"When you work in uncontrolled lakes, near towns, there are so many things happening at once that it's hard to say which factor is responsible for what you see, and uncertainty doesn't lead to sound policy," said Dr. Carol Kelly, a scientist who has been doing research at the ELA since 1978. "At the ELA, we change one thing at a time, such as phosphorus input, acid rain input, or mercury input, and we see how the whole ecosystem responds. This brings a certainty to environmental policy formulation that no other approach can provide."

Low annual operating costs for the ELA facility are multiplied by value added research from scientists around the world.