HOW TO WRITE A LAKE MANAGEMENT PLAN

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Generally speaking lake associations are voluntary organizations with members who own land on or near a lake. They can be involved in various levels of lake management activities and vary from very well run to more social groups. Either way their desires and object is the same. The purpose of a lake association may differ with their approach yet their purpose is the same. That is to maintain, protect and improve the quality of a lake, its fisheries and its watershed. A lake association can be formed quite easily. It involves a group of concerned individuals getting together and wanting to do something about it in an organized manner. The association can be any number of people on it whether they live on the lake or not. Lake associations help build a sense of community as well as generate information. They work with various parts of the community to effect ordinances and lake management practices. Today there are almost 400 lake associations in existence.

Let’s look at another simple concept, that of Lake Management. Theoretically it’s a very simple system. The difficult job is the actual water body management. It is estimated in the United States there are over 5 million private lakes and ponds. Lakes and ponds are built for different reasons. They are often built for irrigation and livestock watering. More often than not the main reason is for recreation. Sadly most lakes and ponds are poorly managed for sport fishing, even though almost 25% of all fishing takes place in private ponds. So it makes sense that properly managed lakes provide excellent recreational opportunities, especially for popular fish. A good fishing lake must be continually stocked with the fish of choice, continually maintained and then fish removed or harvested at the appropriate rate. Many lake owners do not know these basic fundamentals of lake management.

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It can be said true that no two lakes or ponds are ever alike. Yet it is true that every lake or pond can be properly managed to provide the optimal of recreation activities regardless of what you choose. You may choose to have recreational fishing alone or swimming and boating either way it can be done with the proper lake management.

Now the appropriate question would be how you write a lake management plan. Seeing that there is such a need for it in most places. Logically the first step would be what kind of recreation you want there. Lakes and ponds can be managed for various activities but hard to do for all of them on the same scale. You can definitely have all objectives being achieved to some extent and then just emphasize the most important one.

One are that a lake can be managed for is fishing. This tends to be the most popular. This can be done by investigating the area and the species of fish that would best be there. Then the lake management plan would ensure the stock levels are good and maintenance of this.

Another great recreational activity would be swimming. You would need to make sure the area was maintained for the safety of those swimming.

Then there could be wildlife attractions and esthetics. The work of the lake management team would be the upkeep of the area to provide optimal interest.

The most important part of managing anything is having a thorough understanding of the subject and learning how to identify and diagnose problems. The lake management team or assigned person should be aware of the lakes inputs, potential problems and how they remedy those issues. Once they do that they can truly manage the lake. Keeping in mind the essential parts of any lake management program, that focuses on fishing, will include, fish species selection and stocking rates, fertilizing and liming, aquatic weed control, watershed management, prevention of fish overpopulation, removal of unwanted fish species, lake or pond construction, water quality and lake record keeping.

So obviously lake management is much needed in all lakes and ponds. In order to write a plan there are a few things you need to do. The most important thing is to have someone with the desire to make the necessary changes. They must also have the time to do this. It’s not something that will be done in a day, yet with all the requirements it will get done. Maybe eventually with enough dedication and desire we can have most or all lakes and ponds with an active lake management plan.

for more resouces visit http://www.lakemanagementplan.com/