- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Community group raises funds to expand water quality and channel protection project
CLEARLAKE OAKS, Calif. – A group of Clearlake Oaks residents are working to find solutions to algae's impacts on their community, including expanding a project to use booms to control where the algae travels.
In 2013 members of the Clearlake Keys Property Owners Association first installed floating booms borrowed from the county at the mouth to the subdivision's channels, as Lake County News has reported: bit.ly/12L1g9K .
This year, a group of concerned citizens led by Doug Smith, Ed Legan and Leroy Dubrall are spearheading the effort to expand the project and its positive benefits.
Prior to the project, the Keys' channels had become filled with bright green, dying blue-green algae mats, which caused a mess for residents and resulted in a foul-smelling stench, according to Dubrall.
Since then, however, Dubrall said the situation has improved. The blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria, was very minimal in the Keys in 2014.
This year, there has been an increase in the algae, which Dubrall believes is due to the increase of the invasive aquatic plant creeping water primrose, which took root during last year's low water year.
Dubrall said this year the 800-foot-long booms – which took about three days to put in place early last month – are in roughly the same location as the two previous years, at the mouth of the Keys, but have been secured by attaching them to four metal poles placed in the Keys' jurisdiction.
It cost about $3,500 to place those booms, with homeowners association President Joe Stella getting them the money and contractor Bob Milano giving the group a good price on placing the poles, Dubrall said.
The booms protect the Keys' channels, swim beach, a public launch ramp at the nearby county park, Clarks Island and the Island RV Park, Dubrall said.
He said the county's Lakebed Management division waived more than $1,000 in permit fees to help with the placement of all of the poles.
Lake County Vector Control Director Jamie Scott said the Keys boom project has had an added benefit: It has helped cut down on mosquito activity.
She said the wind pushed the algae into the Keys' channels, where it got very warm.
“Not all algae creates mosquito habitats,” but she said that was the case in the Keys.
Before the boom project, the algae – in particular, a type called lyngbya – was getting pushed up into the channels, where it was dying and decaying. Scott explained that the decomposition process pulled the oxygen from the water, which killed off the predators that kept the mosquitoes in check.
Scott said that, over the years, Vector Control has rarely detected significant numbers of mosquitoes in the Clearlake Keys.
However, she said that in 2012 her staff detected “extraordinary numbers” of immature and Culex mosquitoes in the Clearlake Keys.
The Culex mosquitoes are carriers – or vectors – of West Nile virus, and as a result there was an associated increase in the virus in that area that year. Scott said district staff found Culex mosquito larvae developing in the emergent vegetation and along the edges of the algal mats.
However, the installation of the booms “made a huge difference” in significantly reducing mosquito numbers in 2013, according to Scott, who has given her support to the ongoing boom project.
There was an increase in mosquitoes in 2014, but the numbers remained much lower than in 2012, with none of the mosquitoes tested in that area showing West Nile virus, she said.
This year, however, there has been a new issue, with the increase in creeping water primrose, which has grown thick in the channels. Like lyngbya, the creeping primrose causes oxygen levels to drop and kills the mosquito-eating fish and other creatures, Scott said.
She said that as a result there has begun to be an increase in mosquitoes again this year, with her agency out treating for larvae and adult mosquitoes.
Dubrall said expanding the boom project is estimated to cost as much as $4,000, which will cover the cost and placement of the three new boom poles, the required navigation lights and the individual lights to be placed upon the booms themselves.
With neither the county nor the homeowners' association having the funding available, Dubrall and his colleagues are going out to ask for private donations.
As of the start of this month, Dubrall said they had received more than $800 in private donations, with the Clearlake Oaks Glenhaven Business Association pledging matching funds.
The group is expecting to expand its fundraising efforts further in the community, Dubrall said.
The new project is waiting not just on funding but also on water levels going down a few feet to make the installation easier, said Dubrall.
The homeowners association also is continuing to pursue its other manners of weed and algae control, including the use of its weed harvester, he said.
“Our harvester is on its last legs,” said Dubrall, noting the association has owned it since 1990.
“It's done a lot of good,” but needs a lot of repairs, said Dubrall.
They're working with the county on exploring options for getting a new harvester, which is estimated to cost about $68,000.
“It's all up in the air right now,” he said.
For those wanting to donate or otherwise assist with the project, call Dubrall at 707-400-9251.
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