NESTING SWANS

Love is in the air! Mrs. Swan in on the nest! The nest appears to be about 4 feet in diameter and is located on an island area at the north end of Sweetwater Lake caused by the flood of June 2008. Mr. Swan is very territorial. A nearby resident reports that he witnessed Mr. Swan chasing after a swimming deer! They have also shown some aggression towards approaching boats. Update (4/9/2010): A 2 inch rain on Wednesday night (4/7/2010) caused Sweetwater to flood. The nest appears to have survived but Mrs. Swan is no longer sitting on the nest. I got close enough to take a picture and noted that there were no eggs visible in the nest. The two swans also seem less protective than before. Update (2/25/2010) For the past week, Mrs. Swan has been back on the nest. One day, I saw both birds on the nest. They have become very territorial again charging after boats and geese. The conservancy workers installed a buoy marked "nesting swans" to warn boats entering the danger zone!

LOON AND COOTS

Those strange haunting sounds we're hearing the past few days are the songs of the loons. Several loons and coots have been sighted on both lakes over the past few days.

EASTER EGG HUNT

Sweetwater Beach was the site of an Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday, March 27th. Approximately 35 youngsters participated in this event sponsored by the CSLOA and Tom and Carrie Jackson of Lion Drive.

LAKE CLARITY

Cordry and Sweetwater Lakes participate in the Indiana Clean Lakes Program funded by Indiana University. Over 100 lakes in Indiana test for water clarity and phosphorus content. Cordry and Sweetwater Lakes rate #1 and #2 year after year for water clarity. Testing involves lowering a "Secchi Disc" and measuring how deep it remains visible. Testing occurs twice monthly from May to September. In September of 2009 both lakes recorded Secchi Disc depths of 22 feet. Last week, after the ice melted, for fun, I took a measure of 28 feet. www.indianacleanlakes.com

LEGAL MATTERS

The lawsuit of Klosinski vs. Cordry Sweetwater Conservancy District is to be heard in Brown County Circuit Court on April 6th, 2010. This lawsuit questions the right of the Conservancy District to operate a Security Force. In another matter, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance deleted appropriations from the CSCD's budget earmarked for security. This decision is being appealed by the Conservancy.

CELL PHONE TOWER UPDATE

SEA #110 (Senate Enrolled Act)) allowing Conservancy districts to lease land for cell phone towers was signed off by the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate on Thursday, March 11th and arrived on Governor Daniels desk on March 12th. Governor Daniels signed the bill into law on Friday, March 12th. Thanks to Bob and Kathy Andrew of Cardinal Drive for keeping close watch on the progress of this bill. Verizon representatives were here this week and expressed their readiness to begin negotiations and progress toward construction of the cell phone tower.

ECOLOGY COMMISSION

The Ecology commission met on March 4th and discussed numerous topics including dredging, weeding of the lakes, professional fish survey results, Secchi Disk results (water clarity), trapping reports and a proposed 5-year plan for improving the park area behind the fire departement. The Sweetwater trapper trapped 139 muskrats, 6 beaver, 4 mink, and 9 raccoons. The Cordry trapper has not posted his results yet.