SHORELINES

28 a p c s hor e l i n e s.c om | 2016 Vol :3 There's nothing like being out on the lake in the early morning, watching the sun rise in a blaze of glory, rays illuminating every ripple on the water. It's the lovely peace and quiet – and the jumping of large-mouth and spotted bass – that calls Fred Lovelace out of his bed at 4:30 a.m. The serene beauty of Lake Jordan in the morning has long appealed to this Elmore County resident, among many more reasons he and wife, Charlene, chose retirement on the water. The couple nearly changed their minds about their Lake Jordan home a few short years ago. Their love of the lake was hindered by lyngbya, an unsightly, foul-smelling water algae. Most often seen on lakes throughout Florida and other parts of the Southeast, many Alabama waterways, with their swift-running currents, still evade the insidious lyngbya. "I've always been what I'd call a water freak," says Lovelace, who has lived at Lake Jordan off and on for more than 20 years. "I was here before lyngbya got here, and I wouldn't let it get the best of me." "Alabama has gorgeous lakes," says Lovelace, who grew up on the banks of Norris Lake in Tennessee and has lived on several other Southeastern shores. "I was fishing at Jordan for 10 years before I moved here. The experience is so unique. A lot of the area is what I consider wilderness, just a beautiful natural area. For fishing and water sports, this area is great." Dealing with the ' beast of water algae' In 1985, Lovelace bought the Lake Jordan Marina, the area's only bait and tackle store. He ended up selling the marina, but loved Jordan so much that he bought a lake home in 1991. Life was idyllic until, around 1996, Lovelace discovered lyngbya cropping up in the slough around his property. "We had sections in here where you couldn't move through the lyngbya," says Lovelace, a member of the Lake Jordan Homeowners and Boat Owners (HOBO) association since its founding in 1990. "With the algae, you'd be hard pressed to swim, and if the algae gets into the intake of the motor, you can't run a boat through it." Areas around sloughs, docks and piers are often targeted by lyngbya, which grows in shallow, slow-moving Left: Photo by Ted Tucker — Josh Yerby and Fred Lovelace ride on an airboat to a shallow area of Lake Jordan to inspect a small patch of lyngbya. "I BELIEVE THAT AL ABAMA POWER SAVED L AKE JORDAN WITH THESE TREATMENTS. THIS BROUGHT OUR L AKE BACK TO BEING ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PL ACES ON EARTH." – FR ED L OV EL ACE, A N EL MO R E CO UN T Y R ESID EN T A ND M E M BER O F T HE L A K E J O R D A N H OM E OW NER S A ND B O AT OW NER S A SS O CI AT I O N. Kudzu OF THE LAKE T H E E N D I S I N S I G H T F O R T H E I N S I D I O U S LY N G B YA W A T E R A L G A E O N A L A B A M A P O W E R L A K E S .

• Cover