Lake Arrowhead Flood Gates Opened!

Lake Arrowhead is overflowing! In anticipation of more rain and with a flash flood watch in effect, Arrowhead Lake Association (ALA) made the decision to open the gates on Willow Creek at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

According to General Manager John Rutledge, opening the gates allows additional rainfall to flow into the Mojave watershed.

When the gates were opened, the lake level was at 5107.4, just above the full lake level of 5106.7. Opening the gates is expected to keep the lake at or near this level over the next several days.

Lake Arrowhead Flood Gates Opened (The Mountain News)
BY MARY-JUSTINE LANYON

Lake Arrowhead is overflowing! In anticipation of more rain and with a flash flood watch in effect, Arrowhead Lake Association (ALA) made the decision to open the gates on Willow Creek at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

According to General Manager John Rutledge, opening the gates allows additional rainfall to flow into the Mojave watershed.

When the gates were opened, the lake level was at 5107.4, just above the full lake level of 5106.7. Opening the gates is expected to keep the lake at or near this level over the next several days.

The overflowing lake was the overriding theme at ALA's board meeting on March 25. It started with Arrowhead Lake Association's President Chris Klein's report and rippled across all the other reports: The lake is full.

With the lake being full, reported Roy Wagner, ALA safety patrol supervisor, “people are in the ‘I want to use the lake' mode.” He cautioned people to keep an eye on their boats should they put them in early.

“We're not done with storms yet,” said Wagner. He added, however, there is a minimum of debris in the lake.

ALA further cautioned boat owners to be on alert for their boats taking on water that may not be removed by bilge pumps whose batteries have not been charged on a regular basis.

Arrowhead Woods resident Scott Rindenow asked if all the buoys and no-wake markers had been placed yet. Wagner's answer was they are traditionally placed in April and May.

And in response to Director Jack Cooperman's concern about reflective tape on the buoys, Wagner said the buoys come with the tape. Cooperman expressed additional concern about the ends of the docks: “On a moonless night, you don't know they're there until you come right up on them.” He suggested adding reflective tape to them.

PREPARATION FOR SPRING

Trail work, landslide repair and tree planting-all are in the works as ALA spruces up the shoreline for the spring and summer seasons. Much of this work is on hold until the weather improves.

Director Cooperman reported the purchase of a number of native trees for planting on the shoreline. “Since the trees are already in bud,” he noted, “we'll wait for warmer weather before we bring them up here.”

In his general manager's report, Rutledge said there is some concern about the statewide fish shortage. “We may have to reduce the number of pounds of fish we add to the lake,” he said. “We don't want to risk introducing diseases by bringing in fish from other states.”

The question of a lake web cam came up, with Director Cooperman strongly recommending ALA have its own. “We are currently using other organizations' web cams, which doesn't serve the needs of our members.”

Rindenow added the marketing committee had considered putting a web cam in the general manager's office, which offers the best view of the lake. “It would be valuable,” he said, “for members to be able to look at the ALA website to see if the lake is busy or calm.” He also noted the cost is not high.

REDUCE NUMBER OF DIRECTORS?

Secretary Mary Snaer, who chairs the by-laws committee, reported the committee has been addressing the possibility of reducing the number of directors.

“We are considering downsizing from 10 directors to seven,” Snaer said. “The original board had seven directors. Then it expanded to 10, then to 13.”

The by-laws committee looked at three ways to accomplish the downsizing: eliminate the at-large positions and create seven districts; reconfigure the existing districts into five districts and keep two at-large positions; create all at-large positions.

Snaer reported the five and two solution would probably work best. Any such change would have to be voted on by the membership at the July annual meeting.

“Why in the world would you want to do this?” asked Rindenow. “The board votes on issues affecting the whole membership. Reducing the number of board members reduces the representation of the membership.

“The perception,” Rindenow continued, “is of a few people-a clique-making decisions for all of us.”

“When we have smaller meetings,” Snaer responded, “they're faster and more productive. Our elected representatives need to commit to these meetings. The larger the board, the less important it seems.”

President Klein added, “Three years ago we made the decision to improve our staff and reduce the association's reliance on volunteers. We are well on the road to accomplishing that goal.”