Newsletter January 2023

From the President – 

Happy New Year to all and I hope everyone had a wonderful 2022 holiday season. Ours was “routine” and very nice. I say routine because many of us find ourselves doing the same thing every year, not that that’s a bad thing. For Pam and me, that means visiting family in North Carolina and having our children and grandkids spend time at our house. Nothing quite like

family getting together to celebrate traditions and for us, the birth of our Savior.

We enter 2023 with a couple of Board changes of which you should be aware: First, after years of service as a Director, Committee Chair and Committee Member, Frank Podrebarac has stepped down as a Director. He will continue to serve on both the Communications and Debris Committees. Frank and Barbara are looking to move closer to their family in the Charlottesville area and we want to thank them both for their service and wish

them all the best. Secondly, we are pleased to have a new Director and Committee Chair in the organization. Cynthia Coleman has been elected as a Director and has agreed to take on the role of Membership Committee Chair. Cynthia comes with a wealth of experience as a writer and working with other non-profit organizations. Please refer to the Membership Committee

update in this newsletter for more from Cynthia. We look forward to benefiting from the knowledge, skills and abilities she will bring to the Association.

As I did last year, I want to encourage everyone to attend our upcoming General Membership Meeting at the Altavista Train Station at 10:30am on January 14, 2023. There are only four (4) Membership Meetings per year, so your attendance is important and appreciated. Last year our guest speaker was past LLA Director Mr. Lou Revelle who presented a history of the area

focusing on the development of the lake. Everyone enjoyed Lou’s talk very much. So, back by popular demand, Lou will return this year with more information on the history of the area focusing on the people that lived here.

In addition, the Board of Directors is planning a homemade chili and soup reception following the meeting. The Association will provide drinks and needed bowls/plates/utensils. If you have a special dish, be it chili/soup or a dessert (yum!), you are encouraged to bring it to share. Pam McMillan is coordinating this event, so if you plan to bring a dish please contact Pam at 434-770-1819 or debris@leesvillelake.org.

Hope to see you there … Dave

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE

Hello and Happy New Year from the Membership Committee. We had another great and safe year on the lake and are looking forward to the 2023 boating season.

• If possible, please plan to attend our quarterly business meeting on January 14th at the Altavista Train Station. If you haven’t already picked up a calendar, some will be available at the meeting. It is a great time to meet with old friends and

make new ones as we continue to grow as a lake community. Hope to see you there

Our membership is slightly down at 215 member families. Continue to invite neighbors to join or contact us if they have questions. Thanks for your support.

If you have any desire to volunteer to assist with any of our committees, please let us know either in person or through the website. To that end, Cynthia Coleman was nominated to the board and accepted the position of Membership Chair. I believe she will be an excellent new representative on the board and look forward to having her drive applied to the membership committee She wrote the following introduction.

“As the new Chair for the Membership Committee, I wish to introduce myself to you, the members of LLA.

I grew up in Asheville, NC, but have lived in the Central West areas of Virginia for 32 years. We’ve lived in Natural Bridge, Hot Springs, Mount Solon, South Boston, and now, Huddleston. I love this part of Virginia and cherish its beauty. My husband, Glenn, and I moved to our forever lake home, between MM 7 and 8, on December 14, 2020, our second move of the year. Glenn had not lived here full time until July 2022, when he retired as a minister of the Presbyterian Church. We love our home off of Tolers Ferry Road and plan to age in place forever; we feel fairly close to heaven already. Glenn loves to canoe and fish and I love to sail my Sunfish, though it’s not so easy to tack back home when the dam releases water. Lesson learned.

One of my many jobs was as the executive director of Historic Lexington Foundation, an architectural preservation foundation. One of my tasks was to maintain for the database of donors, of which there were over 5,000. I used a program very similar to the one employed by the Association.

