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Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes

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WikiProject Lakes
ShortcutWP:LAKES
CategoryWikiProject Lakes
Portalimage Lakes
Commons:Category:Lakes Lakes
Parent
project(s)
Geography
{{WikiProject Lakes}}
Userboxes{{User WikiProject Lakes}}
{{User WP Lakes}}
Has goals?
Yes
AssessmentWikipedia:WikiProject_Lakes/Assessment
Wikipedia:WikiProject Lakes/Popular pages

This WikiProject Lakes aims to consolidate and unify pages relating to lakes, lochs, reservoirs, and similar inland bodies of water around the world. This page includes guidelines and a number of resources that can be used to achieve our goal. All editors are welcome to join this project; if you wish to participate, please add yourself to the list of participants below.

Title

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WikiProject Lakes

Scope

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This WikiProject aims primarily to describe the Earth's lakes, lochs, reservoirs, and similar inland bodies of water in a consistent and complete fashion and to add the {{Infobox body of water}} template to each lake oriented article.

Guidelines

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Please remember that these are only guidelines and may not apply in every situation. However, the {{Infobox body of water}} template should be included on every lake oriented article. In addition, please add the {{WikiProject Lakes}} project banner to the talk page of any lake articles that you may encounter (see templates below), allowing other editors to find this project and adding the talk page to Category:WikiProject Lakes.

Notability

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To start, see WP:GNG and Notability (geographic features) most specifically the named natural features section: WP:GEOLAND.

New Page vs New Section

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The guidelines to read first: WP:PAGEDECIDE.

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Parentage

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The parent of this project is WikiProject Geography.

Collaborations

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Currently proposed & under consideration: Reservoir Task force with WikiProject Dams.

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Complementary projects:

Projects covering other geographical features:

Open tasks

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Backlog Dashboard

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Backlog progress overview

Lakes needing attention

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(Please flag an article by adding attention=yes on the Wikiproject Lakes template as you come across them. This will add them to the Category:Lakes articles needing attention (57). Leave a comment on the article talk page specifying the attention is needed. For articles under active development needing attention there is the table below as added visibility.)

Lakes needing immediate attention

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Apply the attention parameter as stated above and add to the table below. The table below currently contains the legacy articles which were posted prior to converting to the table, but not all have comments which specify an actionable comment. Those without an actionable comment may be removed if how they need to be brought up-to-spec is not identifiable or will be switched to the attention=yes flag.

A comment should be actionable and not just "expand" or "stub", but provide direction of why that article should be a priority over others. There are many articles that are stubs and need expansion generally.

Cleanup listing

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A range of tasks are available at Cleanup listing.

Complementary Geo Templates

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WikiProject Articles specifically around bodies of water with geographic coordinate should also make sure that the talk page also includes the WikiProject for that geographic area if it is in the scope for the project. For example Lake Michigan's talk page should include all the WikiProject for the states bordering the lake (WikiProject Illinois, WikiProject Indiana, WikiProject Michigan, and Wikiproject Wisconsin). Dual tagging lakes and local region helps to provide visibility to the article for maintenance and development. Additionally this may encourage topical and local expertise in assessment the article importance and identification of locally or topically known resources.

You can view a PetScan configuration of current projects with just WikiProject Lakes and no regional WikiProject template. It is possible new region templates have been added or missed, please add them to the "Templates&links" tab at the end of the "Has none of these templates:" list and update the PSID for the link or post to the talk with the missing WikiProject templates for PetScan.

Adding Infoboxes

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Lake articles in need of an infobox: Category:Lakes articles needing infoboxes (40)

Adding photos

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Find a photo with a compatible license or donate a photo you have taken and help with the backlog. Finding photo tutorial.



Lake Nyos – Galleries

WikiProject Banner Flag

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Articles where the WikiProject Lakes banner explicitly has been flagged needs-image=yes appear in Category:Wikipedia requested images of lakes (37)

Infobox Body of Water Missing Images or Maps

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The infoboxes can feature an image, this may include more than lakes, lochs, and static bodies of water without photos or pushpin maps. These are tracked via:

Linking with WikiData

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WikiData helps track facts across languages and enables automatic import or suggestion of facts for inboxes. Help make a comprehensive lake database to link to articles and enable more maintenance tools to be developed.

Accessibility Review

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Help check that articles, tables, and infoboxes are configured for accessibility. The accessibility features benefit not only humans, but search engines and automation tools too.

