Martha Jane Rich

As cyanobacteria blooms increasingly threaten our lakes, this bill will help by coordinating study and response to the problem. It makes sense to integrate this effort with the work of an existing committee. As president of the Mascoma Lake Association, I have helped manage an extremely successful program to reduce harmful aquatic weeds in our lake; over the past 25 years, we have achieved control over Eurasian milfoil . We now need similar science-based resources and strategies to address the rise of cyanobacteria, which has now emerged as our most pressing challenge. I strongly urge voting HB1148 OTP.