LLPOA Lake Management Committee Update: October 7, 2025

1. Hydrothol use – The committee approved the use of hydrothol on a limited application basis when approved by the LLPOA Board and monitored by the lake management committee. The application will be used to spot control weed and algae growth in small areas such as the boat launch areas at South Beach. This is not a sustainable solution. We need to get more water circulation in these areas to address these over growth issues. Please note: Per LLPOA rules, nothing can be added to the lake without prior approval of the LLPOA Board.
2. Gerry Munley provided an overview of his three sites’ water testing data. His excellent write-up can be found at this link. His measurements include data collection for temperature, clarity, dissolved oxygen and more. This data is a great snapshot of our lake and will provide a baseline going forward for year to year comparisons. This will be of tremendous value as it will help us make more informed decisions on management of our lake.
3. Year end recap – The following items were reviewed.
   1. Geese – We continue to see lower numbers of geese on our lake especially compared to other surrounding lakes in our area. We can attribute this to more lakefront geese deterrents (fencing and buffer strips) and the geese lights in our lake. Marty added that the hawk kite that he positioned along his shoreline is showing promising initial results. We will consider these for LLPOA beach use in the spring. You can find more information on these kites here hawk kite. The committee discussed the need to increase geese deterrents (buffer strips and fencing) along the shoreline of homeowners who still do not have any. We will also be trying again in the spring to identify geese nesting areas.
   2. Biodredge – We tried a different biodredge product this year that was less costly and much simpler to deploy in the lake. Overall, we experienced similar results with this product. We saw silt reductions of 2 to 4 inches in North Bay (compared to 3 to 6 inches last year) and silt reductions of 2 to 6 inches in Half Moon Bay (compared to 2 to 4 inches last year). Firth channel saw an INCREASE of 6 inches this year (compared to a decrease of 2 to 4 last year). This can be attributed to silt inflow at this location. One of the projects we are working on for next year is to address water and silt inflow at our major inlets.
   3. Weed harvesting – In 2024 we removed 164 trailer loads of weeds with 30 days of weed harvesting. This year we removed 272 trailer loads of weeds with 36 days of weed harvesting. This significant increase in weed removal can be attributed to the new North Beach ramp that was added. Thanks again to the generous donor who provided the funds for the new ramp. North Bay still experienced navigational issues this summer but not to the extent in 2024. The plan is to add additional harvesting days next year to help address this issue. The long term solution to this issue is better submerged plant coverage in our lake.
   4. Submerged plant coverage – Lake County Health Department Ecological Services recently conducted a submerged lake plant coverage mapping of our lake. When comparing the following three maps:
      – 2025 map (link)
      – map from 2023 before we stopped weekly chemical spraying and switched to weed harvesting (link)
      – map from 2015 (link)

      We can clearly see that we are achieving more submerged plant coverage in our lake, especially coming out of North Bay into the deeper portions of our lake. This is very good news! Plants are part of a healthy balance in a lake providing habitat for fish and other wildlife. Plants also remove excess nutrients reducing algal blooms. While we still have room for improvement our goal is in the range of 50 – 60% coverage with only 30% of the plants reaching the surface.

   5. E-coli testing – As part of our beach licenses with Lake County Health Department, they provide e-coli testing of lake water in our swimming areas twice a month during the swim season. This year we had 2 high e-coli (red flag) readings at South Beach, each lasting 2 days. We had 2 high e-coli (red flag) readings at North Beach, the first lasting 2 days and the second lasting 12 days. The 12 day high reading at North Beach can be attributed to the geese camping out along the shoreline there during this time period. The South Beach numbers continue our trend of reduced high readings proving our geese deterrents are working.
   6. Algal blooms – We experienced 1 algal bloom at South Beach over Labor Day weekend. It developed into a probable small HAB (harmful algal bloom) in the far west corner near the boat launch. It was an unconfirmed HAB as the Lake County Health Department was unable to test and confirm. It cleared up in 1 day with the spraying of water to dissipate the bacteria in an HAB. Our lake fared much better than nearby lakes this summer with algal blooms. Some area lakes experienced large algal blooms and HABs in their
      lakes.

      Reviewing Gerry’s water testing results and the results listed above we believe we are on the right track with our lake management plan. We will use these results and future testing to drive our initiatives. Next year we plan to increase weed harvesting, expand geese deterrents, continue the use of biodredge and increase the use of water circulators. We will also be researching inlet improvements and dredging some small areas. These will need to be supported by the capital reserve funds.

      Stay informed!
      – Sign up for email recaps
      – Join the new LLPOA Facebook group here
      – Attend the Annual Meeting to show your support of these initiatives
      – Tell your neighbors about these efforts

      Lastly, THANK YOU to all of you who have supported our lake management efforts throughout the year.

LLPOA Lake Management Committee  –  October 2025