Firstly, I would like to thank the 2005 BLHA Board of Directors, Mr. George Kaffezakis, and all the BLHA members who elected me to the Lake Maintenance Director position. George has done such an outstanding job over the years with the lake and thankfully has offered his assistance with some of the lake maintenance tasks. He has already spent a good bit of time educating me and getting me up to speed. My goal is, that the needs of boaters, fisherman, swimmers, native wildlife and fish will be met under my term of service. This is a balancing act at times, but one I believe has been well accomplished under George's term of service and I will do my best to continue his effort going forward. Over the last few months, George and I have been working with our lake biologist, Shan O'Gorman of ProPonds. Shan had recommended the placement of 100 tons of lime into our lake. Lime will help stabilize the pH level by reducing the current acid level. Just like Georgia red clay is acidic, so is the soil beneath our lake. Therefore, by adding the lime, we lower the acidic level. Consequently the placement of fertilizer in the lake becomes much more effective, and we will have a proper algae bloom. Why is this important? Well mainly for no other reason than weed control. Our lake is naturally so clear, that without the lime and fertilizer, we would soon find ourselves in a lake choked with weeds. This change will allow the free flow of water and recreational boating activity without clogging propellers, plus the ability for swimming without being tickled by submergent vegetation.

By the time you are reading this, buds should be starting to pop out and the weather will be warming up, which means the fish are starting to get very active and are looking for something to eat before they spawn. Well, as with last year, we are still overpopulated with bass. While last year we stocked 16,000 shad, an important forage fish for bass, we have been unable to determine if the shad has managed to reproduce and survive from last season. The BLHA fishing club has raised additional money from our 2005 tournaments for stocking of more shad this year. So far we have seen the bass increase slightly in weight, but more needs to be done. Our plan is to reduce the bass population so they won't cannibalize their young, increase bass size, and eventually produce more trophy bass within the carrying capacity of our 88-acre lake.

I've always had a passion for our environment and conservation. I do believe that once man manipulates the natural environment, one must consider conservation of the resources you create or destroy with that manipulation. The same is true of Lake Berkeley. Management of what is under the water is just as important as what is on top of the water, or what is going into the water. Leaking septic tanks, runoff and pollution are all problematic to water quality. Another problem with our lake is pollution from waterfowl, which includes both fecal materials polluting the beaches and its effect on the overall water quality. In my opinion, waterfowl are some of the most beautiful creatures on the planet. Our local resident Canadian geese and mallard population are wonderful and I love to hear their calls as they fly past my house to land on the lake. The problem is, that we've created an environment that's very hospitable to the waterfowl, as they migrate and temporarily reside on our lake. Not to mention, we, through development, have removed most predators from the area that can harm adult birds. Hunting, with all of its controversy, is an effective tool for wildlife management, but obviously this has not been an option for Berkeley Lake for many, many years. Therefore we will continue to partner with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the US Department of Agriculture for removal and relocation of excess waterfowl to rural areas of Georgia. We do ask residents to refrain from feeding geese, native ducks, non-native farm ducks and Muscovy ducks to help preserve our high water quality.