As the membership chair, I hope to get to know many of you, no matter how complicated it might be to find you physically. There is always the possibility of meeting in small groups or virtually. My “job” is not only to maintain the database of members and communicate the data to the board, but to also work to unify the members and communicate with them. I hope to be your liaison to the LLA Board and work to

build the community of Leesville Lake, which is truly a hidden gem of Virginia; like a diamond brooch, the members are the jewels surrounding the lake.”

-Cynthia Coleman, Membership Committee Chair

Please join me in welcoming Cynthia to membership committee and the LLA representative board.

Chip Zimmerman

TREASURER’S REPORT

The financial position of the Leesville Lake Association is rock solid. We continue to focus our resources on water quality and navigation – efforts which benefit our community. The rush of membership payments has subsided and we’ve been seeing solid sales of our calendars. The most noteworthy change is that we’ve switched payment processors from WePay to Stripe. There has been no disruption in our ability to process online payments, so the transition has been a success. I’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 

Bill Beckett

NAVIGATION COMMITTEE

Hazard Buoy Update

The hazard buoy from the shoal at mile 1.5 across from the north end of Heron Landing has been replaced. The hazard buoy installed at the shoal by Myers Creek was retrieved, cleaned and fitted with anchors weighing 150 pounds and associated hardware. It was then reinstalled on the shoal.

All 12 of the planned Hazard Buoys are now installed.

Aids To Navigation

AEP has indicated they wish to have a Coast Guard representative survey the lake while

considering our recommended 13 proposed navigation aids intended to identify the channel where the location of the original channel may be in question. Along with our proposal for the 13 channel markers, we requested AEP install and maintain navigation lights on the Toler’s Ferry Bridge.

Property

The Association pontoon boat has been removed from the water and is sitting on the trailer. C&C Piping and Fabrication has agreed to design and install a tow bar that will aid in removing debris from the water. We also plan to remove the starboard side bench to provide additional work area. Prior to putting the pontoon back into the lake in time for Spring, oil levels, spark plugs, etc. will be checked in the outboard motor.

Water Safety

Gerry Caprario said he does plan to conduct vessel safety inspections in 2023. This is a

beneficial service to ensure your boat has all the required safety items and functional

navigation lights.

No Wake Buoys and No Wake Surfing Zones

If interested in applying for installation of No Wake Buoys or No Wake Surfing Buoys you will need to contact Tri-County Lakes Administration Commission (TLAC) at (540) 721-4400. In the interest of safety, please operate water craft a reasonable distance for the shore and remember that no wakes are allowed within 50 feet of docks. We all need to be considerate of others’ property by staying well away from docks, other boats, skiers, tubers, etc. So please swing wide and/or slow down when navigating past others and their property. Accidents are preventable and taking these precautions will help to keep Leesville Lake safe for all of us!

As always, please navigate our lake safely!

Joe Humphrey

DEBRIS COMMITTEE

Happy New Year!

As many have noticed, debris conditions on the lake have improved impressively, particularly since 2020 when we had record total of 18 high water incidents and 5,862 tons of debris were removed. Since then the Pigg River (our main source of debris intake), had minor surges (under 7ft.), and the debris load was estimated to be under 300 tons.  Comparatively, 2022 seasonal efforts by AEP (April-October), removed 1,100 tons in total.  

As Stakeholders, we cannot afford to be complacent as the lack of high water incidents is not a reliable trend we should count on. We must continue to stress to Appalachian the need for a debris barrier device (currently still under APCo “feasibility studies”), a finished offload site at Myers’s Creek, and the addition of a skimmer and crew to handle debris slicks and wide scattered woody material.

A good amount of the remaining debris is located in the upper region between miles 7 and 14. For those of us who still use the lake this time of year, it is recommended to use extra caution navigating these hazards. 

Many thanks to all who submitted debris reports this past year. The effort in doing so really does make a difference and creates a response requirement from AEP. Our committee along with TLAC, record and monitor these activities (or lack of).

If you have any questions/suggestions regarding any topic of debris, we will be at the General Membership Meeting on Saturday-January 14th, 2023 (10:30am-Altavista Train Station). Hope to see you there!

