Friends of Lake Merced friends@lakemerced.org From the Friends of Lake Merced Web Site Lake Merced is a fresh-water lake located in the southwest corner of San Francisco, California, USA.  The Lake is an important water, recreational and natural resouce center for the City of San Francisco and the surrounding community.  In recent years the Lake and its surrounding environs have deteriorated due to increased use, decreased maintenance, and the decline of the Lake water level.   Friends of Lake Merced (FoLM) is an all-volunteer, community-based organization dedicated to restoring and preserving the natural and recreational value of Lake Merced.  Now nearing the end of our third year of operation, FoLM has approximately 150 active members.  Our goal is to bring together and develop Friends of the Lake who are knowledgeable about the Lake and its shores, and who can work together to support and sustain this very real treasure. Providing Friends of the Lake with opportunities to learn about the lake, its history and its many natural features, is a top priority.  We have teamed with the Biology Department of San Francisco State University. Dr. Michael Vasey, Director of Special Projects of the Conservation Biology Program, is an active member of our steering committee.  Other faculty and students have participated with Friends of Lake Merced on a number of projects.  We also have joint projects with a number of schools in the area. There are many others interested in Lake Merced who are contributing their expertise and experience.  These include the Sierra Club, the Northern California chapter of the Audubon Society, and the California Native Plants Society.  We work closely with government agencies both in San Francisco and neighboring Daly City.  The Committee to Save Lake Merced, with their special focus on stabilizing the water level in the lake, are full partners in our effort. We'd like you to be a partner to.  We have no membership fees, in fact no formal organization.  Just participate with us over the iternet, or come to one of our monthly meetings.  We usually meet the second Thursday of each month at the Lake Merced Boathouse Restaurant, 7:30 PM. And we try to be through by 9.  Check our web site to confirm the date of this month's meeting. Our web site will introduce you to some of our activities.  During the past year many of our members have been especially active working with the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department helping to prepare a Comprehensive Management Plan for Lake Merced.  As you will see from our comments on that document, we are quite disappointed in the results of this effort. We have built our web site in large part to provide a venue for greater public particpation in the development of this plan.  Please send us your thoughts on ways in which Lake Merced can be improved, and especially the role we in the community can play in helping to make those improvements possible.