On September 15 the City of Berkeley Lake, with assistance from BLHA, "pulled the plug" and opened the siphons to continue lowering the lake level, already 10' lower than normal full pool of 974.6 elevation. The plan is to lower the lake an additional 63' to 912 elevation. This will be the first time since the dam's construction in 1950 that the bottom of the lake will be visible. This will present opportunities for the HOA and shoreline residents to accomplish activities not normally available with the lake at full pool, e.g. enhancing the lake environment for all wildlife, inspecting dock/building facilities and improving overall safety for our members and residents. (Please refer to the President's Message for approval process.)

City and BLHA representatives will be working together on projects, as the lake remains lowered over the next several months. As communicated, the City has released and received sealed bids to perform the work for the dam repair project per approved engineering documents. The other projects that are being managed and funded by Berkeley Lake Homeowners Association (BLHA) include the following:

• siltation removal
• fish habitat (structure) development
• fish restocking & management

Over the next few months the plan is to write a series of articles on the lake's ecosystem and management. The objective of these articles is to provide information to educate BLHA members, residents and businesses on the lake's ecosystem, informing the community on how BLHA manages the lake and to document what is around, above and below the lake for the Berkeley Lake community. Areas under consideration are listed below.

• Lake Ecosystem – What is around and under the lake; impact of lake lowering and timeline
• Lake Management /Maintenance – What is involved in managing and maintaining a lake; cost vs. benefits
• Balancing the use of the lake
• Fish – harvesting activities, benefit of habitats, restocking – what type of fish and why
• Best Practices for managing our lake
• Discussions with Biologist & lake subject matter experts
• Document creation for future reference / education

If you are interested in being involved in this endeavor, please contact me at 770.757.6888, or Randy Kirkus, the current Lake Maintenance and Watershed Development Director on the BLHA Board.