This year we've acquired a Deep Trekker underwater remote operated vehicle (ROV) to give us that view. Think of it as a tethered underwater drone with a great video camera and GPS.  We plan to use it to explore below the surface, especially to explore some of the invasive species patches we've identified with our drone survey a couple of years ago.

The intent is to create a baseline map and identify what is actually in Platte Lake in terms of native versus invasive plants, algae, snails, clams, crayfish, small and large fish, unique structures, etc.  This will provide a basis for comparison not only in future years, but season to season in terms what has actually changed.

We're just getting started with our research and getting familiar with the ROV, but we were very excited to see the clarity of the video and how the fish and plants were easily identified.  It seems some of our fish were curious about the ROV and came to check it out!