Newsletter April 2024

QUARTERLY MEMBERS MEETING

April LLA members meeting will be held on Saturday, April 13, 2024 at 10:30 AM at the Altavista YMCA, 718 7th Street. Our guest speaker is Laura Greenleaf from DarkSky International. DarkSky operates worldwide to educate on the effects of light pollution. The week of April 2 – 8 is International Dark Sky Week, the darkest week of the year, culminating in the solar eclipse on April 8th. 

See more information here: https://idsw.darksky.org

Leesville Lake residents can benefit with ideas for home, patio, dock and garden lighting, as well as HOAs on the lake can use these guidelines: https://darksky.org/resources/public-outreach-materials/ and

Https://darksky.org/resources/guides-and-how-tos/homeowners-associations/

We’ll also have updates from LLA officers and committee chairs on Beautification Day, Water Quality, Debris and Navigation, to name a few.

Join us for some interesting information and ideas!

Refreshments will be provided.   

From the President – 

Welcome to spring, everyone! Although we had a relatively mild winter, it is nice to have the warmer temperatures and begin spending more time on the lake.

We’ve had some heavy rains these last few months that have brought a

significant amount of debris into Leesville Lake. That said, we’ve been

encouraged by the efforts of Appalachian’s barge crew/contractor and the

company’s support in the first months of 2024. Their responses to two high flow events have been timely and deliberate, retrieving nearly 1,300 tons already (nearly half of what was pulled from the lake in the entire year for 2023). But OUR efforts and contributions to clean up need to happen as well. We look forward to much improved efforts and effectiveness for 2024, working together to maintain the aesthetic value and reduce boating hazards / dock damage due to floating debris.

Your participation and support as a Leesville Lake Association member is very

much appreciated. As a reminder, we have our Leesville Lake Association

General Meeting coming up April 13th, 10:30 AM to 12:00. Please note, this

meeting will be held at the Altavista YMCA (718 7th Street, Altavista), NOT

THE TRAIN STATION. Use the south parking lot and enter the YMCA from

the door on the south parking lot side. We will have a guest speaker and

refreshments will be provided. See you there!

Roy Kelley

President LLA

LLA WELCOMES NEW SECRETARY TO THE BOARD!

Debra Kiraly joins us as the new secretary of the Leesville Lake Association. Debra is currently the President of the Runaway Bay Homeowners Association and enjoyed a 40+ year long career in the public and private contracting field. She retired from IQUVIA, a leader in health data aggregation worldwide, as their Director of Contracts, Compliance and Procurement for the Government Systems Group. 

Debra enjoys the peacefulness of Leesville Lake, gardening, five grandchildren, watching her spouse Stephen racing, and service to the community.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

TREASURER’S REPORT 



As we close out winter and welcome spring, our finances are strong. We are starting to see the donation checks come in for Beautification Day. Don’t be afraid to ask a business to join in. I was wearing last year’s shirt in a local eatery the other day, and it sparked a dialogue with our server because she liked the picture and she thought it would be a great idea to get their name on next year’s shirt. I should have had a copy of the donation form with me. Lesson Learned. So next week I’m going to try talking with the owner and then in a couple weeks, I’m going to have a chat with my dentist, who got his start down here in the surrounding communities.

On a personal note, Leanne and I just returned from New Orleans where we enjoyed a brunch cruise on the steamboat Natchez and thought that would be a great addition to our lake. We would need a much smaller paddle wheel boat, but that would fit so beautifully with the tranquility of our Blue Jewel near the Blue Ridge. Now that we are home, we are looking toward the task of opening our pool for the warm season. We look forward to seeing you on and around the lake this spring, especially on 8 June

for Beautification Day.

Edwin Hanson

NAVIGATION COMMITTEE

The Navigation Committee received a letter of notification from the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) that the hazard buoys on Leesville Lake are scheduled for inspection by DWR in the period from April 1 to May 1, 2024. The letter reminded us of our responsibility to maintain the buoys in good condition.

Joe Humphrey has inspected the hazard buoys from the dam to Tri-County Marina and found them in good condition. Joe and Glenn Coleman serviced the association’s pontoon boat and will use it to inspect the upstream hazard buoys in either late March or early April.



