Dear KLA Members,
So this is my signoff after nearly two decades as KLA President. It has been a privilege to be part of building this organization. But it is the Keoka Lake community that I’ve come to appreciate the most.
When I took over as President:
Runoff was the main enemy;
Milfoil was not yet in the lexicon;
KLA had a strong social element, driven by Betty Miller and others.
Milfoil hit and KLA got super serious about protecting the lake. Dock-to-dock cocktail parties, picnics at Stone’s cove, and regattas took a back seat. One could say we became less fun.
But as I leave:
The milfoil risk is appropriately managed as long as we continue to focus on the three-legged stool of prevention, detection, and eradication;
Runoff remains a risk, but we are making solid strides to reduce it, water quality is largely stable;
Our social side has grown, somewhat. Going forward, I hope to further promote that.
Which leads me to a couple of closing points:
I’ve done a fair amount of fundraising in my life, but never the person-to-person type of fundraising that we did for KLA50. I was truly humbled by the overwhelming response from you, our members. I took that response as a HUGE vote of confidence in KLA.
I was deeply touched by the responses I received throughout the pandemic to requests for your stories about your camps. The histories, emotions, and humor expressed about Keoka were wonderful. The legacies captured in the KLA50 book were priceless. I feel the book has brought us closer as a community – a result I hope to foster, going forward.
So please cherish this clean, healthy lake and vibrant lake community.
See you on the lake.
Charlie