RAINBOW LAKE

Beautiful Place, Wonderful Community

Announcements Around The Lake

 Help us keep Rainbow Lake healthy and beautiful! Join the RLA for 2025 now!

On Saturday, May 17, the RLA will hold its annual general meeting at 11 a.m. at Crescent Beach. The meeting is open to all current members of the lake association. We will discuss & vote on the 2025 budget and will also bring everyone up to date on the "Green to Clean" phosphorous reduction project (see below) & our efforts to raise funds for this important endeavor. If you're not yet a 2025 RLA member, you can join by clicking on the "2025 Membership" link above, or you can bring your checkbook to the meeting. See you there!

TAG SALE: Last fall, we decided to skip a year for the Tag Sale because the quality of the donations had declined. However, we have had significant interest in doing one sooner than later, so we intend to have one this spring to coincide with everybody’s Spring Cleaning, date TBD.

"Green to Clean" Phosphorous Reduction Project:  As a reminder, we are in the midst of a Phosphorous Reduction Project that started last spring. Our treatment company, Pond and Lake Connection, applied Eutrosorb, a lanthanum-based material, to strip phosphorous out of the water column and bind it to the sediment. This action should substantially reduce the need to apply herbicides.  We didn’t expect to see aesthetic results last summer, but we definitely did.  Even with the hot summer, we had substantially less algae than we would normally expect. We started the project with Lake Improvement Funds, but will need more to continue this planned three year project. You can donate to the project at https://www.rainbowlake.org/lake-environment/.  

Here’s to a great New Year on the Lake!

Sincerely,
The RLA Board

Thanks to those who turned out on a blustery day for our annual spring cleanup!

Introducing the new RLA Newsletter!

 Wataba Fest t-shirts are still available ($25)! Email us at rladmin@rainbowlake.org.

You may have noticed last summer (2024) we began our Phosphorous Reduction Project with the application of a product called Phoslock. This is a three-year project approved at last year’s Annual General Meeting. 

The major cause of unsightly algae growth on our lake is an excess of phosphorous.  Over the last few years, we have done studies to show that the majority of our phosphorous comes from the lake bottom as opposed to the inlet streams. Last summer, lanthanum (a natural chemical) embedded in bentonite (a natural clay) was applied to absorb the phosphorous in the water column as well as the lake bottom. Lower concentrations of phosphorous will, overtime, lead to a healthier lake ecosystem and fewer applications of herbicides.

  We have been working directly with the Chief Scientist at the manufacturer of the product who tested our lake to determine the optimum application for our specific lake. Requests for Proposals to apply the product were sent out and we selected the best bid, which happened to be our current Lake Management team, Pond and Lake Connection.  A discussion of the selection process is on our website (see link below).

  While we hope to lessen our future dependence on, and costs of, our normal herbicide applications, this project requires funding. We had enough in our Lake Improvement Fund to cover the first year of the project (about $40,000), but will need to raise funds to continue.  

Click on the link below to see details and donate to our Phosphorous Reduction Project to make our Beautiful Lake even more healthy!

Dear Neighbors,

We now have public boats! In order to reduce the number of boats on the beaches, the RLA will now have four RLA member boats on Crescent Beach. They have “RLA” stenciled on the side and we have both kayaks and canoes. We will put some life preservers in the beach shed and a few paddles, but we encourage members to bring their own paddles and life preservers. This is the first year we have tried it, and, if successful, we will add some more boats. Please be courteous and return the boats, paddles and life vests to Crescent Beach after use.

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Longtime Rainbow Lake resident & accomplished photographer Marty Gold has taken some incredible shots of our lake. Check them out at https://martingold.smugmug.com/Rainbow-Lake!