During this visit to Burden Pond, we learned about the history of water-powered industry on the Wynantskill, and interviewed Joe Reilly of Trout Unlimited about his volunteer work in lake monitoring with the DEC. We also met students in the Albany STEP program and their DEC mentor Alene Onion to learn about how they are working with the DEC’s lake monitoring protocol at Burden Pond and expanding it to include social and cultural factors around lake use. Finally, we did a bit of macroinvertebrate sampling, meeting some of the aquatic insects who call the lake home.