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Implementing proactive solutions is the best strategy for achieving a beautiful lake

Implementing proactive solutions is the best strategy for achieving a beautiful lake

Top Lake Management Articles of 2022

The year is almost over, but there is still time to set your lake or pond up for success. Start the planning process now and lay the foundation for a healthy and beautiful waterbody in 2023. Whether you’re looking to create happy communities or want to learn effective shoreline management solutions, our experts are here to help. Look back at our top 5 articles of 2022 and discover everything SOLitude has to offer to help you achieve your waterbody goals.

1. How Consistent Lake Management Helps Create Happier, Healthier Communities

For many, water brings peace and happiness. That is one of the many reasons maintaining a healthy waterbody is so important. Water quality issues can have a harmful effect on recreational activities, wildlife, property values, and overall quality of life. Start a proactive management plan and enjoy the benefits of a healthy waterbody all year long.

2. Set Your Waterbody Up for Success This Year and Beyond

Annual management is essential to the health and well-being of any lake or pond. Proactive, eco-friendly strategies that are tailored to your unique ecosystem will make it possible to maintain a balanced and beautiful waterbody for all to enjoy. Build a custom annual lake management plan and achieve your goals for years to come.

3. Beyond the Water: Effectively Managing Lake and Pond Shorelines

Regular shoreline maintenance ensures that your lake or pond can withstand the test of time. Protecting your waterbody from the dangerous and unsightly effects of erosion starts with preventative management. Learn how smart solutions such as bioengineered living shorelines can repair even the most severe erosion cases.

4. Control Nutrient Levels and Improve Lake and Pond Health with All-Natural Alum

Nutrient Remediation with Alum is one of the most effective and natural solutions for poor water quality. When water quality is healthy, algae, nuisance weeds, and toxic cyanobacteria are less likely to thrive. Restore the balance and beauty of your waterbody with Alum and other proactive solutions.

5. Oxygenation Solutions for Lakes & Ponds: Floating Fountains vs. Surface Aerators vs. Submersed Aeration

Healthy, functional lakes and ponds require oxygen. Waterbodies with poor water quality can suffer from water quality impairments like algae, toxic cyanobacteria, and aquatic weed growth. Fortunately, lake managers can utilize three solutions to increase oxygen: floating fountains, surface aerators, and submersed diffused aeration.

Achieve Your Ideal Waterbody

There’s no doubt that lakes and ponds are vital to our communities. That’s why it’s so important to maintain a healthy waterbody for everyone to enjoy. Let us help you reach your lake and pond management goals next year. Contact our professionals to get started on your 2023 management plan.

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“Why does our HOA need a lake management company?” -Allstate Resource Management

“Why does our HOA need a lake management company?” -Allstate Resource Management

Sometimes, aquatic management is viewed as a frivolous or unnecessary expense for a community. “My lake looks fine, why should I pay to have someone take care of it?” Unfortunately, that assessment is rarely made taking into account the whole water body.
Most people that live on lakes also see them differently than someone who maintains them. The difference is homeowners tend to look “at” the water, where as waterway managers look “in” the water. Too often people put off lake maintenance until they see a problem and weed populations have already become established. Long term management at that point becomes more expensive and time consuming, with total elimination of the problem almost impossible.
An important fact that many overlook is that the lakes on their property serve another purpose other than a nice view. They are actually man made stormwater retention areas . When communities are built, the lakes are carefully designed to hold a certain amount of stormwater. Water bodies filled with weeds no longer have the correct capacity, potentially causing neighborhood flooding during storms. Algae is another constant nuisance in South Florida lakes. Because of our warm waters and long sunny seasons, algae can spread very rapidly and unpredictably.
As a property owner or property manager, it’s valuable to have a company that will respond to these unexpected outbreaks. Every lake matures differently, and it takes a combination of experience and expertise to maintain a healthy balance as changes occur.
Allstate Resource Management’s staff is always there to answer your questions and works to ensure excellent results in any lake management situation.
Contact us today on how we can help your community lake!
Direct: 954-382-9766
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Schedule Your Fall Fish Stocking Discover the benefits of professional fall fish stocking and how to set your fishery up for success.