Article Accessibility

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See Manual of Style on Accessibility for article best practices and tips. See Alt text Manual of Style for specific guidelines.

Infobox Accessibility

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The Body of Water Infoboxes should have a descriptive "Alt" tag for every Image or Map.

Lists and Tables Accessibility

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Use of scope= in tables, and selection and use of colors can affect the ability to read a table. Wikipedia guidelines on list accessibility and guidelines on Table accessibility.

Articles with Lakes To Do list

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Articles with {{todo, lakes}} with items to coordinate development and refinement: Category:Lakes articles with to-do lists

Assessment

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Improve the article quality assessment by reviewing pages and setting priorities. The criteria for each is found on the Assessment page of WikiProject Lakes.

Quality of Articles

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  • 3.5% List-Class
  • 63.4% Stub-Class
  • 26.5% Start-Class
  • 4.9% C-Class
  • 1.3% B-Class
  • 0.3% GA-Class
  • 0% FA-Class
  • 0.1% remaining

Importance of Articles

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???
Low
Mid+






Article alerts

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Did you know

Proposed deletions

(1 more...)

Redirects for discussion

Featured article candidates

Good article nominees

Requested moves

Articles for creation

New articles for "waterbodies":

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AlexNewArtBot/WaterbodiesSearchResult

This list was generated from these rules. Questions and feedback are always welcome! The search is being run daily with the most recent ~14 days of results. Note: Some articles may not be relevant to this project.

Rules | Match log | Results page (for watching) | Deleted articles | Last updated: 2026-11-12 20:22 (UTC)

Note: The list display can now be customized by each user. See List display personalization for details.

Article WikiProject Lakes Watchlist

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A shared WikiProject Lakes watchlist:

Talk Watchlist by Category
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Talk Watchlist by Class
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Hot Articles

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Frequently edited articles highlighted at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lake/Hot_articles.

Edits Article Rating
23 Lake Arpi National Park Start
17 List of lakes of Serbia List
9 List of lakes by depth List
9 List of lakes of New Hampshire List
7 Campelli Lake Stub
7 Detroit Lake Start
7 Lake Ronkonkoma (lake) C
7 Pond C
7 Rara Lake Start
6 Lago Nero (Piacenza) Stub
6 Moosomin Lake C

Articles

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All articles with the lake project talk page template are listed at:

Recognized Content

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A bot curated list of WikiProject Lakes most recognized content.

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A bot curated list of WikiProject Lakes top 500 articles based on page views appearing at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Lakes/Popular_pages.

Lists

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(This is a representation of lists types and is not comprehensive.)
Work lists:

Participants

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Active Members

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If you wish to participate, simply add your name below:

Everyone is welcome to join WikiProject Lakes, just edit this section and insert the Wikitext #{{subst:me}} - Lakes topic or region interest(s) to end of the following list of members. Display your membership by adding a Members Userbox on your user page.

Inactive Members

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Members will be moved to this list after no activity is detected on your User contributions page for on EN Wikipedia in the previous 365 days. If you find your name on this list, feel free to move it back to the member list above.

Userbox

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Placing either of the following userboxes on your user page will add add you to Category:WikiProject Lakes participants.

Wikitext userbox where used
{{User WP Lakes}}
This user participates in
WikiProject Lakes
 linked pages
{{User WikiProject Lakes}}
This user is a participant in
WikiProject Lakes.
 linked pages
{{User interest Caspian Sea}}
This user is interested in the Caspian Sea.
 linked pages
{{User interest Dead Sea}}
This user is interested in the Dead Sea.
 linked pages
{{User interest Great Lakes}}
This user is interested in the Great Lakes.
 linked pages
{{User interest Lake Baikal}}
This user is interested in Lake Baikal.
 linked pages

Naming

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Articles

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As of the first stages of development, no written-in-stone rules apply to lake articles; however, this may change. Please discuss this at the project's talk page. More general guide on naming is found at: Wikipedia:Naming conventions (geographic names) while project specific cases are addressed below.

Multiple lakes with the same name

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Due to the fact that there are countless lakes in the world with the same name, the following method of disambiguation is proposed:

  • The most well known lake can stay at the un-disambiguated title, lesser known ones add a qualifier. Perhaps [[Fork Lake]], [[Fork Lake (disambiguation)]], [[Fork Lake (Alberta)]].
  • Where a number of lakes with the same name exist in a region, the disambiguation may need to include a subregion and a Set Index Article. Create a set index article to aid in common region naming which is the current common practice for the common names like Mud Lake and Clear Lake. [[name (region)]] such as Clear Lake (Michigan) which are similar to lists, but with different rules allowing for redlinking and help with disambiguation and navigation. Lakes linked within the index should include the a subregion and region such as Clear Lake (Berrien County, Michigan) most often the administrative region where it is located.

