,
- what categories of membership we have, and
- how we go about changing any rule that we think needs changing.
The Constitution and Bylaws are posted on the web in the Membership Services area.
NALMS has five officers (Past President, President, President-Elect, Secretary and Treasurer) that constitute the Executive Committee and 12 directors representing geographic regions that comprise the Board of Directors. There are 9 regions that include just USA states, 2 that split Canada into eastern and western regions, and one region that includes southwestern USA states, Mexico, and any other international members.
The Executive Committee (ExCom) and Board of Directors (BOD) are usually considered as one group, the “Board”, as each individual has a single vote at meetings. The ExCom members are elected members of the Board, and conduct routine business with the approval and direction of the full Board of Directors.
Board meetings occur twice per year, once at the annual symposium which moves around the USA and Canada to different locations, and once at a mid-term meeting that has been in Chicago for 20 years. Prior to that, the mid-term meeting was wherever convenient, but the initiation of an April or May conference for state lake programs in Chicago presented a very appropriate venue for the mid-term meeting.
Board meetings are where society business is discussed within the framework of proposed action items, with voting to determine what actions will be taken. Roberts Rules of Order are specified in the Bylaws as the meeting format. In between these two meetings, the ExCom is empowered to make decisions, usually by conference call, but the Board can be convened by phone or webex as well if needed.
Officers and directors are elected by the membership, with officers elected by the entire membership and directors elected by the members within their assigned regions. They serve as volunteers without remuneration. Their mode of operation is called a “Volunteer Board”, or sometimes a “Start-Up Board”, and this is the format employed by most groups during their early history. The leaders serve from their commitment to the mission and objectives to the extent they are able, and advance the organization in accordance with perceived needs and their ability to meet them. NALMS has remained in this mode for over 26 years, and this is perceived by many as limiting our growth and success.
As an organization matures, it usually finds it necessary to move toward more specific skill sets in its directors and an expanded staff that carries out the directives of the board. There are several formats that can be adopted, but the most common is a “Governing Board”. Board members are often contributors and fundraisers as well as bringing some skill such as technical expertise in areas relating to the mission, management ability, marketing knowledge, or personnel experience to the Board. They may be elected by the membership or by the existing Board. Over the last couple of years, the leadership of NALMS has determined that some form of Governing Board is appropriate for NALMS, but the exact form and how to transition to it have not been determined. The right mix of voluntary service and paid support is critical, as well as structures that maintain the characteristics of NALMS that so many appreciate, but the truly key factor is funding; what we can afford to do on a sustained basis. Strategic planning documents are periodically made available on the website.
NALMS has maintained an office since its early years. First it was part of the JT&A consulting operation in Washington DC. There was mutual benefit between NALMS and JT&A in the early years, but as NALMS grew, it needed to have more control over its functions. It moved to Alachua, FL in 1991 as an independent operation on an interim basis, while a more permanent location was researched, then to Madison around 1994. There are no plans to move the main office to any other geographic area, although a presence in other areas may be sought. We may need more space if we grow as planned, but that can be accommodated within the Madison area.
Staffing has varied over time in response to needs, programs, and funding. For many years, the central employee has been an administrator of some kind, who coordinated some activities, facilitated communications among leaders and members, and handled day to day office tasks. We have tried multiple staff arrangements to meet needs, and adjustments are to be expected in a dynamic organization. We currently have a full time administrative assistant and a full time project manager, the former charged with day to day operational support and the latter with managing grants, special projects, and assisting with conference planning and implementation. As worldwide web interactions became more important, NALMS added a webmaster on a part-time basis, and that position is maintained as well. We plan to add an Executive Director when funding is deemed appropriate, with a target date of late 2007. In the absence of an Executive Director, the President, with the aid of the Executive Committee, provides the primary leadership and supervision. This is not ideal, but seemed more appropriate as an interim measure than having someone from the existing staff be in charge when they have so much else to do; we need to avoid the bottleneck effect or too much centralization of functions.
It would be reasonable to assume that a conference coordinator position might be added at some point, as well as an outreach coordinator and/or a development officer. Any option is possible, but for now, the core functions are filled by a mixture of staff and volunteers, and the current staff arrangement plus an Executive Director is the desired immediate future arrangement.
