Our July Lake of the Month is Lake Placid (set your GPS to 27.2963 -81.3648). The elevation of Lake Placid 93’.

To view of bathymetric map of Lake Placid please visit:

http://lakewatch.ifas.ufl.edu/RevisedMaps05/HighlandsMaps/PlacidHighlandsMap.pdf

Lake Placid, formerly known as Lake Childs is located 1.5 miles south of Lake Placid in Highlands County. Lake Placid is 3320 acres in size and the maximum depth is 50’ although deeper holes probably exist. Lake Placid is a ridge lake with a white sandy bottom. The water is relatively clear except when you approach certain areas along the southern shore where rainwater runs through scrub and bayheads (bayheads are forested wetlands (swamps). Generally these are depression wetlands with a canopy and mucky, organic soils) where it picks up tannins and other debris. In these areas the water may be stained a tea color. During large rain events especially if it has been dry for some time, the staining can temporarily affect a larger portion of the lake.

The town of Lake Placid has changed names many times since the mid-1800’s. Some of the past names were Lake Buck, Lake June, Wicco, and Lake Stearns. In the early 1900’s the town was known as Lake Sterns and the lake was named Lake Childs (some people still call it Childs today). Lake Sterns was chartered December 1, 1927. Around that same time Melvil Dewey of the Dewey Decimal System was looking for a southern home and a home for the Lake Placid Club South. Dr. Dewey had established the original Lake Placid Club in the Adirondack Mountains of Lake Placid, New York.

Dr. Dewey convinced the Lake Sterns commissioners to change the name of the town and lake to Lake Placid. The commissioners agreed and on June 6, 1927 Lake Placid was chartered. There were numerous development plans for this area and one of them involved building a canal between Lake Placid and Lake June-in-Winter. The story goes that Dr. Dewey wanted nice white sandy beaches to sell to people from New York and to get those sandy beaches he wanted to lower the level of Lake Placid.

Lake Placid sits at 92’ elevation and Lake June is at 72’. Work began in the late 1920’s and the 12,000 foot long canal was completed and dedicated on December 14, 1930. The cost back then was only $20,000. According to various reports Lake Placid was permanently lowered once the canal was completed. Today the fixed weir is set at 93.5’ meaning that water can only flow out of the lake when it goes beyond that level. Unfortunately the records date back to 1931, after the completion of the canal. The records do show that the lake levels were higher than those seen today. From 1931 through the 1960’s it wasn’t uncommon for the lake level to hit or exceed 95’. From the 1970’s forward, the lake has not attained that level. During the 1980’s the lake never went above 93.5’ and saw the lowest number recorded at 88.5’. During the 1990’s the lake level was lower during the first half of the decade than the second half. The second half of the decade saw lake levels topping 94’ and breaking 93.5’ on more than one occasion. From 2000-2013 the lake level has been quite erratic dropping to near 88’ and rising to over 94’. As of June 2013 the lake level was 91.5’. The Lake Placid area has been experiencing a high amount of rainfall (over 18” in June) which will ultimately help this lake achieve its 93.5’ mark which is now considered full pool. The lake will begin releasing water at any elevation above 93.5’.

The original outflow of Lake Placid was towards Lake Grassy to the northeast. Construction work in the 1950’s and 60’s cut off that connection. There is an inflow from

Lake Annie to the south and another one located along the SW corner of the lake. Other sources of inflow are rainfall and seepage.

Let’s go fishing. If you like fishing, Lake Placid is reported to support good populations of bluegill, crappie, and largemouth bass. Currently most of the homes are located on the western and northern shorelines. The east and southern shorelines are relatively free of homes. Highlands County’s Parks and Natural Resources Department maintains two boat ramps on Lake Placid; one located on Placid View Drive and the other located at 150 Harris Drive (see photos). The Placid View Drive ramp offers plenty of parking, covered picnic tables, and a trash receptacle. There is a mono-filament recycling bin. Please be sure to put all unwanted fishing line in the bin for recycling. Fishing line left in the lake kills. The fishing line is recycled and made into numerous fishing products such as line spools and tackle boxes.

The water quality of Lake Placid is good. The three things concerning water quality to keep an eye on are Total Phosphorous (TP), Total Nitrogen (TN), and Chlorophyll a (Chl a). Another important measure is obtained using a secchi disk. This allows for accurate measure of how far you can see into the water. The TP, TN, and Chl a have been showing very slight increases since 1994. The secchi disk readings conversely have shown a very slight decrease. For example, on average you used to be able to see 9’ down into the water. Currently, you can see 8’ down into the water. The numbers indicate that water quality in Lake Placid is good.

Since things like TP can vary naturally across Florida, the Department of Environmental Protection will begin requiring additional work regarding water quality. The new sampling technique is called Lake Vegetation Index (LVI). All plants growing in water require some phosphorous and nitrogen. If there is too much of these nutrients however the clarity of the water can begin to decrease due to Chlorophyll a. The LVI looks at what vegetation is present in a given water body. Some plant species are very sensitive to change and if they are present that is a good indicator that the water quality is okay. Some plant species are exotic meaning they do not belong in Florida. These plants often thrive on high levels of TP and TN. Each plant species receives a number (higher numbers given to sensitive and native species and low numbers or zero given to exotic species). When all the data is collected, the numbers are run through a formula and an LVI is determined. If the total LVI score is less than 37, the lake will be considered impaired. A score of 38-77 will be considered healthy and a score above 77 will be considered exceptional. The Highlands County Parks and Natural Resources staff is learning this new system and will be performing LVI’s within the next couple of years.

Lake Placid 2012.

Facilities at Lake Placid’s main boat ramp on Placid View Drive.

Lake Placid boat ramp located at 150 Harris Drive.