LLPOA LAKE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING RECAP
January 16, 2024
inform & educate residents; develop sustainable lake management solutions
1. We reviewed the following 2023 Initiatives
– Education – Completed intiatives this past year included educating the neighborhood on the lake in general, lake water quality issues, use of native plants and our lake watershed
– Lake Management Contract – Weed spraying for early invasives was effective, spot spraying throughout the season was mostly effective. Algae spraying results were mixed at best.
– Weed harvesting – Was effective when used but needs better coordination with the contractor.
– Floating islands – Too early to evaluate the results and cost effectiveness of the 4 islands deployed. We also want to see how they fare after the winter.
– Biodredge – Good results again this year in muck reduction in North Bay and Firth Channel as well as by homeowners who applied their own biodredge material
– Dredging research – Research into dredging scenarios for Firth Channel and North Bay is ongoing
– Buffer strips – Expansion of buffer strips at South Beach
– Geese deterrents – Improved fencing at both beaches, more lakefront homeowners added fencing, buffer strips were enhanced at both beaches, geese-away lights were installed around the lake, homeowners using green pen lasers to harass geese – all of these contributed to less geese on our lake this summer including several weeks where no geese were spotted on our lake
– Carp removal – 12 very large carp were removed from our lake during the fish survey in the fall
2. We reviewed the following problem areas to focus our discussion for 2024
– Lack of aquatic plant coverage in our lake. We had less than 5% in 2015, somewhat better this past year at 15%. A healthy lake has around 40%.
– Education – Need to continue to educate the neighborhood on lake issues, our challenges in addressing these issues and our plans to address these issues
– HAB (Harmful algae blooms) and excessive algae growth continue to be a problem for our lake
– Loss of water depth in Firth Channel and North Bay
– Poor dissolved oxygen levels in the summer affecting lake water quality
– Remaining waterfowl issues particularly nesting geese in the spring
– Carp and their negative effect on the lake ecosystem
– Excess nutrients and silt flowing into our lake
3. 2024 Plans to address the problem areas
– Through group discussion and feedback sent in prior to the meeting the committee consensus is summarized below
– Cut back the chemical lake spraying by only spraying in early spring for invasive plants targeting the curly leaf pondweed. No chemical spraying once native aquatic plants begin to emerge. Switch from chemical spraying for weed control in the summer to mechanical weed harvesting. The 2023 Lake Management Contract was $26,000 for spraying. An additional $6400 was spent on mechanical weed harvesting late summer and early fall. Switching from mainly chemicals to mechanical weed harvesting would be roughly the equivalent expense for 2024. There is additional information on this change in a separate PDF document attached to the email for those interested.
– Continue to develop and disseminate educational information about our lake to the whole Loch Lomond community as well as targeting lakefront homeowners and non-lakefront homeowners with specific information such as the benefits of rain gardens and the harmful effects of the overuse of fertilizer
– HABs/algae growth – This is a common and increasing problem for lakes not only in our area in Lake County, but also in the U.S (including the Great Lakes) and other parts of the world. We plan to minimize this issue through increasing our aquatic plant coverage and reducing the excess nutrients in our lake.
– Loss of water depth – Continue the use of the biodredge applications in the most troublesome spots and continue to research mechanical dredging options
– Waterfowl deterrents and geese nesting – Continue to enhance our waterfowl deterrents by improving geese fencing, increasing lakefront deterrents (fencing and buffer strips) with lakefront homeowners, continued and potentially increase the use of Geese Away lights on the lake
– Carp – Work with Lake County Ecological Services to coordinate a carp removal effort during the spring spawning season
– Excess nutrients and silt – Increase the monitoring of the major lake water inflows
4. Other topics
– Park District update – Tom and Nancy have continued regular meetings with the Park District specifically about Keith Mione Park and beaver dams. The Park District has been a collaborative partner in addressing our concerns.
– South Beach questions/concerns – With the elimination of lifeguards in 2024 there were many questions concerning the maintenance and upkeep of South Beach and the water testing and posting of swim conditions for the swim season. Expanding the Adopt a Beach program from spring and fall to include the summer swim season was suggested as an option to partially address some of these concerns.
– St Mary’s is installing an aeration system similar to the aeration system proposed in the 3 lake ARPA grant request that Loch Lomond was part of last year (we didn’t get it). We will closely follow their implementation and results.
Report and Additonal Documents