From the NALMS Bylaws, we have “Standing Committees” (permanent by rule) that include a Policy Committee, a Nominating Committee, a Publication Committee, an Executive Committee, a Budget Committee, and a Constitution and By-laws Committee. Other committees are allowed as deemed appropriate by the ExCom and/or BOD. There is a listing of committees for 2007 on the website, with a description of purpose, itemization of specific tasks and target deadlines, listing of chairs, and listing of other members. Since a lot of the work to advance the mission of NALMS occurs within committees, this outline almost constitutes a work plan for the year. There is also a listing of committee contacts on our website. A brief review of committees and key functions is provided here:
Committee/Sub-Committee
- Awards – Selects recipients for annual awards, including Secchi disk (outstanding member), Outstanding Corporation, Technical and Volunteer Merit, Friends of NALMS, and any others warranted. A call goes out in spring or early summer, a ballot is constructed in late summer, and awards are given at the annual symposium.
- Budget – Develops annual budget for approval; our fiscal year matches the calendar year, although we have talked about changing this since our symposium is late in the year and this complicates accounting and revenue-based planning.
- Certification – Manages the certification program for Lake Managers (CLM) and Professionals (CLP); difference between designations is that managers make management decisions for lakes, professionals provide support data and services.
- Conference Advisory – Oversees symposium planning, assists with any other conferences in which NALMS is involved. This is a particularly important function in the absence of a staff conference coordinator.
- Constitution and Bylaws – Reviews Constitution and Bylaws and recommends any changes, reviews policies or other actions for consistency with the Constitution and Bylaws.
- Development – Addresses issues of NALMS structure and growth. This committee has multiple important sub-committees.
- Capacity Building – Examines structure, staffing, funding and related issues that affect the ability of NALMS to meet its goals; especially important in 2007 is the development of an Executive Director position description and consideration of funding for it.
- Communications – Oversees communications within NALMS and with the public; seeks consistency in approach and with our mission, goals, bylaws and policies; recommends procedures to ensure appropriate communications (developed a plan in 2006).
- Membership – Promotes membership in NALMS; a campaign is underway in 2007; membership in 2006 was about 1600, targeting 2000 in 2007, 2500 was maximum historically, but 4500 needed to support core functions with dues alone.
- Planning – Develops strategic plan to meet NALMS goals, assists in identifying structural needs and options, integrates activities of other Development sub-committees.
- Education and Outreach – Develops products and promotes dissemination of knowledge among members and the general public. Always important, this group is assuming major status as we move toward greater web-based interactions.
- Volunteer Monitoring – Supports monitoring by volunteer groups, now viewed as a very cost-effective way to collect data; greater involvement and advancement is possible and we want to promote it.
- Scholarship – Determines which students will be awarded funds for presenting at the annual symposium; establishes eligibility and review procedures. Also determines winners of best student paper and poster competitions. Determines grant recipients when funds for such efforts are available.
- Technology Transfer – Focuses on providing information to aid professionals and other interested parties in managing lakes; wide latitude, can be printed or electronic media, subject material almost unlimited, also includes video presentation filming and production. Maintains reference library for display at conferences/symposia.
- Executive – Handles decision making for NALMS between Board meetings. Addresses all issues in need of attention, refers actions to committees, oversees financial affairs, and generally runs the Society in conjunction with the staff on a day to day basis.
- Government Affairs – Tracks developments at any governmental level, although the focus has been mostly national and largely USA; we would very much like to add a Canadian component and track specific issues on state, provincial or regional levels. Issue summaries, legislative updates, and action alerts are posted on the web and may be sent to members via email.
- Nominations – Develops a slate of candidates to fill upcoming vacancies on the ExCom and BOD; publicizes openings, accepts nominations, reviews candidates, establishes slate to go on staff-produced ballot. Supervises election process, but this is largely staff run. This is a BOD function, with the BOD acting as a committee to advance this process by late spring. The actual election occurs in September and October.
- Personnel – Addresses staff issues, develops personnel policies, reviews time allocations, suggests needed staff positions; a committee of the ExCom, the key contact has been the Past-President in recent years.
- Policy – Two distinct sub-committees: operational policies and science advisory.
- o Operations - Reviews and recommends NALMS policies to cover a wide variety of circumstances, such as check writing, conditions of sale of the membership list, etc. Policies may be developed by this or other committees, but are all reviewed by this group prior to Board consideration.
- o Science Advisory – Develops position statements on key issues relating to lakes. Approved position statements address issues such as global climate change, the cost of lake management, use of herbicides and alum in lake management, and invasive species. This is a very competent technical group with additional expertise in government affairs and conflict management that puts a lot of thought and review into positions, and can follow up with white papers as deemed appropriate.
- Publications – Oversees development of publications for NALMS. LakeLine and the Journal are included, but have their own editorial staffs and require limited action by this committee. Coordination with other committees in need of publication support is desired.
