A personal history of the Experimental Lakes ProjectThis paper is part of the series “Forty Years of Aquatic Research at the Experimental Lakes Area”.

I briefly trace the evolution of the Experimental Lakes Area project from its beginning as a temporary site sponsored by the now-defunct Fisheries Research Board of Canada, with the sole mandate to investigate the effects of nutrients on lake eutrophication, to its current status: a permanent field station cosponsored by the Canadian Departments of Environment and Fisheries and Oceans, with a mandate to investigate the aquatic effects of a wide variety of stresses on lakes and their catchments. Throughout, experiments have been designed to address important aquatic management issues, but this mandate has not hindered the production of pure research on a broad variety of issues.