Pond Boss Forums AQUATIC VEGETATION Controlling unwanted plants Getting ahead of things before problems develop

I'm hoping someone can put my mind at ease before I go bonkers here.

Last year we bought a nice piece of land in NW Georgia that has a 3.5 AC lake on it. The lake was built in 1973 and is beautiful. The water clarity is a good 5 or 6 feet but there are decent fish in there too with several generations of bass easily spotted along the shore. We've got good Bluegill beds and tons of minnows. As far as I know, no one has ever done anything to the lake to promote fishing and/or species balance, so it is what it is, a very pretty lake with minimal silting and vegetation issues.



This piece of property was planned to become the next phase of a subdivision that was put in on neighboring property. The recent economy problems caused the subdivision to go under so now it sits totally developed but no residents. This subdivision makes up over half of the watershed for our lake, so it will have a direct effect on the lake. That's not a problem now, but as soon as things pick up and houses are bulit, I'm afraid our pretty lake will start getting polluted and over-nutrified leading to all of the problems that are so common in other lakes and ponds.

My question is this, what can I do now to get ahead of the storm and hopefully head off the problems an improving economy will certainly bring to us? Right now there's nothing on our property like power or water, so aerators and pumps are not an option.

Hopefully I'm just over-thinking this and it won't be as bad as I can imagine.



Your input is greatly appreciated.

very peaceful and beautiful lake/pond
do you know about how deep it is?

No. I've never put a boat in it. I do know that it's about 6' just past the dock because I was swimming there when we pulled this out...


The dam is about 25' on the back side, so I'm guessing about 20' at the drain valve. Hopefully I can check it out soon.

that's the craziest piece of lake "structure" I've ever seen!

hope the rider is not still in the water too!

Just make sure you have as much plants/vegetation planted around the shore and into the areas that drain into your lake. then press whoever starts developing the area to put in the right types of silt fences, etc.