- o LakeLine – Quarterly magazine targeting general public and lake users; it is managed by an editor, who sometimes uses guest editors and is supported by a layout editor. The operation is based in Bloomington, IN at Indiana Univ. and the editors receive modest stipends for their work. They put a lot of time and effort into making this a fine publication that is perhaps NALMS’ most visible public representation. All members get LakeLine, mostly in hard copy, although some receive it only as an electronic file, and all members have access to electronic versions on our website.
- o Journal of Lake and Reservoir Management – Quarterly journal of peer-reviewed scientific papers targeting a largely technical audience of academics and lake managers; It has a managing editor and uses a voluntary editorial board to assist with soliciting papers and arranging reviews. It also has a redactory editor, handling spelling, grammar and related clarity of text presentation. The managing editor is paid a modest stipend and the redactory editor is paid on a contract basis per unit of effort. The NALMS project manager handles layout and related details such as galley proofs, and coordinates printing and mailing out of the Madison office. This publication is less visible than LakeLine, but is considered a major source of practical information in the technical lake management community. Members must sign up for JLRM as a cost-added part of their membership, and it is available on-line as well.
This is the major NALMS event of the year. Although only part of the membership attends (300 to 900 people), it generates a lot of interest, produces material for LakeLine, JLRM, and educational efforts, provides an opportunity for face to face contact and networking, hosts a Board meeting and an annual membership meeting, and provides a variety of social outlets. For clarity, we usually call this event the “Symposium”, as opposed to state, provincial or regional events that get called “Conferences” – this is semantic convenience but does help avoid confusion.
The Symposium has been held in September, October, November and even early December over 26 years, but the “standard” week has been the first full week of November. We would like to change this slightly as a consequence of conflicts with other, similar conferences that tend to meet in the same timeframe. Late October seems preferable, but there is no set date to which we must adhere on an annual basis.
The Symposium “formula” (which helps with planning a lot, but is not etched in stone either), is a Board meeting on Monday, workshops on Tuesday, presented sessions on Wednesday through Friday, and workshops, tours and/or some other event on Saturday. Wednesday has an opening plenary session (everyone together in one room) in the morning, concurrent sessions (usually 4-6 going on at once, so attendees have to choose what to go see and hear) in late morning and all afternoon, and an opening reception in the exhibits area that evening. An annual membership meeting is held on Wednesday or Thursday after the last afternoon session and before any evening social activities.
Thursday and Friday can have opening plenaries as well, but usually have only concurrent sessions all day long. Posters are in the exhibits area or other nearby location to be viewed, and can constitute a session of their own, with authors present to discuss their work. The annual awards banquet is normally on Thursday evening, although it moved to Friday a few times (but was not well received; many attendees and most exhibitors depart that evening) and has been done as a luncheon as well (better received, but still some issues, so we now try to put some awards and other announcements into luncheons while keeping the major awards for the banquet). Friday eve is usually free for some sort of social activity, not necessarily organized by NALMS, but we try to take advantage of whatever the venue has to offer.
The resource center (wide range of publications) is on display Wed-Fri. There is usually a silent auction to support the scholarship fund, with local and member-contributed items. In recent years we have provided breakfast and lunch Wed-Fri. Various groups meet at breakfasts (CLM/CLPs, Affiliates, JLRM Editorial Board, etc.). Lunch has been an opportunity for freeform networking, but “affinity” tables for different groups or discussion topics are possible. Committees should try to hold meetings at different times during the meeting as well. A photo competition is held during the Symposium, run by the LakeLine editor with attendees voting on the photographs. Similarly, there is an elementary through middle school poster competition, run by the Education and Outreach Committee, with entries displayed at the Symposium for attendees to vote upon. The winning poster is produced as an advertisement for Lakes Appreciation Month, which is July and during which the Great American Secchi Dip in is held. This water clarity data gathering program is sponsored by NALMS and the USEPA.
Social events at the Symposium are varied and depend largely on the venue. Standard functions include the Exhibitors’ Reception, the Awards Banquet, and the Clean Lakes Classic, a (usually) 5K run with potential for associated activities (walks, swims, paddling, etc.). Other special events occur as space, time and proximity allow. We have played hockey, gone to various performances, toured historical sites, and held some very successful “pub crawls”. NALMS members enjoy taking advantage of sightseeing opportunities wherever we go, but are even better at creating our own fun in simple settings. The mix of educational and social opportunities at the annual Symposium is a hallmark of NALMS and makes it special for many members.