Pam McMillan

Water Quality Report

  All Water monitoring efforts for 2022 have been completed, in accordance with our 2022 MOA. 

Budgeting activities with APCo and TLAC are underway for 2023/2024 Water Quality initiatives.

Current Water Quality health of LVL: 

• 1) No overall health concerns for recreational use. 
• 2) Two threats to the lake are evident and are being carefully monitored. These are:
• a) low dissolved oxygen in the tailwaters from Smith Mountain Lake Dam
• b) poor water quality of the Pigg River

Low Dissolved Oxygen (DO):

Appalachian Power Company (APCo) “SMITH MOUNTAIN HYDROELECTRIC PROJECT June -October 2022 Monthly Water Quality Monitoring Reports (ES Project No: 16402), and our WQ monitoring in concert with University of Lynchburg show data from Instantaneous DO values and Daily average DO values which were consistently below 5.0 mg/l between 25 July and 15 October 2022

(Permit lower DO boundary). APCo has been studying this issue for 14 years. APCO is currently in the middle of Phase 3 of their Feasibility Study, which will:

• 1) evaluate the practicality, effectiveness and cost efficiency of methods that increases dissolvedoxygen in the tailrace without causing other water quality issues (e.g., increased water temperature).
• 2) Determine life cycle costs and decide whether to act, or not.
• 3) The completion of the Feasibility Plan is timely as Appalachian’s VDEQ Virginia Water Protection Individual Permit No 08-0572 (Permit) expires on March 31, 2025. It is Appalachian’s intent to file for a new permit at least one year prior to the expiration date.

No preliminary insights have been provided by APCo. We anticipate some disclosure by APCo in the late winter Water Quality Technical Review Committee. The LVL WQ Committee will continue to work with APCo, TLAC, DEQ, DWR, and other regulatory agencies to achieve satisfactory DO levels in Leesville Lake.

2022 Pigg River Study

Pigg River first sampling was conducted on 10 October 2022. Bacterial Source Tracking (BST) was taken (3 host markers per sample) on 9 water samples focusing on the following analyses: Human-HF183 ddPCR, Cow-CowM2(EPA1), and Ruminant_Rum2Bac. Second sampling, coincident with heavy rain from Hurricane Nicole, was conducted Friday 11 November 2022. Analyses of both Pigg River samplings are

underway at Luminaltra Laboratory.

Our 2022 Pigg River Study Objectives are:

• (1) Closely study the area between Chestnut Hill and Colonial Turnpike (the area implicated as contaminated with sediment from the Power Dam removal) to quantify the extent to which the sediment in this area impacts bacterial/nutrient/sediment water quality in the Pigg River.
• (2) Identify sources of bacterial contamination by identifying the bacterial content of water during both low flow and storm events.
• (3) Quantify the impact of this sediment by conducting sediment disturbance experiments
• (water collected before and after sediment disturbance) in conjunction with bacterial source tracking to specifically characterize how this underlying sediment contributes to bacteria in the water.
• (4) Evaluate the efficacy of E. coli / Enterococci ratios in determining the source of bacterial contamination. We need to identify this impact to suggest management of sediment as it impacts water quality to Leesville Lake and continues its migration into the lake.

PFAS

We are also monitoring reports of Polyflorinated Alkyl substances (PFAS), aka GEN X (non stick plastics, semiconductor chips automotive parts) found in Spring Hollow reservoir and the nearby Roanoke River. EPA Health advisories call for no more than 10 parts per trillion. Spring Hollow is at 62 parts per trillion. Roanoke County Board of Supervisors is working a remediation now. Impacts to Leesville Lake and Smith Mountain Lake are under review, but likely not an issue. A 10 November 2022 Roanoke Times article summarizes status: source found and remediation in progress.

Special thanks to the LVL WQ Committee: Debbie Oliver, Kathleen Giangi, Dave Waterman, and Tony Capuco for their continuing hard work. Happy Holidays!

