Lake Candlewood: A state of rescue
The water table in Southwest Florida was once only a few feet below the land. Several layers of aquifer lay just below the swampy soil. Real Estate Developers tried to sell this swamp land for a century until they learned that they had to build up the land to make it suitable for home sites.
One local lake, Lake Candlewood in the Iona-McGregor area was formed by a rock quarry dug to provide stone to build the Sanibel Causeway Project in the mid 1960’s. When the project was completed the quarry owner sold the land to a developer who used fill to increase the elevation around the quarry.
Throughout the 1970s a number of homes outlined the lake but it took decades for different developers to build 68 homes. There is still one privately owned vacant lot. The neighborhood that isn’t like today’s developments with gates and walls and guards. There is no association or deed restriction and most of the neighbors wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sixteen acre lakes in Southwest Florida in the mid 1970s were pretty much left to themselves because they were considered mini-ecosystems. Every summer they were covered with submerged grass and as the weather cooled the grass died and sunk to the bottom. The cycle started all over again the following spring.
After many years of these cycles the lake bottom was covered with decayed plant matter that turned into muck. When a January cold snap would last a few days the warm, muck ladened water would come to the top or ‘flip the lake.’ The oxygen starved muck would then kill all the fish in the lake. Without a home owners association there wasn’t much the 68 individuals on Lake Candlewood could do and the lake recovered on it’s own year after year.
For many years small groups of Lake Candlewood homeowners tried, unsuccessfully, to organize. The fish kills became more frequent in the late 1990’s and, in 2003, the event occurred once again during a blustery cold January. It took nearly eighteen months for the residents to realize that the lake wasn’t going to come back on it’s own.
Efforts to organize sputtered again but when the lake remained stagnant, the facts couldn’t be ignored. Another small group went door to door and finally formed a loose lake association that began actively seeking resolution to the lifeless lake with the help of some government agencies.
The community lake association joined the Pond Watch Monitoring Program of the Lee County Water Hyacinth Control District. Pond Watch conducted water quality testing, took samples of the layers of plant matter on the lake bottom and developed several possible recovery options.
Shocking the lake back to life was the easiest but temporary fix. The long term fix had to include the removal of the muck. After many long meetings, the committee settled on a natural enzyme treatment by Ecological Labs. Through a testing grant from the company, the cost of the material was brought down to what the resident could afford. Several industrious residents volunteered to apply the enzymes and the process was begun two years ago.
The benefits have been a drastic reduction in the bottom muck as the enzymes consumed it, small fish have returned, birds are now fishing in the lake again and a pair of bald eagles are periodic visitors to the neighborhood.
The only disappointment is the lack of clarity in the lake, but further testing is under way. New testing is underway of different natural enzyme that will consume the brown algae that still clouds the water. The lake is healthier and the residents are happy that they went ‘green’ in their approach but they are anxious to see the fish swimming around in a clear lake like the good old days.
By boatguy Ed
Lake Candlewood: A state of rescue
The water table in Southwest Florida was once only a few feet below the land. Several layers of aquifer lay just below the swampy soil. Real Estate Developers tried to sell this swamp land for a century until they learned that they had to build up the land to make it suitable for home sites.
One local lake, Lake Candlewood in the Iona-McGregor area was formed by a rock quarry dug to provide stone to build the Sanibel Causeway Project in the mid 1960’s. When the project was completed the quarry owner sold the land to a developer who used fill to increase the elevation around the quarry.
Throughout the 1970s a number of homes outlined the lake but it took decades for different developers to build 68 homes. There is still one privately owned vacant lot. The neighborhood that isn’t like today’s developments with gates and walls and guards. There is no association or deed restriction and most of the neighbors wouldn’t have it any other way.
Sixteen acre lakes in Southwest Florida in the mid 1970s were pretty much left to themselves because they were considered mini-ecosystems. Every summer they were covered with submerged grass and as the weather cooled the grass died and sunk to the bottom. The cycle started all over again the following spring.
After many years of these cycles the lake bottom was covered with decayed plant matter that turned into muck. When a January cold snap would last a few days the warm, muck ladened water would come to the top or ‘flip the lake.’ The oxygen starved muck would then kill all the fish in the lake. Without a home owners association there wasn’t much the 68 individuals on Lake Candlewood could do and the lake recovered on it’s own year after year.
For many years small groups of Lake Candlewood homeowners tried, unsuccessfully, to organize. The fish kills became more frequent in the late 1990’s and, in 2003, the event occurred once again during a blustery cold January. It took nearly eighteen months for the residents to realize that the lake wasn’t going to come back on it’s own.
Efforts to organize sputtered again but when the lake remained stagnant, the facts couldn’t be ignored. Another small group went door to door and finally formed a loose lake association that began actively seeking resolution to the lifeless lake with the help of some government agencies.
The community lake association joined the Pond Watch Monitoring Program of the Lee County Water Hyacinth Control District. Pond Watch conducted water quality testing, took samples of the layers of plant matter on the lake bottom and developed several possible recovery options.
Shocking the lake back to life was the easiest but temporary fix. The long term fix had to include the removal of the muck. After many long meetings, the committee settled on a natural enzyme treatment by Ecological Labs. Through a testing grant from the company, the cost of the material was brought down to what the resident could afford. Several industrious residents volunteered to apply the enzymes and the process was begun two years ago.
The benefits have been a drastic reduction in the bottom muck as the enzymes consumed it, small fish have returned, birds are now fishing in the lake again and a pair of bald eagles are periodic visitors to the neighborhood.
The only disappointment is the lack of clarity in the lake, but further testing is under way. New testing is underway of different natural enzyme that will consume the brown algae that still clouds the water. The lake is healthier and the residents are happy that they went ‘green’ in their approach but they are anxious to see the fish swimming around in a clear lake like the good old days.
By boatguy Ed