After five years of planning and preparation and two years of hard work, water is once again filling up our largest and most popular lake, Shenandoah. One week ago, the President and Vice President of the Association personally climbed the riser tower to turn the valve wheel and close the lower valve of the lake for the final time. Since then, the lake has been slowly but steadily filling up. We have 2-3 feet to go yet, but the water has already filled the lower part of the lake close to the dam, and crawled its way up towards the shallower north end.

Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to restore our primary lake, and to the community for your steadfast support for this major and important project.

The water fowl have already discovered the lake again, and soon we’ll have the airborne predators hunting once more, as the construction contractor tells us that they were pulling spawning fish out of the water flow by the handfuls.

The Board will open up the West Daffodil entrance to the boat landing as soon as we think the lake is safe for watercraft, and until then, all lakeside residents should be wary of setting out on a lake potentially filled with floating debris and underwater hazards (in the shallower portions of the lake). We recommend waiting for the lake to stabilize and clear.

The Amicus Rd. common area by the dam remains off-limits until further notice (3-6 months), as the both the dam and event area must stabilize with new vegetation before we can allow foot traffic. (We apologize for this delay to all those who neither live on the lake nor have a boat to drop in the water, but this final step is required by law for earthen dams such as ours, and our permits will remain open the dam is certified as ready.   Lakes Greene and Skyline are open and available for use by all residents, however.)

Stay tuned for further updates, or email us questions at lakes@tgwinlakeshoa.org.