LLPOA LAKE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE UPDATE
August 13, 2024
inform & educate residents; develop sustainable lake management solutions
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Geese – There have been a few geese sightings recently with a small group of geese but they have not stuck around. This means our geese deterrents are working. Almost all of the shoreline in North Bay has geese deterrents. We have had no e.coli related swim advisories (red flags) at South Beach this year. You can check the historical results at the Illinois Beach Guard website IDPH Beach Guard , choose Private Beaches, go to page 5, choose Loch Lomond South Beach, go to the Results tab.
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Weeds – Most of the discussion again this month was around weeds. The weed harvester this week removed 15 trailer loads of plant material. We recapped the main reasons we moved away from spraying to harvesting. To remove excess nutrients, to reduce silt buildup, to reduce adding chemicals to our lake and to move towards better plant coverage in our lake. Our plant coverage was measured at less than 10% in 2015 and last year we were at only 15%. A healthy lake has 30 – 40% coverage (not all weeds reach the surface). We also want to move to a sustainable solution. This is our first year of this and we are learning and adjusting as we go.
We added harvesting days and we added a boating lane in North Bay to address navigational issues in the heaviest weed area of the lake. We are also looking at improving the boat ramp at North Beach to increase the effectiveness of the weed harvester by reducing the travel time to and from South Beach from North Bay and Half Moon Bay. There was discussion on the amount of weeds still along some residents’ shorelines. Given the budget we are working with it is not possible to do the entire lake. Some residents have paid their landscaper to remove the weeds along their shoreline. There was interest in a private pay option for residents next year for the weed harvester to do their shorelines. We have approved budget dollars for 3 more days in August but no money after that. A vote was taken of the residents present on whether to continue this plan and ask for additional funding for September. All 25 residents present voted in favor. No one voted against it. We are seeing an increase in lily pads around the lake and will be looking into how to control them next year.
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Floating islands – Two of the islands were rewrapped with additional fencing to deter critters from feeding on the plants (as well as to deter teenagers from walking on them). Fishing line was also added to deter birds from nesting on them. All 4 islands now have enhanced fencing.
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Biodredge – We continue to see positive results from our use of biodredge material in the heavy silt areas of the lake. We have seen soft silt layer reductions from 2 to 6 inches in North Bay and Half Moon Bay (Firth Channel measurements have not been completed yet). Randy found a similar biodredge product that is less expensive and easier to deploy as it is available in blocks instead of pellets. We will look into this for next year.
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Water circulators – The water circulator for the South Beach swim area is up and running and we are seeing good results. There is less algae and weeds in and around the swim area. Several lakefront homeowners have purchased and installed circulators or aerators on their shorelines and have also seen positive results. Rich Zak has offered to coordinate a group purchase of circulators for any interested residents. You can reach out to Rich for more details at (see PDF below for email). The vendor is offering a quantity discount.
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Inlet monitoring – Gerry Urbanozzo from the Lake County Health Department Ecological Services has indicated that next year they will be doing a study of Loch Lomond, St. Mary’s Lake and Butler Lake that will include water testing. This will be a study similar to our 2015 study but will be coordinated across all 3 lakes at the same time to better gauge the watershed.
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2025 Lake Management budget discussion – The following items were discussed and were agreed by the group to form the basis of the Lake Management budget request for next year.
- Biodredge application
- 1 early lake spray for curly leaf pondweed (pending ice fisherman verification it is still growing)
- Adding more weed harvesting days early in the season and at the end of the season
- Adding a circulator at North Beach (needs electrical upgrade)
- Adding a boat ramp at North Beach primarily for weed harvester use (if it doesn’t happen this year)
- Circulators (solar powered) for other areas of the lake
- Extend the South Beach boat launch pier by 1 section to accommodate the larger pontoon boats
- Replace the missing (eaten) plants on the floating islands
- Additional geese lights to cover a few troublesome areas
More research into costs of these items will be reviewed at the next meeting.
8. Document our Lake Management Plan – Now that we have a clearer direction we will be
documenting our plan for reference and transition purposes.
9. A pair of beavers have been spotted on our lake. They may be coming over the dam from St. Mary’s as there is a small area of the geese fencing on the dam that appears to be pushed down. Beavers are notoriously fast workers. It is recommended to wrap any trees close to your shoreline. Hardware cloth works best and is available at Ace or the local big box hardware stores.