Veronika Kondratieva

Texas State's Meadows Center has reopened its living laboratory at Spring Lake. The lab offers a unique way to learn about the lake's habitat at the headwaters of the San Marcos River. Veronika Kondratieva has more in this Bobcat Update.

Stand Up: "After a closure of almost two years, Spring Lake is open again for the new volunteer diver education course."
The lake was closed for restoration. And, for safety reasons, divers were not allowed to go in. Now, the Spring Lake Dive Authorization Course lets them get their feet wet again.
The goal of the course is to study the spring flows, vegetation growth, and fish and species counts.
The Meadows Center is hoping volunteer divers will help collect data and contribute to preserving the lake.
SB: "It really is an incredible way for us to engage the public and get people here not only from our own university community but from community in large to come here and help us maintain the lake." (14 sec)
The Spring Lake Management Plan has scientific components that are specific to Spring Lake and includes new requirements.
SB: "Students do all the academic material at home prior to coming in and then we spend one day with them here at Spring Lake reviewing the assessment quizzes that they take, going over safety procedures." (12 sec)
(his voice over b-roll) And then we do a tour of the springs to orient the divers to just where they are in the water.
Any diver with an open water certification and a minimum of 20 logged dives can take the Dive Authorization Course. About 60 people have already enrolled in the course. Divers who pass will become members of the Meadows Center Aqua Corps. Meacham says it's important to keep Spring Lake's eco-system healthy.
SB: "Those of us that work here absolutely feel so incredibly fortunate to call this our office." (8 sec)
Stand Up: "In this great environment, I can't resist and just have to dive in."
B-roll
For Bobcat Update, I'm Veronika Kondratieva.