The staff is very involved in the conference, mainly through operation of the registration booth and support of various functions (exhibitors’ reception, banquet, luncheons, etc.), but there is a local host committee that plans and is supposed to run most aspects of the Symposium. A mix of staff and volunteer effort works well when the local volunteers are plentiful and competent staff can provide knowledgeable direction. The Conference Advisory Committee is instrumental in the Symposium.
Key aspects of Symposium planning include choosing the site and negotiating a contract with a hotel and conference center, organizing a local host committee, issuing a call for papers, accepting papers and organizing the program, issuing an exhibitor package and soliciting and organizing exhibits, soliciting sponsorships, accepting registrations, arranging for sponsored Symposium items (tote bags, mugs, etc.), planning luncheons, banquets, and other events, and creating the printed program. The NALMS staff can or does have a role in each of these.
State, Provincial or Regional Conferences: NALMS has involvement with a number of less international or national versions of the annual Symposium, but is not the only or even the primary sponsor of these. The Chicago conference for Enhancing the States’ Lakes Programs is in its 20th year. There is an annual Southeastern US regional conference that has been going on for about 15 years. Last year conferences were started in the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions, with NALMS help, and were intended to be held every other year. Former Chapters, most of which are now Affiliates, usually hold an annual conference, but NALMS has no formal involvement unless asked to assist. Many of these use a formula similar to the NALMS Symposium approach, but usually with a shorter timeline (2 days is most common), some have a different approach that works for them. NALMS helped run a national water quality monitoring conference in 2006, and will help sponsor the 2008 biannual version. The arrangements for and level of involvement with such conferences are open to evaluation on a case by case basis.
NALMS pre-dates the worldwide web, so we have grown together. This is an extremely powerful tool for getting our message out, maintaining our membership, transferring information, and communicating with interested parties. NALMS has embraced the concept, but is still working to employ the web to its fullest potential. The current vision for the website can be summarized as follows, to serve as a guide to what we are trying to achieve:
- Home page – Presents a clear image of NALMS with a user-friendly interface to facilitate access to desired resources. Members do not require significant staff time to get what they want from the site, freeing staff for other duties. Maintenance of the site is therefore essential, necessitating careful design and support from a webmaster.
- Membership maintenance – Members are able to sign up and renew on the web with simple info entry and use of a credit card for payment. They are able to change their contact info or password for entry to the membership services area of the webpage on their own. A directory of members is maintained on-line in a secure area only accessible to members, searchable by at least name or geographic location. Other info targeted for members only is on the secure part of the site (committee reports, financial info, downloadable resources for members only).
- Symposium and conference support – Info for any NALMS supported or approved event is available to anyone. Our annual Symposium is foremost, with links to separate websites for any conference in which NALMS is involved or of which NALMS approves. An on-line registration process allows the registrant to add all info into screens, pay by credit card, and print a receipt. Info is stored for download by the staff for purposes of planning (how many are attending what functions, etc.). This is used for our Symposium and, for a fee, can be used for any other conference wishing to have NALMS handle its registration process.
- Contacts – Anyone is able to get contact info for staff, officers, directors and committee chairs.
- News and organizational support – Archives for newsletters, announcements, committee reports, meeting minutes, policies, constitution and bylaws, and any other similar information a member might want is provided through the secure portion of the site.
- Information resources – We supply useful downloads, some of which are for the general public and some of which are for members only. Included are electronic versions of popular reports of publications, an image library, presentations, posters, and any other info considered useful to lake users and managers. There is much more out there that we need to incorporate into this area, but ultimately someone should be able to get a huge amount of useful information from our site, while even more info would be available to members. Posting of samples, abstracts, or other abbreviated versions of more extensive publications is encouraged on the general access portion of the website, with notation that members can access the more complete info on the secure portion of the site. Electronic versions of LakeLine and JLRM are available to members. Position statements are found here as well.
- Bookstore – An on-line ordering system, with on-line credit card payment system, for physical items sold by NALMS, including books and related literature and various NALMS items like shirts or mugs. The staff fills the orders, mailing pre-paid items to the requester(s). It is possible to accept credit card orders by phone, with the staff using the on-line system as though they were the requester. Mail order by check is also possible for those who avoid use of electronic media.
Started in 2006 to enhance communication with members, the e-newsletter went quickly from quarterly to monthly, has been very well received, and is being used to provide more rapid updates and other useful info to members. Anyone can supply info, which goes to a volunteer editor, who collates it into a Word file and supplies it to the Webmaster for conversion to a pdf and dissemination via email to members and posting on the website. More or less standard “columns” include a presidential message, a committee update, current events news relating to lakes, an “ask the experts” feature, and notices of upcoming conferences or other events.
