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June 13 2020

2020 All Lake Clean Up Day

Due to the events of the Corona Virus Pandemic, The Friends of Claytor Lake will not be conducting our yearly event of All Lake Clean Up Day on June 27th.

Instead we are urging all home owners and lake goers to spend the weekend or whatever time they have to collect trash around the lake. Bags are available at Conrad’s Marina and The Rockhouse Marina.

You can email your bag count to info@focl.org to be counted towards clean up efforts. This is not exclusive to this day, any day and any time you help collect trash from our lake this summer, feel free to let us know when, where, and how much so we can keep Claytor Lake clean.

January 23 2020

2020 Christmas for the Fishes

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Boating, Christmas Trees, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Dredge, Dredging, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Planning Commission, Pulaski County, Rock House Marina, seawalls, shoreline, Silt, Siltation, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality, Zoning 1

Over 30 volunteers converged on the Claytor Lake State Park to help the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries’ John Copeland in the annual Christmas For the Fishes Program. Support from The Friends of Claytor Lake, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Appalachian Power helped build new fish habitat from an amazing 455 donated Christmas Trees. All the created habitat was distributed in areas of the lake surround the Claytor Lake State Park.

Want to help for next year? Donate your Christmas tree and come on out to help everyone put them in place.

Special Thanks to John Copeland for organizing this yearly event and to Ryan Stubblebine and Brody Havens for all the tree collection and preparation work involved. Thanks to the boat Captains for keeping your passengers safe: Jeff Arnold, Brody Havens, Bill Kittrell, George Palmer, and Jeff Williams. Thanks to Laura Walters for preparing the lunch chili and goodies. Thanks to Laura Bullard for setting up the lunch for us. Thanks to Steve Gregory for coordinating the DGIF Complementary Workforce volunteers. Thanks to the New River Valley Master Naturalist volunteers who came out as well!

December 20 2019

2019 Volunteer of the Year

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Boating, Camp Powhatan, Campground, Christmas Trees, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Dredge, Dredging, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Planning Commission, Rock House Marina, seawalls, shoreline, Silt, Siltation, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality, Zoning 0

Laura Bullard The Friends of Claytor Lake

This year Laura Bullard was named FOCL’s 2019 Volunteer of the Year for her years of dedicated service to the lake community and her unwavering support of FOCL’s mission. Not only serving as FOCL’s Secretary but putting in the time for its numerous programs and projects including working with our partners on the Shoreline Management Plan, Drawdown, and Mussel Salvage. Claytor Lake owes her an enormous debt of gratitude.

October 2 2019

2019 Claytor Lake Drawdown

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Boating, Campground, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Dredge, Dredging, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, lake property, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, Silt, Siltation, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality 0

Appalachian Power Company, at the request of The Friends of Claytor Lake (FOCL) and in consultation with local government, and state and federal agencies, has scheduled a five foot drawdown of Claytor Lake in November to enable property owners to do maintenance and clean up along the lake\’s shoreline. Drawdown activities usually involve debris clean up, repairs to shoreline structures, and shoreline stabilization. We urge you to take advantage of this five foot drawdown as drawdowns are now typically scheduled for only three feet every other year.

The drawdown is scheduled to begin at one foot per day on Monday morning, November 4, until the lake reaches its full drawdown depth of five feet (1841 elevation) by Saturday morning, November 9. The lake is to remain five feet down until Sunday p.m., November 17, when refilling will begin. Depending on inflow, the lake is targeted to return to its normal level by Friday p.m., November 22.

As mitigation for impacts to aquatic species, lake property owners are asked to help salvage mussels during drawdown by walking along their shorelines and gently tossing stranded mussels five or ten feet back into the water. (Please note that only mussels, and not the small Asian clams need to be salvaged.) A mussel salvage event planned for Saturday morning, November 9, will also organize volunteers to salvage mussels at specified locations around the lake.

For the continuation of drawdown, it is critical we collect information on how many landowners use drawdown, and how many mussels are salvaged during drawdown. For that reason, we have included a drawdown response card for you to complete and mail to FOCL. You may also go online to FOCL\’s website at www.focl.org and provide the information electronically on the form provided there. Please note that name, lake and email addresses are optional. It is important, however, that we capture the amount and type of drawdown work done, number of mussels salvaged and an approximate length of shoreline if available.

The Friends of Claytor Lake will be mailing all homeowners this information along with a survey card closer to the drawdown date. Please be sure to either fill out that card and mail back in or fill out the form that will be posted on our site in November.

August 9 2019

Changing of the Guard

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Boating, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Dredge, Dredging, Dublin Hollow, Fireworks, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, Silt, Siltation, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality 1

Last night The Friends of Claytor Lake started with newly elected President Steve Rapp. As his first order of business, Steve thanked Cheri Strenz for all her years of service and as President of FOCL gifting her a military style challenge coin for Veteran\’s Fishing Day and flowers. Cheri, having grown up on Claytor Lake, has been part of FOCL since 2007 and serving as President for the past 4 years. Her dedication to FOCL and Claytor Lake has led her to be very instrumental in FOCL\’s direction and success. Cheri will continue to serve on FOCL\’s board and work on all the programs and projects FOCL performs every year for Claytor Lake.

