Your Fish Like Lime too, but Hold the Salt
As lake stewards, we often get asked, “Does my lake need lime?” It’s a two-part answer, depending on your focus and importance on the lake’s fishery. If you are not prioritizing the fishery, then you don’t need to invest in lime. However, if keeping a healthy and growing fishery is important, then annual lake checks are needed to determine if the water chemistry is at the desired level. Agricultural limestone, or lime as it’s commonly
Keep Roadways Litter-Free to Prevent Pollution Downstream
Signs to “Adopt a Mile” can be seen along many Georgia roads in an effort to encourage volunteers to keep the sides of our roadways litter-free. These signs may lead some to ask: “What about the countless miles of roadway that hardly ever have litter pickup? Where does all this garbage go if no one properly disposes of it?”- In short…DOWNSTREAM! There are approximately 90,000 miles of roadways in Georgia, all of which have some
Get to Know Matt Troxler
“I grew up in East Tennessee, went to college in Middle Tennessee, had my first job in West Tennessee, then moved to Georgia to work for Aquascape Environmental. I like to tell people that I’m from Tennessee, but I live in Georgia; I won’t ever call myself a Georgian. I’ve always enjoyed hiking, fishing, and exploring the outdoors. My favorite types of areas to fish are small wadeable streams—even if the fish aren’t that big
Get to Know Paul Slovisky
Get to know our very own Paul Slovisky – Vice President of Operations who is a specialist in Stormwater Management and Erosion and Sediment Control.
Shore up the Shoreline
A functional, eco-friendly shoreline for the future “Don’t get too close, the bank is crumbling and you’re going to fall in!” I can be heard telling my young nephews as they relentlessly pursue small fish, insects, and various amphibians with their dip nets at the lake’s edge. The lake banks seem to be getting worse in certain areas with every heavy rainstorm. Large chucks of the bank sheer off like icebergs calving from a glacier,
Flash Flooding Problems Often Increased by Poor Stormwater Management
Have the recent increases in flash flooding caused any concerns for you and your property? Hurricane season is still going strong and while you can’t control the weather, there are ways to control the proper methods of stormwater runoff. Stormwater management is the science of managing rainwater runoff to prevent adverse impacts on the environment. Q4 To-Dos We’ve just finished the growing season and this time of year; we routinely see detention and retention ponds overrun
“Give That Tree a Shake, We Need Some Bait!”
It was the early 90’s, we were living on a small farm in West Georgia. Our little farm pond never produced any decent fishing, but our neighbors had a pond that was always stocked with Blue-gill, Largemouth bass, and Channel cats. Some of my most fond memories involve catfishing in the summer with my grandfather, but it was more than just fishing—it was a part of rural living. Farming, hunting, and fishing were more than
Fountains or Aerators – How to Decide What’s Ideal for Your Lake’s Health
Part 2 – Lake Depth more than 10 ft. In our May Aquabytes, we discussed how aquatic fountains and aerators, whether surface or sub-surface, can do much to improve the water quality of a shallow lake or pond. A well designed and placed aeration system increases the dissolved oxygen within the water column which is necessary for maintaining good water quality. Improving the overall oxygen levels in a body of water helps the entire ecosystem
Eutrophication – Is Your Lake “Over the Hill?”
Why is the lake greener than it used to be? Where did all this “pond-scum” come from? Why has the lake developed an odor? These may be questions that you have been pondering recently, and a potential answer to these questions is: eutrophication. From the Greek word meaning “well nourished”, eutrophication refers to the process in which lakes become nutrient enriched and filled with sediment. Eutrophication is a natural process which usually occurs over vast
Look What We Found!
One of our standard lake health practices is to conduct an electrofishing survey, a process that lets us measure and track the fish population and species mix in our client’s lakes. Recently, on an electrofishing survey project, we collected a Bowfin (Amia calva), which is a relative of the Gar family. This fish is native to Georgia, however, the lake where the fish was captured was outside of its specific geography and preferred habitat. Although