NALMS initiated a Certified Lake Manager program around 1990, and added the Certified Lake Professional designation about 3 years ago. The program has two primary purposes: 1) designate individuals who meet the requirements as qualified in the areas of lake management (CLM) or lake management support (CLP), and 2) require continuing education that keeps certified individuals current in the field and aware of important developments that affect lake management. The initial certification fee is $250 and the renewal (every three years) is $75. Information on the program is posted on-line.
The creation of the Affiliate membership category is the culmination of a long process of review of the Chapter approach adopted in the late 1980s. The original idea was to create more localized groups (usually state or provincial level non-profit groups of lake associations and individuals) which would cooperate with NALMS, but the cooperation was never as great as desired, and Chapters were not a source of members (an early effort to require all Chapter members to be NALMS members failed). As Chapters were exclusive to a geographic area, this also limited “competing” groups. The Chapter committee spent most of its time trying to make Chapters happy, and NALMS put more money into them that it got out. Again, if the mission of NALMS was advanced, that would be money well spent, but it is not clear that this was happening. Consequently, the language in the Bylaws that created Chapters was struck and the Affiliate category was created to cover organizations with missions similar to that of NALMS and a willingness to cooperate on events and activities. Former Chapters can become Affiliates or Non-Profit members, or just depend on individual memberships to keep connected. Single lake associations, corporate entities, and most truly local groups are unlikely to qualify based on mission differences, but more than one state or provincial level group could become an Affiliate from a single geographic area. Probably the smallest unit would be a grouping of lake associations or a quasi-public group that manages many lakes within a state or province. The largest grouping is typically a regional organization, like NECNALMS, which covers all New England states.
We now want to move the Affiliate relationship ahead. There will be an Affiliate Council that governs itself and interacts with the leadership of NALMS, as opposed to a Chapter Committee run by NALMS that took suggestions from Chapters. Affiliates need support from NALMS, but the need seems more organizational and technical than financial.
Aside from the newly created Affiliate from the recently deactivated Chapter, we have Professional members (get LakeLine and JLRM), Lake Leader members (get LakeLine), Student members (reduced rate on Professional membership), Emeritus members (services depend on pre-retirement membership), Non-Profit members (like Affiliates, but have mission differences or don’t want to partner with NALMS for any number of reasons), and Corporate members (providers of goods and/or services). Electronic versions of some of these result in a lot of cost options, but each membership type serves a purpose. Also, one can sign up for just a LakeLine subscription without any other membership benefits.
Legislative Foundation: Although NALMS is international and not created by any governmental organization, the base is primarily USA and Canada, and the legislative focus has been largely on US actions. There are a number of pieces of legislation that apply, including the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air Act, but the Clean Water Act is the most relevant to the mission of NALMS. It was first created in 1972, has been amended several times, and many believe that it is in need of a major overhaul to effectively address current and anticipated future problems. It has a number of important sections, dealing with wastewater management, stormwater management, water supplies, non-point source pollution, and overall lake management. Key sections relating to NALMS include:
- Section 314 – Clean Lakes Program, which set up procedures for assessing and rehabilitating lakes, and was really the impetus for starting NALMS. Grant funds were substantial in the early years, but eventually this program was defunded; it exists on paper, but has no funds allocated to actual lake assessment or management. NALMS fought for years to keep funding for this program, and was successful for a time, but there have been no federal funds devoted directly to lake management through Section 314 for years.
- Section 319 – Non-point Source Controls, which addresses pollution other than that which is defined as a discharge. Non-point sources, most notably runoff from agricultural and some urban areas, are a big issue for lakes and streams, and management through grants provided by this program is valuable to NALMS members, but funds are insufficient for all the activities needed and not all lake problems can be solved by watershed management. EPA has instructed states to make some portion of Section 319 funds available for direct lake management, but not all states do this and the allocation is not adequate. In other words, this is a good program, but not able to provide everything we need to manage lakes.
- Section 303d – Impaired Waters Listing, which includes lakes and streams that do not meet state standards and are therefore considered impaired for their designated uses. Although this program can be used to protect lakes, it is largely focused on damaged systems. EPA had largely ignored this part of the CWA until third party lawsuits forced attention. As a program, the 303d process resembles the Clean Lakes Program (Section 314), and has merit. However, it has become a bean counting exercise in some regions, with reports valued over remedial activity. It is not a major source of funds, but rather a regulatory hook to force action on impaired or threatened systems.