Board Members Present: Jeff Burke, Jill Wilm, George Kupfer, Bill Schroeder
Board Members Absent: Jorja Burke, Paul Specht, Tom Olson
Others Present: Ronie Jacobsen


The meeting was called to order at 10:11 a.m. by Jeff.

Since Jorja was unable to attend, Ronie agreed to take notes for the minutes. Paul, Tom, and Steve Smithson sent input to the meeting via email.

The only agenda item for the meeting was discussion of the lake management plan and how to continue moving forward on the recommendations of the plan. It was agreed that there are two large issues of concern at this time. The first is the low water level of the lake and what can be done to stabilize that level. The second issue is the weed situation in shallow parts of the lake and what solutions are available to control the weed growth.

Low Lake Level

The recent letter written by the board on the low lake level and destruction of the beaver dam will be published in the next issue of FYI. This may result in some local feedback. The letter has come to the attention of the board of governors of the DNR and Jeff has also had a conversation about the issue with DNR Fisheries Specialist Steve Avelelamant.  A response from state Senator Roger Breski’s office indicated that beaver dam preservation is not a priority.

It has come to light that the town of Presque Isle does have a beaver control person on staff whose activities are not regularly monitored. A recent incident near Annabelle Lake where a dog was severely injured by a beaver trap has already put some pressure on the town to better regulate this trapping.

It has also been learned that riparian rights along a river differ from those along a lake in that the property owner’s rights extend into the riverbed and do not end at the shoreline. The impact of this is that the property owner of the land where the beaver dam is located has the ability to grant or deny permission for destruction of the dam.

Therefore it was resolved that the board needs to: 1) ascertain who owns the property adjacent to the dam and 2) approach that person to try to gain cooperation in maintaining that dam.

It was noted that drought conditions and falling water tables are also factors causing the low lake levels. Restoring the beaver dam will not solve the entire problem.

Weed Control

It was decided to do some research on weed control options. Jill will contact some professionals who do lake weed cutting to determine what level of success they promise, how often it needs to be done, and what kind of price tag is involved. Steve Smithson has a weed harvester purchased by the previous lake association and it will be investigated whether it is feasible to get that back up and running. It would be necessary to obtain permits to run this and the question of where the weeds would be dumped needs to be addressed.

The question of weed cutting versus raking the weeds out to pull the roots and which approach is more successful was addressed. There was a general consensus at the meeting that use of aquacides is not a desirable approach.

Weed control is beyond the scope and budget of the lake association and will probably fall to individual property owners to pursue. Information will be gathered and presented to the members of the association.

Watershed Protection

It is also a major component of the management plan to protect the watershed around the lake. Land use on the lake and development pressure need to be monitored. Paul’s input included setting as priorities preservation of the hemlocks, providing education on shoreline protection, and providing education on septic best practices. Tom suggested formation of a separate committee focused on lake management issues.

It was suggested that there could be a presentation at the annual meeting on shoreline preservation. Either an LWCA representative or Patrick Goggin from UW Stevens Point who does on site evaluations might be a good choice.

Jill is interested in coordinating a boat landing monitoring program to talk to people about invasive species and create a lake association presence at the landing.

Conclusions

This is an issue of larger scope and interest than just the board. It was suggested that a July meeting be set up and publicized open to all interested parties.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:45 p.m.


Respectfully submitted,

Ronie Jacobsen