If you know of any hazard buoys in poor condition, please contact Glenn Coleman at navigation@leesvillelake.org.

Glenn Coleman

DEBRIS COMMITTEE



Welcome into spring everyone. 

As a reminder, the main source of debris intake to Leesville Lake comes from the Pigg River (PR) located up at mile marker 13. The average height of the river runs around 3 Unfortunately, on January 10, 2024, we had a destructive high flow event on the Pigg River that reached above flood stage at a whopping 19.63 ft.  Some of you may have heard that debris buildup compromised the Snow Creek Road Bridge (Rte 890) that crosses over the PR in Franklin County. The debris buildup against the bridge was so immense that it forced the water around the bridge ultimately collapsing the embankment and asphalt roadway connected to the surface of the bridge. Thankfully no one was hurt. VDOT is currently making repairs and hopefully will remove most of the debris. Even though this location is many miles away from Leesville Lake, debris at this distance potentially makes its way into our lake. As it were, we still received a huge influx during and several days after while the river subsided. Within a week after the event, debris disbursed over a thousand tons throughout Leesville Lake. Since that high flow event (and the date of this writing, 3/25/24), the Appalachian crew and contractor (when available), have reportedly been removing debris in the lower half of the lake (MM0-8), where much of the debris has migrated to. Those of us who are beginning to take out our watercraft, and those who participate in fishing tournaments, should take extra caution including the upper range of the lake where there are many half-submerged logs and other various sized debris lurking abound. Please remember to report any debris while you’re out as it will help the crew identify specific locations of retrieval. 

Starting in April, our committee will join Appalachian with comparative surveys each month, including any high flow events, until October. These surveys play an important part in recording yearly data such as tracking debris amounts, specific locations, and ultimately the response time necessary for AEP to address and control excessive debris according to their license agreement responsibilities. Our committee is always asking for new members to help strengthen our team of volunteers and this is one area where we could use the help in sharing this particular job. Typically, AEP will schedule on a weekday morning and give our committee several days notice for participation, using our own watercraft during that timeframe. For the past few years those on our committee who were available would split the lake (0-7 & 7-14), to take the burden off the length and time to complete this task. It takes an average of a few hours to evaluate approximately 7 miles, making notations of not only the main channels but both east and west side shorelines, plus catch-all coves. Pictures of concentrated debris areas are also recorded. If you’re interested in helping, particularly in this area of need, please reach me through my contact below for more details. 

In March, our committee had received, reviewed and responded to Appalachian’s 2023 Debris Management Annual Report to FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission).

Our responses will be filed in Appendix C as a Consultation Attachment along with the full report. The ongoing issues we have with Appalachian’s areas of questionable compliance among other topics, are addressed in our essay. Once Appalachian submits the full report to FERC, a link will be made available on our LLA website to read in full. 

We also look forward to the upcoming Annual Technical Review Committee Meeting in late April. This is one of several meetings throughout the year that help keep communications open between Appalachian and LLA. During this meeting we hope to hear updates of progress on the Myers Creek off load site, the Pigg River collection/diversion devise engineering status, and the details of delivery and start up date expectancy of the newly acquired skimmer, purchased last year by Appalachian. This early season meeting also helps evaluate current conditions and assist Appalachian in formulating an overall plan for the 2024 recreational season.

Hopefully, this year our share of rainfall will be plentiful but gently given and that residual debris will be mostly collected before increased water activities begin in earnest. 

And again, please report debris every chance you can.  

A very happy and safe boating season to you all!

Pam McMillan-Chair  

pamaloomc@gmail.com 

debris@leesvillelake.org

(434)770-1819

Committee Members

Lyle and April Firnhaber 

Dave Rives

Rob Johnson 

Roy Kelley

Gary McMillan 

WATER QUALITY REPORT



Leesville Lake Association and University of Lynchburg, in partnership with American

Electric Power Company, monitored water quality of Leesville Lake between April and October of 2023. Leesville Lake continues to meet prescribed water quality parameters measured in the main stem of the reservoir. There are concerns related to changing water quality conditions in the Pigg River and SML tailwater release; however, trophic state index calculations suggest Leesville Lake is very resilient and stable around a slightly eutrophic condition. It is important to state that while some water quality indicators are changing, Leesville Lake water quality is very resilient. All indicators in 2023, while changing slightly, suggest this condition of the reservoir continues and should continue through the foreseeable future.

