Organizing Lakes & Ponds

ORGANIZATION!

As the number of my bodies of water grew, the task of keeping them organized grew too. I created two spreadsheets, in order to list, track locations, etc. Behind the scenes I also had to efficiently store the photos, maps and catalog & brochure scans in order to create these website(s). I ended up with a folder strategy like this, which mirrors the current structure of the main pages: 


The actual articles on each body of water are in the main folders; the ancillary stuff like maps, brochures, and so on are in folders named with etc. But readers don't need to worry about that; only I do.

A bigger problem developed as the pond count grew above 100. I had too many sub-folders and names to track. So I grouped the ponds by area of town, or community name. That too became a nuisance. See the San Diego City/County Page for the reasons why! 

My own unfamiliarity with North County was also a handicap in dealing with the erratic city borders of Vista, Fallbrook, Bonsall, Oceanside, San Marcos and Carlsbad. Not to mention the unincorporated areas winding through these cities.

Eventually I decided a zone approach would work best, based on roads most people would know already or could find easily on any map. For example, if it's west of 15 and north of 78 I can find it; who cares what town it's in (or not).


Please pardon my affectation of programmer-think in using 0 as my central & first zone.

ZONES

Here are the detailed descriptions of the zones, which are bordered by major roads. The zones are indicated in the spreadsheets and (perhaps) in the groups  on the front pond page.

NOTE: I decided not to use Hwy 76 to divide 3 & 4; that may become necessary later.

Zone 0 / North & West of Hwy 54, South of Hwy 52, West of 67

Zone 1 / North of Hwy 52, South of Hwy 56, West of Hwy 15

Zone 2 / North of Hwy 56, South of Hwy 78, West of Hwy 15

Zone 3 / North of Hwy 78, South of MCB Pendleton, West of Hwy 15

Zone 4 / North of Hwy 78, East of Hwy 15, South/West of Hwy 79

Zone 5 / North of Hwy 78, East of Hwy 79

Zone 6 / North of Hwy 52, South of Hwy 78, East of Hwy 15, West of 67 then Wildcat Canyon & San Vicente to Ramona

NOTE: The intersection of 0,6,7,9 is tricky, as is 5,7,8. 

Zone 7 / North of Hwy 8, South of Hwy 78, then 78/79, West of Hwy 79, East of Wildcat Canyon & San Vicente

Zone 8 / North of Hwy 8, East of Hwy 79, South of Hwy 78

Zone 9 / North of 94 to Tecate, then North of the Border, East of 54, South of 8

Zone 10 / North of the Border, South of 54, West of 94

Zone MCB / Marine Corps Base Pendleton

ZONE MCAS / Marine Corps Air Station Miramar

SPECIAL GROUPS

In addition to the ZONES above, I created several special groups of ponds because their ownership or origin deserve some special treatment or discussion in my articles. These groups consist of:

Indian Reservation Ponds - these have special ownership and visitation restrictions

Quarry Ponds - these have a common "locale" ie they are in sand or rock quarries

Now that I have the zones I may drop these groups and just add footnotes.