Schedule Your Fall Fish Stocking Discover the benefits of professional fall fish stocking and how to set your fishery up for success.

Schedule Your Fall Fish Stocking

Discover the benefits of professional fall fish stocking and how to set your fishery up for success.

Are you ready to build a community fishery or grow trophy fish in your private lake? Fish stocking is an important step of fisheries management. Fall is an excellent time to stock your lake. Learn how strategic fish stocking can help you build your dream fishery!

BOOK YOUR FISH STOCKING

Why a Professional Is Needed for Fish Stocking

A diverse and productive fish population is essential to creating an ecologically balanced lake or pond. Fish stocking has clear benefits – from plant and mosquito management to exciting fishing opportunities – but many property owners are unaware of the sheer number of fish species to choose from, making it very easy to get confused.

There is more to fish stocking than the act of adding fish to a pond. Rushing the process by stocking the wrong fish, or doing so at the wrong time, can result in unhealthy population conditions and ecosystems. A key part of lake and pond management is making sure the fish population is well-balanced and best equipped to help achieve your specific goals for the aquatic ecosystem. That’s where a professional comes in.

Each body of water is different, so there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. A customized plan created by experts will ensure that your lake or pond has the right fish population to endure its health and your continued enjoyment. Based on the state of the ecosystem in your lake or pond, a professional will recommend whether or not you should add fish, what species are best suited for your waterbody, what time of year to stock, and how many.

SOLitude Lake Management | Proudly Serving Clients Nationwide

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There is nothing like mosquito bites or midges to take the fun outdoor activities! Before mosquito’s or midges “BUG” you, contact Allstate Resource Management

There is nothing like mosquito bites or midges to take the fun outdoor activities! Before mosquito’s or midges “BUG” you, contact Allstate Resource Management

Mosquitos or Midges BUGGING you?

Allstate Resource Management offers full-service larvicide spraying and/or briquette treatments to attack the insect’s breeding ground. We can also stock lakes and ponds with mosquitofish which is a long-term biological control method that is also environmentally sensitive.
There is nothing like mosquito bites or midges to take
the fun outdoor activities!
Before mosquitos or midges “BUG” you, contact us at:
Direct: 954-382-9766 or info@allstatemanagement.com
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Lake Management: “Why does our HOA need a lake management company?” -Allstate Resource Management

Lake Management: “Why does our HOA need a lake management company?” -Allstate Resource Management

“Why does our HOA need a lake management company?”
Sometimes, aquatic management is viewed as a frivolous or unnecessary expense for a community. “My lake looks fine, why should I pay to have someone take care of it?” Unfortunately, that assessment is rarely made taking into account the whole water body.
Most people that live on lakes also see them differently than someone who maintains them. The difference is homeowners tend to look “at” the water, where as waterway managers look “in” the water. Too often people put off lake maintenance until they see a problem and weed populations have already become established. Long term management at that point becomes more expensive and time consuming, with total elimination of the problem almost impossible.
An important fact that many overlook is that the lakes on their property serve another purpose other than a nice view. They are actually man made stormwater retention areas . When communities are built, the lakes are carefully designed to hold a certain amount of stormwater. Water bodies filled with weeds no longer have the correct capacity, potentially causing neighborhood flooding during storms. Algae is another constant nuisance in South Florida lakes. Because of our warm waters and long sunny seasons, algae can spread very rapidly and unpredictably.
As a property owner or property manager, it’s valuable to have a company that will respond to these unexpected outbreaks. Every lake matures differently, and it takes a combination of experience and expertise to maintain a healthy balance as changes occur.
Allstate Resource Management’s staff is always there to answer your questions and works to ensure excellent results in any lake management situation.
Contact us today on how we can help your community lake!
Direct: 954-382-9766
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Shoreline & Erosion Control Management – SOLitude Lake Management