Other conclusions based on observations from this year’s (2023) study and analysis of

long-term trends include: Leesville Lake behaves as a pump storage reservoir with headwaters impacted by tail release from the upper reservoir and this impact is seen throughout the reservoir. Pumping operations have a very strong impact on LVL water quality. The influence of SML tail water throughout the reservoir is generally a positive result as hypolimnion in SML contains water that is very clear and approaching oligotrophic conditions. While tail release water is of very good quality, it becomes hypoxic later in the season (August-October) and this is very problematic to Leesville Lake. Low dissolved oxygen (<5 mg/l) consistently occurs beginning sometime in August and ending at some point in October. During lake turnover, this

can cause the entire lake to become hypoxic with these conditions persisting for weeks. The low oxygen conditions can be detected down through the lake past the station at Toler Bridge.

The high turbidity caused by the suspended sediment in Leesville Lake from the January

high water event, has returned to normal – no more chocolate milk brown! The Leesville Lake Annual Water Quality Report has been completed and posted on our LLA website. The Pigg River annual report is under development and will be posted on our LLA website in late March 2024.

Members of the WQ Committee participated in a Public Meeting to Develop a Water Quality Cleanup Plan Development for The Pigg River, Poplar Branch, Frying Pan Creek, and Beaverdam Creek in Franklin, Pittsylvania and Bedford Counties on February 29 th . This is a continuation of the 2021 TDML and for the Pigg River, is focusing on the Pigg headwaters. LLA will attempt to shift the TDML focus to pursue 319 funding to revise the model underpinning the TDML. Focus on sediment which seems to be the greatest problem and then agriculture and pet scenarios.



LLA Comments were submitted on the APCo 2023 draft annual water quality report on

March 10, 2024. APCo will host the WQ TRC in late April/early May.

Charlie Hamilton

WHITE PERCH and CRAPPIE … Springtime is crappie time. Crappie go shallow to spawn as water temperature moves towards 60 degrees and they prefer to hold around some kind of structure. White perch are often caught in the same areas, but they are more prone to open water than crappie. A really productive way to fish these two species is to fish a “structure” for a MINUTE OR TWO and if no fish are caught, move to the NEXT one. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) has added another 26 FISH STRUCTURES to Leesville Lake recently to improve the “recruitment “of the fishery. If you don’t have a list of your favorite “structures “, try these for some fishing action (I have used these methods on the previously VDWR installed structures … always caught NICE fish at some of them … only caution is there are a lot of worm-robbing bluegills there too). The map with the location of the structures is shown below.

(Provided by Dan Wilson, Fisheries Biologist, VDWR, who led the team installing the “structures” and leads the netting surveying efforts (some results show below), among other activities on our lake.)

John Kese

434-942-1553

NOTE FROM EDITOR: John would love to give other fishing aficionados an opportunity to contribute to the quarterly newsletter column. Feel free to contact him or me at dch0778@gmail.com

Beautification Day

Prep your boats, front loaders, chainsaws, ropes and crews for our 2024

Leesville Lake Beautification Day. This year’s lake cleanup day will be

Saturday June 8, so mark your calendars and get your crew of volunteers

ready.

For those that have participated in previous years’ Beautification Days, we

thank you for your past efforts and ask for your continued support (both

physically and financially) for our June 8th, 2024 event.



Each year we have successfully increased the total tonnage of debris

removed when compared to the year before. For 2022 we pulled a total of

46.92 tons and in 2023 we increased that number to 52.87 tons.

Nominating Committee/Calendar Subcommittee

Happy Spring to all our LLA members! The Nominating Committee would love to speak with any member who may be interested in volunteering on our Board. Please call Teri at 703-895-0256 to discuss.

Planning begins this month for our 2025 Leesville Lake Association calendar. Keep those

photos coming, we love to see your lake pictures for all seasons. Upload here.