2009 State of the Lake by John Blindbury, President

I am pleased to provide a report on the State of the Lake for 2009.  Special recognition goes to our Lake Manager Carl Koenig and our WLMA Office Manager Anna Molina.  Without these two people WLMA would not be able to function as smoothly and efficiently as we have all come to experience.   

WLMA is governed by a Board of thirty three representatives representing WLMA members in seven residential associations Districts and one commercial District around the lake.  These Districts associations are Windward Shores, Westshore, Westlake Bay, Southshore, Lakeshore, Westlake Island, Northshore and one commercial District, The Landing.  Boards of Representatives from each District elect WLMA representatives from within that particular District. The 2009 members of the WLMA Executive Committee are: President John Blindbury, Vice President Bud Fish, Mike Singer, Ron Code, Linda Catlin, Tony Tramonto, Bill Knebel, Al Miller, and John Adamick work very hard and many hours to oversee our Lake.  It is the efforts of our Board members that ensure our Lake continues to be a fabulous place to live and play. 

WLMA is involved in a continuous effort to keep our lake water clean and healthy.  Our staff is out 7 day’s a week cleaning debris from our 9.8 miles of shoreline.  Our lake requires a balance of plant and animal life combined with temperature and water nutrients to maintain a state of equilibrium.  We check our water quality each month and submit samples of our water to independent laboratories for testing.  Any imbalance can change the water quality.  WLMA employs expert advice and management of our water quality by utilizing the services of Aquatechnex.   Aquatechnex monitors water quality and plant life to ensure we are in compliance with Federal and State regulations.  We are constantly affected by inflow of downstream nutrients, metals and other matter entering our lake from runoff and during storm periods.  High nutrients and sunny skies can mean algae and other plant growth.  Nutrients as well as the algae and other plant growth are neutralized with products approved by the California Fish and Game Department and Regional Water Quality Control Board.  WLMA’s purposes include protecting the Lake ecosystem.  We seek to protect all of our bass and other fish species as well as the turtles, ducks, geese, pelicans, herons, egrets, and others.   

Our legal matters are in good hands with Mike Singer as chair of our Legal Committee.  We utilize Christopher (Kip) Patterson as outside counsel to assist WLMA on internal and external legal matters. 

The most important asset for our lake is our water.  When runoff from Lake Sherwood and the surrounding 29 square miles of urban watershed is not sufficient to maintain our water level, we rely on our two wells which are owned jointly with the Westlake Golf Course.  We are very fortunate to have two very productive wells.  Together, our wells can provide over 1,700 gallons a minute.  All costs of maintenance, repair, and new well exploration are born equally by WLMA and the Golf Course.  We continually seek additional sources of water to ensure an adequate supply of water.  As water becomes a more scarce resource, we will be looking at ways to reduce our use of water for irrigation while still maintaining our open areas. 

Midges.  We have undertaken multiple steps to better understand and manage the problem.  In the summer of 2007 we hired Dr. Arlo Fast who is a Limnologist from Michigan to study our lake and make recommendations regarding Midge control.  Dr. Fast spent an entire week here at Westlake studying our specific issues.  The report he produced was very comprehensive and has given us a roadmap to better manage our Midge problem.  The biggest issue he discovered was the lack of natural predators of Midges.  We are in the middle of a three year program to introduce additional natural predators into our lake.  This primarily consists of introduction of additional Channel Catfish which are bottom feeders to eat the Midge larvae.  In addition to Channel Catfish, we are utilizing a safe chemical treatment designed to kill Midge larvae that is not harmful to our fishery.   

Quagga Mussels.  The Quagga Mussel has presented us with a challenge of keeping our lake from becoming infested.  As you have been reading in local papers, other lakes in our area have implemented procedures to protect their water.  Westlake took action in March of 2008 to protect our lake.  The most obvious action was the introduction of a fence and locking gate across our launch ramp to keep out transient boats /insure quarantine period, and allow us to better manage who has access to our lake.  Other measures have been designed and implemented to ensure our lake remains Quagga free.  Bud Fish is chairman of our Quagga Mussel Task Force Committee.  Under Bud’s leadership, the committee will be taking additional action designed to protect our lake.  It is imperative that everyone joins in to help keep these mussels from invading our lake.  The area in which we are most vulnerable is the launching of kayaks from shore and owners properties.  Everyone needs to understand the severity of the potential impact on our lake.  If you witness anyone launching kayaks or other personal watercraft lacking a WLMA permit, or you believe any watercraft on the lake has been used elsewhere and not through WLMA quarantine, please contact the WLMA office immediately. 

WLMA Office Building.  You might have noticed that the WLMA office building has undergone some recent repairs due to termites and dry rot issues.  These repairs were needed to ensure the building can continue to serve us for a number of years.  Last year we made the decision not to tear down and build a new building.  The costs of these repairs are a small fraction of what a new building would have cost WLMA.  In light of the current economic conditions, we made the right decision. 
 

WLMA is lucky to have Ron Code as Treasurer. Ron joined the Executive Committee this year.   Ron works hard in conjunction with Kathy Emmons of the Emmons Company to oversee WLMA’s income and expenditures.  Ron puts in many hours preparing annual budgets, managing our debt and overseeing our financials.   

Under the leadership of Tony Tramonto as chair of our Rules, Regulation & Compliance Committee new docks are being designed and installation being planned in the Public Marina.  Last year we replaced the Series 800 and 900 docks. The next marina dock we will be replacing is the series 500 dock.  Over the next few years we plan on systematically replacing most of the docks in the Marina.  Our goal is to provide safe, secure and consistent dock facilities for our boat owners. 

Our Fishing program is overseen by Bud Fish.  Bud runs the annual Bass Fishing tournament designed to provide a fun morning of fishing to decide the top fisherman on the lake.  All proceeds from this event go to fund our “Kids Day at the Docks” which allows kids to have a day of fishing, prizes and a hot dog lunch.   

As provided in the WLMA CC&Rs, the Westlake Yacht Club continues its special relationship with WLMA organizing recreational boating activities on the lake.  The Yacht Club sponsors numerous sailing regattas and events on the lake including the Holiday Parade and 4^th of July events.  The Yacht Club also sponsors wonderful sailing programs for our local youth and our local high schools.   

The WLMA Board of Representatives is a great group of hard working volunteers, donating many hours of their time to preserving and improving our wonderful lake.  Special thanks goes to each and everyone one of them.