Shoreline & Erosion Control Management – SOLitude Lake Management

Enhance Your Shoreline and Repair Erosion Damage with Sustainable Solutions

Shoreline management should never be overlooked. It is one of the most important aspects of a healthy lake or pond. Proactive buffer and littoral zone management not only helps increase the aesthetics of your lake or pond, but it helps protect your waterbody from the harsh effects of erosion and prevents excess nutrients from entering the water column. If erosion damage has become too severe, erosion repair solutions can be implemented to help restore the shoreline and prevent future damage.

The Benefits Behind Vegetative Buffers and Littoral Zones

Many water quality issues are caused by or intensified by factors that begin outside of a waterbody. That is why it is crucial to cultivate a beneficial vegetative buffer and a littoral zone using native sedges, grasses, and flowering species to filter excess nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen from the water column. Allowing the beneficial plants to take root will also add to the integrity of your shoreline.

Before, Golf Course Shoreline Restoration

Erosion Repair Technologies

If your shoreline has experienced the effects of erosion like vegetation loss or uneven and unstable banks, restoration efforts should be considered before attempting to establish plants around a pond or lake. With the latest erosion control technologies, you can repair erosion wear and tear and establish a stable, natural shoreline that will halt erosion and protect your waterbody from future damage.

Discover Sustainable Solutions for Shoreline Management & Erosion Repair – Watch the Video

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Lake Management: Lake Turnover and Fish Kills The science behind it….

Lake Management: Lake Turnover and Fish Kills The science behind it….

Lake Turnover and Fish Kills

The science behind it….

Lake turnovers generally occur in the fall but can sometimes occur in the summer. During the hot weather, the surface water of a lake warms much faster than deeper water. This results in a temporary layering effect, with warm water on top and cool water underneath. Scientists refer to this as stratification.
Because the top layer has constant access to the atmosphere, it tends to have more oxygen than the bottom layer-even though it’s warmer. If a heavy wind or cold rain should occur during these conditions, the stratification may be broken, causing the two layers to mix. Once this happens the mixing action can result in low dissolved oxygen levels throughout the water column, and can potentially cause a fish kill.
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Understanding Your Lake “How long will it take to clean up my lake?”

Understanding Your Lake “How long will it take to clean up my lake?”

Understanding Your Lake

“How long will it take to clean up my lake?”

How-Long-to-Clean-Lake

This is one of the most often asked questions applicators get and is also one of the trickier ones to
answer. The hard part of this question is that there are so many variables to take into account when
trying to answer it. Are we dealing with one kind of weed or multiple ones?

Different ones may require separate treatments. Some of those treatments may not be compatible with each other which means they must be done on different visits. How bad is the problem? If the entire lake is affected,
we need to treat it in portions over time so we don’t deplete the dissolved oxygen.

Which herbicide is effective on the weeds you have? Some work quickly, where as others take time to do the job, and
not all herbicides work on every kind of plant. What is the weather? Forecasted rains can wash off or
dilute treatments, forcing work to be postponed.

These are just a few of the things we need to consider before we can even start to give a client an answer and that is just the beginning of the process. The EPA approved products we apply to lakes do not make the weeds magically disappear.

Once they begin to die, most will float to the surface and collect in mats. Then water chemistry,
weather, and lake circulation controls how long it takes for them to break down and sink. Sometimes
lakes will require follow up treatments to take care of re-growth, or dense pockets of plants.

An experienced lake management company can give you an estimate of how long it will take to start to
see results but a definite answer can be difficult. Understand that there is a customized plan being
implemented and that your manager is working to remedy the problem. If you ever have any specific
questions about your lake and its care, the staff at Allstate Resource Management is here to answer
them and provide you with the information you need.


Author: Stephen Montgomery, Senior Biologist

Allstate Resource Management has over 25 years of experience in maintaining the health of lakes, ponds, wetlands, and stormwater systems. We have continued since our inception to be the leader in resource management.

