Report on Steering Committee Teleconference March 5
The Pike Lake (proposed) association Steering committee held a teleconference the evening on March 5, 2020. Attending were
- Duane Silkworth
- Pat Lorsung
- Steve Anderson
- Amanda Kraus
- Bob Kary (Rice Lake Assn president)
- Dick Thiede (Iron County Lakes and Rivers Alliance, ICLRA)
Dick and Bob answered lots of questions about the process and the upcoming work.
Amanda is drafting (with Bob Kary) a DNR matching grant proposal for an Early Response grant to address the new CLP invasion at Pike Lake. This will help pay for contracted work to do professional survey and other work on Pike Lake and the Turtle River during the next few years. A work plan, estimates, etc is being developed with the help of Carol Warden (DNR) and others. Amanda is collecting bids/estimates from several potential contractors. She expects to have a draft ready for review in about a week.
Because Pike Lake does not have a year-old Qualified lake association yet, the grant will need to be sponsored and funded through Rice Lake with the ICLRA as a backup.
Ideally, the survey work (Point Intercept survey) should be done as early as possible after ice-out, to get a baseline measurement, for scoping, planning, and for comparison against positive and negative progress.
Dick Thiede emphasized that we do not need formal grants or DNR permits to do the right thing as soon as possible. This basically means identifying areas of CLP, and pulling it out. This can be accomplished from boat or by wading, with weed rakes, placing the weeds in porous bags. Preferably, areas of CLP should be recorded by GPS and longitude/latitude recorded and mapped so it can be pulled and monitored. It will take several years of pulling to adequately treat a patch, since it regenerates. Note that since our CLP has already been reported to and confirmed by the DNR, we don’t need to report it all to them, but we should record it for ourselves for planning.
The plan will include plant identification training sessions, followed by organized volunteer pulling groups, and continuing with ad-hoc volunteer monitoring and pulling. We will need to acquire weed rakes, bags, etc. Some of us may already have rakes. If so, say so and step up. We can use grant money to buy more.
Read this for some useful background.https://www.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/UWEXLakes/Documents/programs/CLMN/publications/Ch3-CLP.pdf
(I think I’ll try to build a couple of these “Aqua view” contraptions) If anyone has old garden rakes, the doc above shows what to do.
Also https://pikelakemercerwi.org/ais-at-pike-lake/
A variety of volunteer work by association members can be treated as in-kind contributions toward the matching grant(s).costs at $12 per hour.
So, please be ready to get out, with your kids and friends, on the lake this spring/early summer to help. We likely need as many able bodied people as possible. The ICLRA will also be recruiting volunteers from throughout the watershed. We are giving the ICLRA our mailing list address to keep us informed of their planning and organizing efforts. And, we should all join the ICLRA as individual members.
Other attendees, please reply about items I missed or you wish to emphasize, and anyone please reply with comments and questions.
Respectfully Submitted,Duane Silkworth
Addendum: The meeting discussed the use of water weed rakes, as sold by Kaufman Sheet Metal, for removing CLP. These may be effective for cutting and clearing CLP The doc referenced in this post discusses a different form of rake, an ordinary garden rake with a second head attached back-to-back, which is useful for sampling. I guess we will need lots of both kinds of rakes.
Sounds like a good plan. Will return-pending corona virus unknowns–May 10. Able to help with small boat. Have 1 rake which Berni uses on our beach area. Jan can cook.