When Chip sent the e-mail on the morning of February 18, heralding this momentous occasion, we all raised our glasses, filled with the finest Berkeley Lake water (alright, it was beer but hey, it was five o'clock somewhere in the world) and toasted the advent of a great year.

A rising tide floats all boats and I hope everybody's boat is floating. And by the amount of flotsam and pilotless watercraft (including our kayak) going by our dock, a lot of other things were floated, as well. With the lake levels so low, we had become kind of lax with what we left unattended at the waterside. Spring is a wonderful time to take inventory at the docks, particularly since there has been so much construction lakeside. We have begun to clean up and remove, or otherwise secure, potentially harmful products that may inadvertently enter our waterways.

Although some of our resident polar bear swimmers could not wait until water temperatures rise, we have to wait as water temperatures rise to begin our annual maintenance program of the lake. This year may be a bit more challenging than past years and we ask for people's patience and cooperation. In an effort to balance the needs of our resident fish, the need to control weeds and at the same time enhance the swimming experience, we fertilize the lake. Foster Ponds through a complicated process of monitoring water temperature, clarity, hardness, and other scientific mumbo-jumbo dispenses the exact amount and type of fertilizer to create a swimming, fishing and boating paradise. This year will be more of an art than a science in determining the right program. With so much of the lake bottom exposed for such a prolonged period, we "charged" the soil with sunlight and vegetative matter, it is quite likely that there may be a weed problem in the shallow reaches of the lake, including an explosion of filamentous algae, affectionately known as pond scum. We may have to take some aggressive control measures.

Further complicating matters is the loss of a natural buffer along the shoreline, which would normally act as a natural filter for run-off containing oils, greases and lawn chemicals (sort of acting like kidneys). To the degree possible, please make every effort to minimize the amount of fertilizer and lawn chemicals and as far away from the water as possible. Let's leave the lake fertilization to the professionals. And remember if the drought continues, I say we go native, at least within 20 feet of the shoreline.

Although I can't use the writer's strike as an excuse to recycle older Reflections articles, I dug into some back issues in an effort to extract some pearls of wisdom that remain applicable today as they did when first written – think of it as philosophical recycling. So here they are:

Every fertilizer, every detergent, every household chemical, every almost empty paint can that we wash out in our yards ends up in the lake – think carefully about what we want our fish to swim in. (In future issues – I'll research and report on "green" products).

Every tree removed, every square foot of home expansion increases the impervious area on our lots, every unprotected grading activity directly contributes to added silt loading into our lake. Compensate for these losses by planting native vegetation (ground covers are preferable to lawns), rain gardens, trees, and use pervious paving materials. One of the best protections of our shoreline is the establishment of a vegetative fringe buffer (think kidneys again). It's the beauty of the lake that initially attracted all of us; let's return the favor, for our continued enjoyment and for future generations.

On exotic and invasive species – Let's do our part by not introducing any type of plant or animal to the lake, especially when cleaning out aquariums.

Speaking for the Kaffezakis family, we can't wait until summer, when the trek from the beach to the water will be much shorter. And there is no truth to the rumor that Tennessee plans to annex Berkeley Lake in exchange for the Tennessee River.