Invasive Species Committee
We have an energetic invasive species committee stepping up to try and fill the void that will be left when Fred Koch leaves the board. Luckily, he promises his help and to share his wealth of knowledge. He has been guiding us in making connections with our contacts at the WDNR and other statewide agencies who have supported our efforts to keep our lake healthy. We are grateful for all of his help over the many years he has been on the board and a champion of keeping our lake healthy.
What has the committee been doing?
Members prioritized needs and got to work connecting with professionals who could help in writing grants to secure funds needed for combating invasive species namely Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM). Members supported the folks at Aquatic Plant Management when they administered DASH (Diver Assisted Suction Harvesting) by collecting stray pieces of EWM that had broken free from the suction tube or had auto-fragmented and would drop to the lake floor to grow anew. While the contracted workers put in 56 hours, volunteers put in a total of nearly double that at 104 hours! Thank you to all who were out there!
July 4th Meeting
The committee also gathered materials which were shared at the annual membership meeting on July 4th. Best practices for increasing native plant growth and other healthy lake initiatives were shared via flyers and pamphlets. Included with those materials was a sign up for members interested in native plant sharing. The committee recognized the gift of having several master gardeners as lake neighbors and many novices who would love to learn more about how to encourage native plant growth. If you are interested in being part of that group, please contact Beth Wells at (915)433- 5891. The group will meet and decide how they want to proceed.
What’s Next?
Next steps include grant writing, (to pay for future DASH treatments), updating the lake management plan and supporting efforts to raise funds so we are ready for any contingency if grant money is not available. The WDNR will not authorize herbicide use unless a threshold is met. (Our contact at the WDNR indicated that threshold at nearly 30%!) If we did meet that threshold, the application of herbicides will be costly.
How Can You Help?
Please keep being good lake stewards. If you’re a boater and enjoy visiting other lakes please continue to bring your boat back to Pine Lake clean and free of any hitchhiking plants/organisms that don’t belong here. If you see weeds floating, pick them up and get them out of the lake. If you see a neighbor or renter who might not know about how crucial controlling invasives is to our lake, please share that information with them. Finally, please consider contributing $300 for your household to maintain our funds at a level with which we can respond to any contingency.