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CA NEWS
Pond management in Sun City
Submitted by Steve Kelley, Wildlife Management Committee (WMC)
One of the challenging duties of the offers a sustainable population of large PHOTO BY SHERRY MCRAE
Sun City Wildlife Management bass. For the immediate future, fish may
Committee is dealing with the be caught only on a catch and release ings. In addition to fishing opportuni-
two major water bodies within our com- basis to avoid depletion of fish numbers ties, the water body has historically been
munity, Berry Creek and Cowan ponds. until a spawning level is reached. Cowan utilized for model sailboats and non-gas
The Berry Creek Pond is a dammed por- Pond is classified as a private water body powered remote-controlled boats. This
tion of Berry Creek located in Legacy by the state, and therefore fishing licens- pond is actually part of a flowing river,
Park. The entire water body covers ap- es are not required to fish in the pond. and therefore falls under certain restric-
proximately 4 surface acres and is fed by The pond is also available for use by Sun tions imposed by state and federal regu-
a combination of springs and Berry Creek. City residents with remote-controlled lations and is outside the control of the
The Cowan Pond, sometimes referred to boats during certain times so as not to CA. Stocking the pond with fish is not
as Cowan Creek Pond, is actually not a conflict with fishing or fish populations. always successful. In the event of signifi-
part of Cowan Creek at all. It is totally cant flood events, as occurred in May,
manmade, constructed with layers of sand Berry Creek Pond has been the subject stocked fish are often swept downstream.
and gravel underlain by a plastic liner to of considerable discussion at WMC meet- Another problem for both fishing and
prevent leakage. The pond was renovated remote-controlled boating is overgrowth
in 2014 by Pulte, with both aesthetic and of moss and other aquatic plants. Placing
safety features in mind. Cowan Pond is herbicide type chemicals into a water
filled solely by water pumped into the body that occasionally floods could create
pond. Although rainfall may add some a significant hazard downstream, and
input into the pond, rain is essentially that leaves mechanical plant clearing
insignificant to the pond level. as the only viable option. Mechanically
clearing plants in the pond is only a tem-
During the Cowan Pond construction, porary measure and requires continual
the WMC recognized the opportunity to maintenance.
create a fishing amenity for residents. A
Pond Management Subcommittee was The WMC continues to strive to develop
created to help develop management the best possible recommendations to
strategies and to work with an aquatic optimize the recreational uses of these
biologist to produce a plan. As a result, water bodies. The committee is always
the pond has now been stocked with both open to comments and suggestions re-
bait fish and largemouth bass, with cat- garding these decisions. The commit-
fish a future possibility. The ultimate tee meets the first Wednesday of every
goal is to create a very nice fishing ame- month at 3 p.m. in the Activities Center.
nity for residents and their guests that
ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
KILDEER WITH EGGS BY SANDY SCHLEWITT
12 | SUNRAYS JULY 2015
