Clarity continues but green dots appear

Pond clarity has continued to increase while the cleanup has given the lily pads a chance to regrow and shade out some of the algal mat growth. The lily pad stands are relatively safe breeding areas for schools of fish. Good numbers of frog sacks and fresh water corals are also visible.

Unfortunately, as happened last year, with increased light we see a different potentially harmful bloom, in the form of bright green dots. These can be evanescent, appearing and disappearing as the light changers. As Dr. Wagner explained to us, these photosynthetic dot make their own oxygen vessels (think water-wings) and can float up to catch the light. They derive their nutrient supply from the phosphorus released and trapped at the pond bottom in the summer. Pond cleanup must therefore be from both the top and the bottom.

While short term clean up improved things, we continue to see that there remain remnants of harmful mats, especially along the south and southwest shore.

We are awaiting data on our water samples from the labs at Syracuse University.