Harmful Algea Bloom in Lake Myosotis
In the news … “The Lake Myosotis Beach is closed because of a possible harmful algal bloom.”
I was surprised about this news as the Lake Myostis watershed doesn’t seem like it would have much excess nitrogen or phosphorous in it. The 4,252 acre watershed for the lake is according to the 2024 National Land Cover Dataset, 76.5% forested with only 5.8% of it developed most of which is Developed Open space 5.1%. Pasture/Hay accounts for 10.6% land cover and there is no Cultivated Crop land shown on the NLCD. But it has been a warm summer.
Here is the acreages and percent land cover for the 4,252 acre Myosotis Lake Watershed based on the 2024 National Land Cover Dataset.
| ID | Class | Acres | Percent |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Open Water | 100 | 2.4% |
| 21 | Developed, Open Space | 216 | 5.1% |
| 22 | Developed, Low Intensity | 30 | 0.7% |
| 23 | Developed, Medium Intensity | 2 | 0.0% |
| 31 | Barren Land (Rock/Sand/Clay) | 0 | 0.0% |
| 41 | Deciduous Forest | 2,364 | 55.6% |
| 42 | Evergreen Forest | 167 | 3.9% |
| 43 | Mixed Forest | 725 | 17.0% |
| 52 | Shrub/Scrub | 7 | 0.2% |
| 71 | Grassland/Herbaceous | 6 | 0.2% |
| 81 | Pasture/Hay | 451 | 10.6% |
| 90 | Woody Wetlands | 157 | 3.7% |
| 95 | Emergent Herbaceous Wetlands | 28 | 0.7% |
