Camas High School Joins City Effort to Educate About Lacamas Lake

A partnership between the City of Camas and students from the Camas High School Watershed Alliance Club (CWAC) has resulted in new informational signs being placed around Lacamas Lake.

Students in the newly formed CWAC group reached out to the City in October 2024 to discuss ways they could help inform the public about nonpoint source pollutants that contribute to harmful algal blooms in Lacamas Lake.

According to the club’s founder, Camas High senior Audreen Tsai, the idea for the group stemmed from a personal experience.

“As harmful algal blooms began appearing in Lacamas Lake, we had a friend who got sick after swimming, and we were concerned,” said Tsai. “After doing some research, we found that this is a global problem, and there is no easy solution. But educating the public on best management practices (BMPs) is one of the lowest-cost solutions.”

With that in mind, the group formed with the goal of developing an educational partnership with the City to help address the issue.

“We think we—the youth—have some unique advantages for community outreach. If every student talks to their parents about the issue, we can reach a lot more residents,” Tsai said.

Using the City’s “Love Our Lakes” motto as their guide, the group explored the best way to share information with the public. The result was two new informational signs, now installed around Lacamas Lake. The signs explain the threat of nonpoint source pollution and list actionable steps the public can take to help reduce contaminants from entering the watershed—and ultimately, the lake.

“We are very grateful that the City welcomed us and encouraged our civic engagement,” said Tsai.

The signs are located near the Cove area in Heritage Park and in the parking lot on Leadbetter Road. In addition to creating the signs, CWAC members also participated in this year’s lake cleanup.

(Pictured L-R, Colton Schaefer, Veronica Sparling, Austin Anderson, Dana Sparling, and Audreen Tsai)