Lakes with multiple names

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Some lakes have names with multiple spellings which vary with the different countries the lake borders. Occasionally, a lake can have several genuinely distinct names. The following rules are suggested for choosing a primary name for such a lake:

  • If the lake is particularly famous under one name, then choose that name.
  • If the portion of the lake that uses a particular name is much more distinct than other sections, then use that as the article's name.
  • If everything else is equal, then choose the name for the largest portion of the lake.

Lakes crossing regional borders

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Lets discuss to refine and add examples
This naming practice of lakes that cross borders should follow the naming resolution for Precision and disambiguation. If you find an article and are unsure you can apply the controversial moves template to add move suggestion and rational.

Example:

Lists

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This guide aims to expand upon the practices outlined at Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists, Wikipedia:Naming conventions (long lists), and Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Lists#Special_names_of_lists to address cases and application to WikiProject Lakes. Discuss changes on WP Lakes Talk.

Natural vs Manmade

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  • If the scope of the list is primarily of natural features ie lakes for consistency with Categories the format should use "of" [[List of Lakes of Country]]. Add a redirect for the "in" variant.
  • If the scope of the list is primarily man-made features like reservoirs for consistency with Categories the format should use "in" [[List of Dams and Reservoirs in Country]]. Add a redirect for the "of" variant.
  • When a list scope and title is a mix of man-made and natural features the type follow the convention of the existing lists, but if no others exist use the of the majority of the article's content to dictate if "of" or "in" should be the primary article name. Add a redirect for the name variant that was not selected.

Article structure

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Lead paragraph

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The first paragraph should be a self-contained description including the most important things to know; name(s) - both historic and current - in bold, location (continent/countries/seaboards), and notable facts about the lake, such as largest port (see Wikipedia:Lead section for guidelines).

Hydrology

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The narrative description of the lake should proceed from the main inflows of the lake downstream to its outflows, noting direction, major tributaries, human settlements and statistics. This should be at least a paragraph, maybe several paragraphs for famous lakes. This section would also include numerical data on length, volume, drainage basin, etc.

Info on water basins can be found at World resources Institute (site is down; archive). Antarctic water basin information can be researched using USGS maps.

Geology

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The evolution of some lakes has been well explored. Such information should be placed here, with a suitable discussion of all point of views when possible.

Natural history

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Mention distinctive plants and animals associated with any part of the lake.

History

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Describe what is known about the different inhabitants along the river, along with a description of the scientific exploration expeditions/efforts.

Economy

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Countless lakes have been used as means of transportation, fishing, power generation, etc., and are still used so today. All such information should be described here. Stylistically, this can be a good segue from history, connecting past uses of the lake to present-day uses.

Lists

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List the cities and towns around the lake, complete with identifiable info such as population. List the major flora and fauna such as species of interest.

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Preferably refer to history, ecology, public policy, books, websites, etc.

Infobox

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The following may be used:

Images

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There should be at least one picture, preferably a typical view. Important lakes should have additional pictures illustrating their notable features. Maps of the lake's drainage basin would be an asset.

Articles where the infobox doesn't include an image yet are listed at: Category:Articles using infobox body of water without image

Indexing

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The article List of lakes is only for major lakes, ordered by continent.

Categories

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The main subcategories of Category:Lakes are listed on the right:

Categorization by location

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Every article should belong to a category. If the lake is restricted to one or more states/provinces in a country, use separate categories for each one, e.g. Lake Tahoe belongs in Category:Lakes of Nevada as well as Category:Lakes of California. If it is restricted to one country, list in Category:country lakes. If it exists within several countries, list in each country category and maybe Category: continent lakes.

Please use categories carefully to get the right one(s) linked on your page. It is fine to use more than one... in fact, it may be encouraged. However, don't categorize a lake where it doesn't belong. If there are any questions, please use the Talk page.

Categorization by type

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If the category for the specific type of lake is available, please add it in addition to the category by location.

List structure

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A guide for the List Structure of Lakes Project list articles (Category:List-Class Lakes articles is currently under development on the talk page.

