I read with great interest Terry Knight”s July 28 column trying to explain Clear Lake”s algae blooms. I am sure he is correct when he says it has been a part of the lake for thousands of years. Although I can only speak to the last 50 years the algae has always been here in various forms. The last two years are the worst I have seen.
Knight made mention of the algae boats used to sink the smelly stuff. I worked as a volunteer on the boat stationed at Ship N” Shore resort in Clearlake. It was fun when the boat worked, which was not often. It worked well to sink the algae. I would be happy to volunteer again and my neighbor has expressed interest as well.
If the county wanted to do that again I would hope there would be a little more parity between the boats stationed around the lake. The boat in Clearlake would only run at half speed for a very short time before you would have to back down to idle. The steering was almost non-existent and the pump worked when it felt like it. There was no cover to protect you from the sun while you were in a cove spraying the algae and for me handling the water pick-up pipe was very difficult. The story going around was that the Lakeport boat had none of these problems. The one day the boat performed flawlessly was when Skip Simkins and I recorded a video of how the boat worked.
If working an algae boat seems like something you want to do to control the problem, contact your county supervisor.
Ray Richards
Clearlake Park
