User talk:Mhilker/Blue Lake (New York)

External Review
Hi Mhilker - My name is Jolie, and I'm the Project Coordinator for the WikiProject Limnology & Oceanography team. Your external review for your article on Blue Lake is posted below. If you have any questions about your review, or would like to clarify anything, please feel free to let me know by posting a message on my talk page and I'll pass it along to your external reviewer. Thanks, and all the best as you wrap up your Wikipedia editing assignment!

EXTERNAL REVIEW - Hi Mhilker, I'm a limnologist and biogeochemist who works in rivers and floodplain lakes. I'm particularly interested in how nutrients move through aquatic ecosystems and how nutrients are transformed while they're temporarily stored in small floodplain lakes. Blue Lake is a bit bigger than the lakes I usually work in, but I hope I'll still be able to give you some helpful feedback!

You've done a good job adding two new (and interesting!) sections to the existing Blue Lake article. However, the information that's included in the section "Sterling Forest State Park" mostly has to do with the terrestrial ecosystem surrounding the lake. Although this provides valuable context on the landscape that the lake sits in, it would be good to include some more information about Blue Lake itself in your article. Can you provide some information about the species that are found in the lake (beyond what's in the lead section of the existing article), whether these species are stocked for a fishery or occur naturally, and any other information about the lake ecosystem? Also, since the Sterling Forest State Park has its own Wikipedia page, make sure that you're not repeating information that can be found there instead.

Here are some specific comments for you to consider:
 * "is home to approximately 810 species of trees, shrubs, and herbs, 125 bird species, and 30 DEC-listed wetlands" Please expand the acronym DEC in this sentence.
 * In the "Sterling Forest State Park" section, merge the third and fourth sentences to read something along the lines of: "There are a few precautions to be aware of while hiking or spending time at the park, including copperheads and timber rattlesnakes (which are both venomous), black bears, deer ticks, and rabies."
 * Change the start of the final sentence of the state park section to read "It is important to note that rattlesnakes...."
 * "Two of the key waterbodies within this watershed include tributaries from the Ramapo River as well as the Hackensack River." Are these tributaries of Blue Lake? If so, it would be good to state this clearly.
 * When you merge your new sections into the existing article, it would be great if you could go through the text of the entire article and add links to other Wikipedia pages wherever possible. This is a valuable addition to Wikipedia because it helps the reader quickly and easily access additional information. For example, you could add links to the Wikipedia pages on Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass, Chain Pickerel and Panfish (all listed on the existing page), and links to Tuxedo Park, copperheads and timber rattlesnakes (and other species), Ramapo River Hackensack River, New Jersey, New York, etc (all listed in your new text).

Good job improving this page, and I look forward to reading the final version!

JoGDelta (talk) 02:13, 4 May 2021 (UTC)