The discussion is currently developing a guide for Lakes, Lochs, and Reservoirs focusing the guidelines from WikiProject Lists in the context of WikiProject Lakes' scope. Additionally, work previously done is being documented to help check the existing list articles and inform their expansion. Please feel free to contribute to this discussion.

List Types

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Types of lists within WikiProject Lakes scope: (To be expanded in discussion)

Set Index Lists

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  • Lakes with the Same Name in Region

Lakes or Reservoir in Region(s)

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  • Lists of lakes/lochs of a given Country
  • Lists of lakes/lochs of given Country Region
  • Lists of dams and reservoirs in a given Country
  • Lists of dams and reservoirs in given Country Region

Largest Measure

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Lists of lakes/lochs/reservoirs by largest:

  • Surface Area
  • Depth
  • Elevation

Defaults

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The default parameters to be included in all list articles are being discussed. Proposed options include:

  • Sort Order (To be expanded)
  • Columns - Name, Coordinate, Region, Surface Area, National Identifier (optional) (To be expanded)

Templates

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Talk page banner

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The message box {{WikiProject Lakes}} is available and preferred to add to talk pages of lake articles and gives:

WikiProject iconLakes
WikiProject iconWikipedia:WikiProject Lakes is within the scope of WikiProject Lakes, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of lake-related articles on Wikipedia, using the tools on the project page. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LakesWikipedia:WikiProject LakesTemplate:WikiProject LakesLakesWikiProject icon
???This article has not yet received a rating on the project's importance scale.

Early pages of the project were tagged with {{lake project}} and result in the same banner, but {{WikiProject Lakes}} is the format closely following WikiProjects article tagging practice. WP:WikiProject coordination

Talk page todo

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The {{Todo, lakes}} is applied to the article talk page to outline what else the article needs to reach then next class after an assessment and to list other leads for further development.

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Infobox

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Lake Baikal
Байкал Error {{native name checker}}: parameter value is malformed (help)
aerial view of rocky island in Lake Baikal
Shaman-Stone of the Olkhon Island
Lake Baikal is located in Russia
Map credit
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Location within Russia
LocationIrkutsk Oblast and Republic of Buryatia, Russia
Coordinates53°30′N 108°12′E / 53.5°N 108.2°E / 53.5; 108.2
TypeContinental rift lake
Selenga, Chikoy, Khilok, Uda, Barguzin, Upper Angara
Angara
560,000 km2 (216,000 sq mi)
Max. length636 km (395 mi)
Max. width79 km (49 mi)
Surface area
31,494 km2 (12,160 sq mi)
Average depth
758 m (2,487 ft)
Water volume
23,600 km3 (5,700 mi3)
Residence time350 years[citation needed]
Shore length1
2,100 km (1,300 mi)
Surface elevation
456 m (1,496 ft)
FrozenJanuary–May
Islands22 (Olkhon)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Set Index Page

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The Lake index tag {{Lake index}} offers functionality similar to Disambiguation, but for just the same type ie lakes. Functionally similar to list pages, but often contains more than just a list. The index pages also works well as a focus list for creating the articles with redlinks. The Lakes Set Index Category highlights current indexes.

Stubs

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The Wikipedia WikiProject Stub sorting created: Category:Lake stubs and the articles with {{lake stub}} included on the page will appear in the category. Country specific lake stubs are in the format country-lake-stub ie {{US-lake-stub}}.

Userboxes

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Members

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Showing Project Membership and interest in lakes. These will lists your account in both Category:WikiProject Lakes participants and Category:Wikipedians interested in lakes.

Code Result
{{User WP Lakes}}
This user participates in
WikiProject Lakes
 Usage
{{User WikiProject Lakes}}
This user is a participant in
WikiProject Lakes.
 Usage

Expressing Interest in Lakes

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Showing General Interest in Lakes only. Will only list your account in Category:Wikipedians interested in lakes.

Code Result
{{User Sush/Lakes}}
This user is interested in studying about lakes.
 Usage
{{User Lake}}
This user is interested in lakes and lacustrine processes.
 Usage
{{User interest lakes}}
This user is interested in
Lakes
 Usage

Barnstar

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{{subst:The Lacustrine Barnstar|message ~~~~}}

The Lacustrine Barnstar
message name (talk) date/time

Categories

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Click on "►" below to display subcategories:
Lakes

Resources

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Note: please add any additional sources you come across here:

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