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Achieve A Weed-Free Lake – Check out our tips to learn how to best manage weeds in your lake.

Achieve A Weed-Free Lake – Check out our tips to learn how to best manage weeds in your lake.

Achieve A Weed-Free Lake

The way aquatic weeds are managed depends on your goals. Check out our tips to learn how to best manage weeds in your lake.

Aquatic Weeds? Effective Management Will Depend on Your Unique Ecosystem

Lakes and ponds are home to many unique and beneficial species, but without proper management aquatic weeds and plant life can become a nuisance by destroying native habitat, clogging stormwater pipes, detracting from aesthetics and causing other problems in the ecosystem. Identifying the best management approach can be another challenge. Aquatic weed control is a nuanced problem, and the best management methods are usually influenced by many different variables.

aquatic weed management - pond weed control - Biology - Rake Toss Dense Hydrilla

Which Lake Weed Species Are You Dealing With?

Rather than making one-size-fits-all management recommendations, reputable lake and pond management professionals generally conduct an official aquatic weed survey before designing a customized management program. An onsite evaluation is the most direct, effective way to identify important physical factors within the waterbody, determine potential problem species, and consider the management goals of the property owner or community. Each of these variables is equally important in its own regard and requires a unique custom approach and management plan to effectively address.

duckweed-invasive-plant-management

Identifying Aquatic Weed Species

To safely eradicate targeted pond weeds, lake managers typically begin by properly identifying the invasive species that are present and taking careful note of their physical characteristics. Proper identification removes the risk of using an ineffective control measure—a mistake that can result in a large loss of time and resources. Plant identification is sometimes a difficult task, requiring dichotomous keys, stereoscopes, and even lab tests. Once the species has been properly identified, we will consider its physical requirements in order to develop a multi-faceted management approach.

mechanical-hydro-rake-aquatic-weed-control

Solutions for Managing Aquatic Weed Growth

Sustainable control of a problem species is the primary objective when developing a management plan. Lake management professionals utilize many products and services to eradicate undesirable invasive species. Some ponds can simply be managed through targeted hand pulling or biological control measures such as stocking triploid grass carp. Other situations may call for extensive vegetation and sediment removal through hydro-raking or dredging. More established infestations may require the use of a new “reduced risk” herbicide alternative called ProcellaCOR, which is designed to only impact target species. Working with a professional who understands these options and how to best use them is the most efficient way to ensure the safe, thorough resolution of your aquatic weed issue.

enjoying-beautiful-water

Helping You Reach Your Goals

While environmental balance and safety are of utmost importance, stakeholder goals are also at the forefront of our consideration when designing management programs. Just as no two waterbodies are the same, neither are stakeholder desires. A fishing and duck hunting pond owner will almost certainly have vastly different goals than a homeowners’ association with a five-acre pond within city limits. Each group has its own idea of what a perfect lake looks like. This is where communication becomes the key to reaching our client’s goals. We take the time to ask the right questions and allow the client to explain their vision. We communicate with our clients throughout the restoration process and beyond to ensure the health, beauty, and function of their waterbody continues to exceed their goals.

Achieve the Waterbody You Desire

Water resources with multiple stakeholders present their own challenges. However, our team is experienced in communicating with multiple stakeholders to develop goals and strategies tailored to the interests of the entire group. Programs are designed to correct existing problems, improve the quality of the lake or pond to fit the group’s desires, and provide ongoing education. Community education within these settings is especially important, as each small action by individuals has a cumulative effect on the aquatic system as a whole.

So, ultimately, the management approach we select depends on many different factors. We can solve your pond weed issues, but what are you looking to get out of your lake? Is it a family fishing pond for the grandkids to enjoy, or a lake serving 500 homeowners that enjoy everything from waterskiing to bass fishing? Once the right questions are asked, then we can then recommend an appropriate aquatic weed control plan and begin helping your waterbody reach its full potential.

 

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