A struggling lake #1
The Association has reached out to Bent Tree Country Club to open discussion on preserving the 6th hole lake. Anyone who is an LBT owner and member of the Bent Tree country club is encourage to join this committee.
The Lake is the most enjoyed feature of the community. And it is estimated that at least 30% of the property values are tied to the lake views. Working with Bent Tree to preserve the lake and maintain cleanliness benefits everyone.
All articles on this topic are located here.
The pond vegetation is more unsightly each year and the associated stagnation contributes to mosquito populations. Additionally there appears to be a significant buildup of muck at the bottom of the lake causing the lake to be more shallow. It appears that it is on its way to becoming a swamp if nothing is done.
In discussion with Jacob Spivey, CEA Agriculture and Natural Resource Extension Agent of the College of Agriculture & Life Science - Texas A&M, the lake has:
- algae,
- heavy growth of Southern Naiad, Bushy Pondweed (submeged growth), and
- thick layer of dead plant material that is not decomposing.
Will Triploid Grass Carp Work for You?
Application to Stock Triploid Grass Carp
Thanks for the community news and information. These are all important and we appreciate your attention to these matters. The lake IS very sad. Hope the Club cooperates to make it cleaner. Just this morning we saw floating in front of our place (6th hole) a beer can and a styrofoam cup. Thanks again for your hard work.
ReplyDeleteJay and Alicia Scribner
#5052
It would be great if there was a way to get the club to help with cleaning the lake. I believe that the primary problem is caused by phosphates contained in the fertilizers the club uses on the golf course. I have seen this at other clubs and the only way it can be cleaned sufficiently is to dredge the lake. This is a very expensive process. As to the recommendation to introduce grass carps to the lake, they have been here in numerous quantities over the 13 years we have been here.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with Benttree Country Club.
Thanks for the input and the information about Grass Carp. One thing the agriculture ' agent said was that older Grass Carp are lazy and do not eat much pond weed and they do not reproduce, so there are no offspring. He stressed the importance of restocking with young fish every few years. Dredging would be a very effective solution. We heard rough estimates of $150,000 - $200,000
DeleteUpdate: Bent Tree Country Club senior management say they have not previously applied for stocking permit from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to stock Triploid Grass Carp in the 6th hole water trap.
DeleteI wanted to say thank you for getting BTCC involved but it was not very clear to me if they are taking action to help with. The North side is getting very dense and the smell is intolerable. I believe it’s a health hazard plus during this time of “shelter in place” the patio was a nice place to spend some time reading while having a cup of coffee. Can we get a City of Dallas agency involved to help?
ReplyDeleteThanks again
Mercy ⛳️
The club management has not taken action. We are now reaching out to the club's board with our proposal to co-sponsor a lake maintenance plan.
DeleteFrustration mounts at our end of the lake. All we have is trash and muck and even had a deceased duck pulled from it. Surely the city of Dallas or even OSHA (smell is intolerable) can get involved since we are seeing no improvement. I was on the HOA board helping with this situation several years ago and met with BTCC with guarantees it would improve. The situation at this time is miserable.
ReplyDeleteWhy can’t IPM be used to kill off the mosquitoes and prevent more breeding? Very inexpensive and safe. Ft.Worth has been using IPM for years.
If the club continues to disregard this problem maybe we should consider asking the city to get involved. There are fines for this kind of disregard.
Thanks for your feedback. There is no limit to displeasure we are all feeling with the advanced eutrophication of the pond. Things have been really bad since late May and we have one lakeside home that is not selling.
DeleteOwners have tried to involve the City of Dallas, OSHA, EPA, and the even NTTA in the past and they have not been willing to intervene in a neighbor to neighbor dispute over an unsightly or smelly pond. From their perspective, this is a civil, neighbor-to-neighbor issue (not unlike two homeowners in disagreement about a tree).
LoBT has sent demand-for-action delegations over to the club manager since 2014 (maybe earlier) and at that has resulted in a few temporary/superficial actions - like an algae spraying or the raking of leaves out of the shallow or the cleaning of some trash.
The problem is much bigger than that. At this point is 800-900 tons of undecomposed biological matter sitting on the pond floor (3-6 feet at the north and south end) that is continuing to accumulate, shallow the water, and becoming increasingly more conducive to algae growth.
We are trying to establish a meaningful working relationship with BTCC and that has proven to be a slow process.