July 9 2019

The Dredge Report

FOCL What is going on? AEP, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Dredge, Dredging, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, Silt, Siltation, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality 11

Dredging has now become available for property owners on Claytor Lake. Thanks to the diligence of 15 residents in the upper part of Claytor Lake, a dredging company has been contracted from Lake Norman in North Carolina to facilitate all the permitting and dredging operations.

In conjunction with this year’s upcoming drawdown, now is the time to get involved with this group and your neighbors to contract dredging in your areas.

For info or help submitting your dredging permit contact:

Rob Airaghi
rairaghi@verizon.net

Barry Mayberry
mayberry524@gmail.com

Caution:

The Army Corp of Engineers has designated any siltation or vegetation that has topped out above the water level as wetlands. These areas can not be dredged when considering your area for permitting.

June 29 2019

All Lake Clean Up Day

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Camp Powhatan, Campground, Christmas Trees, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Fireworks, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Planning Commission, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality, Water Skiing 0

The Friends of Claytor Lake held their annual All Lake Clean Up Day today which was a major success. So many great people, who enjoy Claytor Lake, took part in helping remove trash from its shoreline.

Congratulations to Travis Cox & Andrea Williams for collecting the most trash during All Lake Clean Up Day!

Congratulation to Henry and Lisa Bass for collecting the most unusual item for All Lake Clean Up Day! Anyone have a guess as to what that is?

While our clean up program focuses on debris around the lake, it is always great to have those who help collect trash from the water and shoreline. Some of these items can take thousands of years to decompose which is why collecting these helps keep our lake beautiful and as pollution free as possible.

May 5 2019

Clean Up 2019 Begins!

FOCL What is going on? AEP, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Fish Habitat, Fishing, FOCL, Kids, lake property, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality, Water Skiing 0

The Friends of Claytor Lake embark on yet another challenging year of debris clean up in 2019. With high flow events growing in strength and frequency, FOCL is hoping to keep ahead of the weather and have a beautiful lake everyone can enjoy safely.

Our aging equipment is providing us with additional challenges which is why it is so important for everyone who enjoys the lake to support FOCL by making a donation this year. We hope to start upgrading our equipment and adding more to our fleet with the goal of having 2 clean up crews working independently from one end of the lake to the other.

Donate Today

September 19 2018

Florence resets Clean Up

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Water Quality 0

It almost never fails. The Friends of Claytor Lake clean up crew work diligently all season to keep Claytor a beautiful and safe lake to enjoy. The work is pain staking and long with our crew trying to cover as much of the lake as possible. Like almost every year, just when we have started work in more remote areas, a high flow event hits the reset button on our clean up program.

Hurricane Florence dumped enough water into the head waters of the New River in North Carolina and throughout Southwest Virginia to bring the New River to levels we haven’t seen since the floods of 2013. Appalachian Power drew down the lake to around 6 feet in preparation for Florence’s arrival and is now close to a foot over full pond.

The New River saw flow rates just shy of 70,000 cubic feet per second, sending along with it a deluge of debris that pushes the RESET button on our clean up efforts. Flows like this easily can tear away docks and boats from property and send tons of debris into Claytor Lake. Trees, Buildings, and more come flowing down capable of causing major damage to other property and serious safety concerns to those venturing out on the water.

FOCL’s Clean Up Program is one of the most vital assets for Claytor Lake and homeowners for times like this. With an annual operating cost close to $200,000, it is why FOCL works to get all homeowners involved in our organization. We are inclredibly thankful to our supporters American Electric Power, Pulaski County, and the small percentage of homeowners who value our contributions to Claytor Lake.

Help Us Keep THIS…

Out of THIS…

July 13 2018

Annual Meeting

FOCL What is going on? AEP, agriculture, boat ramps, Boater Safety, Campground, Claytor Lake, Claytor Lake State Park, Clean Up, docks, Fishing, FOCL, Home owners, Kids, lake property, Planning Commission, Pulaski County, seawalls, shoreline, The Friends of Claytor Lake, VDGIF, Wakeboard Boats, Water Quality, Water Skiing, Zoning 1

The Friends of Claytor Lake had its 2018 Annual Meeting at the Claytor Lake State Park. FOCL was pleased that our supporters came out to talk with us about all the programs and projects that are ongoing on Claytor Lake.

Projects

Clean Up
Christmas for the Fishes
Mussel Salvage
Water Quality Monitoring
Fish Habitat (Structures/Native Vegetation)

Community Outreach/Education

TAC Committee ( Claytor Lake Technical Advisory Committee)
Hydrilla Education & Management
Shoreline Management
Kids Fishing Day
8th Grade Day
Veterans Fishing Day (formally Wounded Warrior Fishing Day)
YMCA/Coast Guard Auxillary Second Grade Water Safety Program
Angler Committee

Events

Annual Meeting
All Lake Clean Up
Bass for Grass (for two years)
FOCL Fall Classic
Spring Fund Raiser