Over the past couple of years, we have been communicating with Joel Bleth, President of Solarbee, Inc. He recently contacted us at the Devils Lake Navigator because he wanted us know they have updated a short paper “Common Sense Suggestions for Lake Restoration Projects” that he thought could useful to the stakeholders of Devils Lake.
You can read it online, by following the above link or download a pdf version if you prefer. Follows is a brief excerpt from the paper to get you started..
A lake restoration project should be a rewarding experience, ultimately creating community pride and value for a job well done when the lake’s water quality clears up. Lake stakeholders often spend thousands of man-hours over several years discussing the lake’s water quality problems and analyzing possible solutions. One or more studies by lake experts may be commissioned, followed by years of arduous efforts to raise money – sometimes millions of dollars – to restore the lake. But, all too often, after the “solution” is implemented the water quality is as poor as ever or else worse. Consequently, many lake groups are facing the same water quality problems today that they worked on years ago, despite spending a lot of time and money in the interim.
This relatively short paper offers five common-sense suggestions to help lake stakeholders ensure that their lake restoration project is successful the first time. Most of the discussion centers around harmful blue-green (cyanobacteria) algae blooms (HABs) as opposed to weed (macrophyte) problems because weeds, while a nuisance, won’t kill you like blue-green algae blooms can.
