Lawns in the common areas are mowed and trimmed weekly from April through mid November.  The lawn is fertilized and treated for weeds and scrubs periodically throughout the year.

On June 25, 2024 high winds caused a dying tree to topple on the east central shore.  Dan Abrams, with help of a few volunteers, removed the tree debris leaving a stump which was subsequently grinded out. This area was re-seeded to improve the appearance of the lawn. 

Over the years, the growth of pear trees along the western shore has been remarkable.   Though these trees had been pruned in the past, their limbs growing easterly over the lake had never been trimmed, creating a striking asymmetry.   In April of 2023, a volunteer crew took on the task of pruning  all 27 trees on all sides.   A total of eight truck-loads of cut branches were disposed of.

The sightline of this distinctive tree row along Duncan Road is now greatly enhanced as are views of the western shore. 

Drainage near the SE corner of the lake was repaired in the spring of 2020 by digging a trench, discovering damaged clay pipes, and redirecting remnants of the original Mill Creek to flow into the lake. The rocky area was reconfigured and natural vegetation has now grown to encase the rocks.  New grass was planted to replace former small ponds of standing water. Now, this area blends in with the neighboring landscape and the lawn is dry.  See page on "Soggy Grass" for detailed information on this retrofit. 

Over the summer of 2020, erosion of a 57-foot length of the south shore was repaired by placing four courses of gravel and soil-filled  bags, gravel backfill and sod over the gravel.    The shoreline is now resistant to wind, waves, and elevated water levels.   Costs were kept at a minimum with substantial volunteer help from many members. 

See page on "South Shore Erosion" for a complete description of this retrofit project.  

Note:  During the summers of 2021 and 2022, catail plants grew along the shoreline adjacent to this retaining wall resulting in a natural appearance from viewpoints across the lake. 

The catails helped to protect the bags from UV rays to some extent, but  were found after three years to be an  insufficient deterrent.   The retrofit solution noted below helped to mitigate this problem.

In May of 2023, the bagged retaining wall described above was retrofitted since many of the soil-filled bags on the top course suffered deterioration from UV rays.   Concrete paver units were placed on top of the bags along the 57-foot length of wall to protect the bags from further deterioration and to add strength to the wall.   The paver units were bonded together with an adhesive to act as a continuous slab for the full length of wall.  

Also, because the 27" wide strip of sod that was placed over the gravel backfill (shown to right of black bags in photo above) was prone to drying out in hot summer months and permanet watering was impractical, the sod was replaced with river stone. 

Placement of nearly 5000 pounds of concrete and gravel was done with volunteer help (Dan, David and Gary) at a minimal cost.  This hardscape makeover resulted in an attractive eyebrow for the south shore when viewed across the lake.  

Before the lake was constructed, Cypress Creek ran in the east west direction near the mid-eastern shore.   This area has collected ground water causing a natural trench (as shown in photo) and very soggy grass uphill from it.   

This area continues to be observed and solutions are solicited from the membership to identify the source of the ground water and redirect it towards the lake.   

Though this area has dried a bit in recent years, one rehabilitation proposal is to install a French drain, fill with the trench with gravel, and grow new grass so that the lawn will be continous from north to south along the lake shore as originally conceived.

The eastern side of the north shore has attracted water since the lake was constructed.  Aerial photographs taken before the Greystone Condos were constructed show substantial foilage was growing in this area (marked with red and called "Wet Area C" in photo) as a result of the increased soil moisture.   The wet ground has been more evident since the foilage was cleared. 

 Ideas are solicited from the membership to identify the source of this ground water and plans for improving drainage and/or adapting land use.

Plans in 2022 to plant red twig dogwood bushes to enhance appearance of the SW and SE rocky areas were changed because those areas were found too rocky for digging.   Further research is being done to investigate what types of flowering shrubs and plants are more suitable to these conditions. 

Growth of Bulrushes and Yellow Flag Irises will be fostered to help control erosion of the south and eastern shores. 

In April of 2022, ten small Norway saplings were obtained from the Vermillion County Soil and Water Conservation District and planted on the west berm along Duncan Road.  These saplings were intended to ensure that our traffic and noise barrier will sustain if and when the existing row of pear trees die.  Unfortunatley, these saplings did not survive.  Four larger saplings (3 to 4 foot tall) were planted in the fall of 2022 to replenish this area, however, they too did not survive the drought conditions of the 2023 summer.  Replacement of these saplings will be reconsidered in 2024 if conditions are deemed more favorable. The original four Norway spruce trees planted about 12 years ago are now nominally 15-foot tall and continue to grow and do well.  Suitable species to replace the pear trees in the long term will continue to be investigated. 

Because cattails are helpful in limiting shore erosion,  their growth in recent years was encouraged.  However, they have flourished to such an extent along our shorelines that they are now impinging on other, more preferred water plants for erosion control, including Bulrushes and Yellow Flag Irises.   As a result, in August of 2022, the cattails were sprayed with a chemical to stunt their growth.  This was found to be effective and was repeated in August of 2023.  The need for continuing these treatments will be assessed in late spring of 2024. 

Scrub willow trees in the SE corner were cut back in October of 2022 to curb their growth. This was repeated in October of 2023 and will likely need to be done again in 2024.