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Blowing in the Wind: One neighbor’s leaves another’s boating hassle
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By Ned Soseman/LakeExpo.com
Fall is a lovely time for a boat ride on the lake. The beauty of the season is often best seen and enjoyed from the water. Last Saturday, a couple enjoying the view and calm waters from PWCs on a warm, sunny day had fun stifled by leaves sucked into their jet drives, rendering them virtually powerless.
They ran into some of the seasonal hazards that can make post-season boating a bit more challenging.
Those beautiful fall leaves have to go somewhere. Tons end up in the lake. Every fall, they lurk just beneath the surface by the millions, many floating in huge clusters like clouds as they soak up water. The innocent ones become waterlogged and eventually sink. The ornery ones find their way into jet drives and water intakes of inboard and outboard motors.
Recent heavy rains have kept the lake near full pool, so branches and logs washed into the water can lurk like icebergs for days or weeks before sinking or resting on a shoreline or dock cable. Logs are often difficult to see, even more so when camouflaged by floating leaves. Add a couple of seasonal thermal turn-overs, and the fall lake can be cluttered with debris from below.
Right now, the lake is rife with new leaves and branches, each one washed or blown from surrounding hills into the lake. All this can prove pesky for boaters, but it provides plenty of nutrients to support lake life. According to Jennifer Haggatt at The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, it’s all is part of the natural cycle in no need human help.
Missouri Clean Water Law says it is a violation for commercial or industrial businesses to dispose of leaves by placing them into state waters. Although the DNR and AmerenUE recommend against it, residential property owners are not barred from raking or blowing leaves into the lake. However, common sense and neighborly respect may dictate otherwise. One resident’s leaves raked into the lake can drift around an area for days. The issue, according to Ameren’s Jeff Greene, is not just the natural environment but the impact on everyone around the lake.
There also is concern that common lawn chemicals and pesticides carried by leaves, grass clippings and dead plants dumped in the lake by residents carries potential to harm the normal nutrient input to the lake.
Many rural lake residents may choose to burn their leaves. The DNR suggests composting leaves and clippings.
Visit this website for further information: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/composting/compost1.htm.
Subscribe To Lake AlertsThey ran into some of the seasonal hazards that can make post-season boating a bit more challenging.
Those beautiful fall leaves have to go somewhere. Tons end up in the lake. Every fall, they lurk just beneath the surface by the millions, many floating in huge clusters like clouds as they soak up water. The innocent ones become waterlogged and eventually sink. The ornery ones find their way into jet drives and water intakes of inboard and outboard motors.
Recent heavy rains have kept the lake near full pool, so branches and logs washed into the water can lurk like icebergs for days or weeks before sinking or resting on a shoreline or dock cable. Logs are often difficult to see, even more so when camouflaged by floating leaves. Add a couple of seasonal thermal turn-overs, and the fall lake can be cluttered with debris from below.
Right now, the lake is rife with new leaves and branches, each one washed or blown from surrounding hills into the lake. All this can prove pesky for boaters, but it provides plenty of nutrients to support lake life. According to Jennifer Haggatt at The Missouri Department of Natural Resources, it’s all is part of the natural cycle in no need human help.
Missouri Clean Water Law says it is a violation for commercial or industrial businesses to dispose of leaves by placing them into state waters. Although the DNR and AmerenUE recommend against it, residential property owners are not barred from raking or blowing leaves into the lake. However, common sense and neighborly respect may dictate otherwise. One resident’s leaves raked into the lake can drift around an area for days. The issue, according to Ameren’s Jeff Greene, is not just the natural environment but the impact on everyone around the lake.
There also is concern that common lawn chemicals and pesticides carried by leaves, grass clippings and dead plants dumped in the lake by residents carries potential to harm the normal nutrient input to the lake.
Many rural lake residents may choose to burn their leaves. The DNR suggests composting leaves and clippings.
Visit this website for further information: http://www.dnr.mo.gov/env/swmp/composting/compost1.htm.
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