DOWAGIAC — Though they were sitting in a dry, carpeted room, the Dowagiac Rotary Club was transported to a seat along the lakeside Thursday afternoon, through the Rotary Club’s most recent program.

As the Rotary Club was finishing its lunch Thursday, Jim Hosking, President of the Diamond Lake Association, presented information to the club about lake associations, how they work, how they are managed and the challenges that they face.

“Thank you for having me,” Hosking said as he walked to the microphone. “I hope this is something you will find interesting.

Hosking is an Illinois resident who has been a “weekender” on Diamond Lake for many years, eventually becoming president of the Diamond Lake Association.

“I had to have a summer home, and when I found Diamond Lake in 1982, I fell in love with it,” he said. “I try to stay involved with the local community. … I think this is a great place.”

Like most lake associations, the Diamond Lake Association was formed due to an issue that arose, Hosking said. The issue on Diamond Lake was that residents of the lake wanted to have sewers in order to keep the lake cleaner. After that project was successfully completed in 1985, the association continued and still solves problems, works with the state, secures funding and creates regulations for the lake.

The work that Diamond Lake Association does varies and can range from anything dealing with weeds and invasive animals to securing police patrols for the area.

“There are a lot of different things that we do,” Hosking said. “We also do a lot of water testing in terms of lake clarity and how it changes over the year. That is something that, as a lake association, we try to look at.”

One of more difficult aspects of the job is balancing the needs of everyone who uses the lake, Hosking said. For example, both fishers and water skiers want to use the lake in the early morning hours when the water is calm. However, the water skiers disrupt the fishers, which means the lake association will often have to mitigate problems between the two groups.

“We don’t want to restrict things or take away anyone’s rights,” Hosking said. “So, that can be difficult.”

Ultimately, Hosking said that he loves Diamond Lake and working toward making it the best it can be, despite the hard work included in being the association president.

“Southwest Michigan is a great place to be,” he said.