About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 29, 2017)
Friday, September 29, 2017 Lake Oconee News Page B7 DNR joins forces with Yamaha in conservation efforts Photos and story by Lena Hensley yelena@lakeoconeenews.us Representatives of the Department of Natural Resources planted three kinds of plants (water willow, pickerelweed and strap leaf sagittaria) on Lake Sinclair Friday, Sept. 22. These plants play an important role in aquatic environments and provide benefits to recreational anglers, according to infor mation from the DNR. Plants benefit water quality and fisheries by stabilizing shorelines and preventing erosion while filtering silt, excess nutrients and other contaminants from the water, providing habitat for insects and amphibians that fish eat, nursery habitat for young fish as well as shade and shelter for adult fish. DNR has active projects at Sinclair, Oconee, Russell, West Point and Clarks Hill, and is starting another one at Allatoona. Planting projects have been going on for about 20 years on a small scale until a new greenhouse (20- feet wide and 96-feet long) was constructed in October of 2016 at the DNR Wildlife Resources Division Walton Fish Hatchery in Social Cir cle. According to the DNR, the $9,000 construction cost of the greenhouse was covered by Yamaha Marine Group. Georgia DNR Wild life Resources Division used Sport Fish Restoration funds to complete onsite preparation, installation and outfitting of the inside of the greenhouse with troughs and plant contain ers. According to Chris Nel son, fisheries biologist, cur rent capacity of the green house is about 7,000 plants at a time. New plants typi cally take around six to eight weeks to grow and mature. The planting season is late spring through summer (May-Sept.), and three dif ferent crops of vegetation can be grown and planted during this time frame. Annual capacity is around 21,000 plants. Plantings in the reservoirs (lakes) usually occur about every eight weeks. Around 1,500-2,000 plants are normally planted per trip; however, only 200 plants were planted on Sept. 22 for the purpose of demonstra tion. Areas away from the heavy traffic are selected for planting to ensure root ing of plants because waves caused by passing boats pre vent that. In the past, the DNR raised plants in small troughs at the Walton Hatchery during the grow ing season but was limited in what they could produce. A new greenhouse will allow the DNR to significantly increase production so that plantings can be done in many more locations than before and at a much larger scale than in the past. Mitch Hunter, Yamaha represen tative, said the capacity of the greenhouse was suffi cient to provide planting needs of the entire state. The Yamaha Marine The planting crew travels across Lake Sinclair with plants to be placed into the lake bed. 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The Georgia DNR and Yamaha Marine are natu ral partners because of the dedication of both organi zations to conservation and sportsmen. Yamaha Marine works with a large coalition of recreational fishing orga nizations to advance these ideals, including American Sportfishing Association, Center for Sportfishing Pol icy, Coastal Conservation Association, Recreational Fishing Alliance and The odore Roosevelt Conserva tion Partnership. DNR officials said they will continue to conduct aquatic habitat enhance ment projects at Lake Sin clair this year. High on the list of projects will be con struction of fish attractors built with artificial mate rials. Another piece of the enhancement program con sists of shoreline enhance ment and protection through bioengineering. Division personnel will con tinue planting maidencane, pickerel plant and water willow in suitable habitat areas in the lake that will provide cover for fish and help stabilize erosion prob lems. COME TO THE EATONTON-PUTNAM CHAMBER’S 18th ANNUAL 1S9TAT0NT0N OCTOBER 2,201716:30PM THE PLATA CENTER 305 N. MADISON AVE EATONTON. GA 3I02H OCONEE BREWING CO. • THE PIZZA PLACE • IRON FORK CAFE • WATERSIDE RESTAURAUNT • BIRDCAT BBQ • THE MEAT SHED • PARKSIDE MAIN 8 THEATER • PLANTATION OLIVE OIL • PUBLIX • ELKS CLUB • THE GLEN • DO'S SHAVED ICE • ROCK EAGLE • OLDE VIRGINIA SAUSAGE CO. • PEARLY’S SWEETS •No outside trays/containers will be allowed inside the gates* Purchase tickets today ($20 in advance/ $25 at the door) at the Eatonton-Putnam Chamber of Commerce, Peoples Bank, Farmers & Merchants Bank (Oconee and Sinclair branches), Exchange Bank (Oconee and Kroger branches), BankSouth, & Pinnacle Credit Union. TASTEOFEATONTON.COM For more information, contact info@eatonton.com or 706-485-7701 Old Hudson Plantation, Sparta, GA okT ing o cl^tour Najvie ^ Includes BBQ Lunch Registration Starts at 8:30 AM andLunch at 12:00PM Course Opens at 9:00 AM and you must be on the course by 3:00 PM $90 Adult Registration A n Donations $75 Youth age 18 and under ■A** Non-Shooter Lunch $10 Kids under 12 $6 Dedu / HOA Champion prize is a Smith and Wesson M&P Shield 9MM Pistol Two Lewis Classes for Adults 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Ammo Prizes Two Lewis Classes for Youth(18 and under) 1 st 2 nd 3 rd Ammo Prizes All proceeds to benefit the Seth Stapleton Memorial Scholarship Fund Saturday, October 7 th , 2017 1 Hosted by The Stapleton Family and Lake Oconee Shotgun Team! * Old Hudson Plantation is located at 299 Skeet Lane Sparta, GA 31087 off Hwy. 16, 1.5 miles east of the bridge below Wallace Dam. Look for the Old Hudson Plantation on the right side of Highway 16. 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