Few ballot measures in Lake County in recent years have drawn as much attention from local residents as has Measure S. This is the measure known as Save the Lake by its proponents. If passed by voters on Tuesday it would levy a one-half cent sales tax, the money going to improve the lake.
Measure S has its supporters and opponents. Those in favor of it say the money is needed to rid the lake of nuisance algae and aquatic weeds as well as keeping the quagga mussels out of the lake. It also will restore the wetlands. Those against it say it”s just another waste of taxpayer money and would result in gates being placed at the entrances to the public boat ramps.
The problem is that without the passage of Measure S there will be little or no money to manage the lake. While I don”t agree with everything in Measure S (the gates being one of them), I realize that the lake needs to be preserved. As it now stands, the county has little or no money to properly manage the lake. The problem is that few people in government actually understand the dynamics of a lake such as Clear Lake, which is 2 million years old.
Take the algae for example. Clear Lake has had algae from its earliest existence. Core samples taken from the bottom of the lake that date back 150,000 years show algae traces. All the money in the world won”t make Clear Lake into another Lake Tahoe nor should it. Algae is the lifeblood of lakes and without it the creatures in the lake couldn”t survive.
The blue-green algae is what gets most of the attention and it”s true that it can be a problem a few months out of the year. However, during the fall, winter and spring months the water is generally clear. What can be done is to install booms around the entrances to the harbors. They will keep out the algae. Aerating the water will also cause the blue-green algae to sink. However, both methods only have limited applications. Restoring the wetlands will go a long way in preserving the lake. Most of the tule-lined shores have been removed for homes. Planting tules in many areas will help filter the sediment flow into the lake.
As for the aquatic weeds, as the water clears the weeds grow because the sunlight can reach the bottom of the lake, much as in your garden. Back in the 1950s and 60s the lake was mostly green because of algae and there were few aquatic weeds. That has all changed within the past 10 years. Weeds now stretch all the way into the middle of the lake during the spring and early summer months. All weeds have a life cycle. They live so many months and die off. This year the weeds sprouted earlier than normal and most died off by early June.
Quagga mussel control has drawn most of the headlines. Lake County has an effective boat inspection plan and to date quagga mussels have not been found in the lake. One of the options in Measure S is to install gates at the public ramps, which would open by an electronic key card issued to boaters when they purchase their mussel sticker. That idea hasn”t been popular with most of the fishermen or boaters. They envision driving three hours and arriving at the lake at 4 a.m. and not being able to open the gate.
The problem is that there are 11 public ramps on the lake and more than 500 private ramps. One option would be to close down the public ramps that are rarely used and leave open the ramps at Redbud Park in Clearlake, the State Park ramp, Lakeside County Park, Library Park ramps in Lakeport, the Lucerne ramp and the ramp in Clearlake Oaks. That would leave only seven public ramps to monitor. Putting gates at ramps should only be a last resort.
For example, if tquagga mussels were found in Lake Mendocino, Lake Berryessa or Lake Sonoma, then installing gates at the ramps on Clear Lake would be justified. The ideal solution would be to have choke points at the entrances to the county. That has been very effective in Arizona and Nevada. The bad news it”s very expensive and it”s doubtful the county could come up with the money.
I support Measure S and hope it passes. We desperately need the money to manage the lake. Like all ballot measures it has positives and negatives, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.