Charlie

Native Plants of Leesville Lake

This quarterly column will be about native plants that live at or below the 613 foot contour level of Leesville Lake, which fluctuates between 600 and 613 feet. Each issue will feature a different species.

Alnus serrulata

hazle alder, smooth alder, tag alder

Tag Alder is a large deciduous shrub having ovate dull green leaves with serrulate (sharp forward-pointing teeth) margins. It grows 10 to 15 feet tall from a multi-stemmed trunk topped with dense branches, making it very attractive in the landscape. It thrives in boggy soil often seen along the banks of streams, rivers, and lakes as well as the margins of wetlands. It can grow in medium to heavy clay and nutritionally poor soils. The roots are thick and spreading with nitrogen fixing nodules and spreading rhizomes that form new trunks. Alder is often used in reclaimation projects along with other plants that can benieit from the nitrogen it produces. It likes full sun but can tolerate up to a half a day of shade. If near by trees grow and spread their branches, shading them for most of the day, eventually they will decline over time or even die. 

Alders have male and female flowers on separate catkins. Slender cylindrical male catkins, 2 to 4 inches long, with brownish-yellow flowers, emerge in late winter to early spring drooping from just below the branch tips in clusters of 2 to 5. Emerging from the branch tips at the same time, female catkins are upright 1/4 inch cylinders with bright red flowers and are pollinated by the wind. They then develop into 3/4 to 1 inch long fruiting cones called strobiles that contain the winged nutlet seeds. They turn dark brown in the fall with woody scales looking like little pine cones and stay on the stems through February. They attract birds that find the seeds a tasty treat.

On Leesville Lake they can be found in the upper reaches of the flood zone above about 610 where they tolerate some flooding. Alder is great for hiding the eroded banks and slowing the erosion as well.

Make a tea from the bark to treat a variety of ailments such as coughs, toothaches, and other pains. It can be used as a diuretic to increase kidney function or an emetic to induce vomiting as well as a laxative. Also use it as an eye wash. Boil the bark or the cones to a cream to use it externally for hemorrhoids, hives, poison ivy, swellings, sprains, reduce bleeding from skin abrasions, contract skin cells, and make skin less oily.

Richard Beaton

FISHING REPORT

LEESVILLE FISHING…STRIPERS

There are two kinds of fishermen: “FISHING FOR FUN” or “FUN FISHING”(for dinner)

Stripers fall in “FISHING FOR FUN” as the catching part is “spotty”. The problem is that in LEESVILLE, the LOCATIONs of the fish concentrations during the year is still generally unknown. (Unlike Smith Mountain, where STRIPER seasonal patterns are well understood.)

One can increase the STRIPER catch odds by focusing their STRIPER fishing on the seasons were most stripers are caught in LEESVILLE: Early spring and late fall. The spring “catching” starts in February. The best approach is to fish early in the day from dawn on and concentrate on working the shallow shoreline. The fall “good season“ starts in September and gets better till it is too cold to fish. In the spring, lot of the STRIPERS are caught in the lower end of the lake. In the fall, often the “ catching” starts way up by 608 Bridge in September, and moves down. By November, even the area around Leesville Lake Marina is reliable.

I mostly do “drift fishing “ (at .4 to .7 mph )….with shad,( specially the large gizzard shad), with 4 to 6 poles out (Using casting baits instead of Shad is an alternative, if one does not have Shad or prefers “less trouble “). When using six poles, I run four planer boards to get the bait/lures away from the boat. The target bait depth is from 6’to 25’ in 30’ to 40” of lake depth, and each pole is usually at a different depth. (Once luck hits, I switch one or two more poles to that depth.) Using a large float, with a shot sinker 20” form the bait, is also a good way to get the lines away from the boat, and set a depth.

My CATCH this year has been good, but most have been under size (14” to 18”)…..

MEANING even better STRIPER FISHING IS COMING!