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Town of Barnes, WI

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Home > Aquatic Invasive Species Committee > AIS & EWM Committees Meeting Minutes > 2012 Aquatic Invasive Species Committee Minutes > May 21, 2012 AISC Meeting Minutes

May 21, 2012 AISC Meeting Minutes

 AIS Committee meeting

Monday, May 21, 2012, 6:30 p.m.

Barnes Town Hall

Ingemar Ekstrom called the meeting to order.

Members present: Ingemar Ekstrom, Barb Romstad, Dave Pease, Sally Pease, Jeremy Bates, Lee Wiesner, Mitch McGee, Glenda Mattila, Steve Krivinchuk, Pamela Toshner

Also present: Tom Garrick, Ed Krenz, Carrie Sanda – Douglas County AIS coordinator

Absent: Gerald Gustafson (Gus)

1. Minutes from the April 23rd Meeting

Ingemar reviewed the minutes from the last meeting. A motion to accept the minutes for the April 23rd 

2. Sandbar Lake Slow/no wake issue

meeting was made by Dave Pease, seconded by Lee Wiesner, passed.

Ingemar shared an email written to the Town board by Kerry Green, a Sandbar Lake property owner. In it she expressed concern over the slow/no wake recommendation. Ingemar gave a brief explanation that the slow/no wake signs and recommendation were implemented on Tomahawk Lake during its treatment. Tom Garrick and Ed Krenz, Sandbar Lake property owners were present at the meeting to address the slow no/wake issue. Ingemar shared some information about the spread of EWM and its fragmentation is a major method by which it is spread. Fragmentation is caused, in part by boats motoring over the plants at high speed resulting in heavy wave action. This is the reasoning behind the slow/no wake recommendation. Glenda showed Tom and Ed a map that showed the locations of the EWM that was plotted in July 2011.

Some discussion took place about the slow/no wake recommendation. It is a concern to both Tom and Ed that the slow/no wake will become the norm for the lake long term. Both questioned the logic of allowing boats to boat slowly through the vegetation close to shore, which also chops up the weeds, as opposed to boating at higher speeds in the deep water where weeds are beneath the prop’s contact area. The group acknowledged that this is a difficult process for the property owners on Sandbar; Tom and Ed expressed gratitude for the work that has been done in their interest. It is a process that has no guaranteed outcome, frustrating for all involved.

Jeremy Bates indicated that he has spotted EWM on the shoreline of Sandbar this spring. However John Skogerboe did not find any patches of the plant in the lake.

3. Volunteer appreciation lunch – May 4, 2012

We had a good turnout for the luncheon. The committee thanked Gary and Barb Romstad for hosting the lunch, Gus for bringing the beverages and all those who brought bars and cake for desert.

4. Clean Boats Clean Waters

Sally reported that Barb is not working as a monitor anymore on Lower Eau Claire though she is volunteering occasionally. The alternate monitors have filled to cover the Lower Eau Claire landing. There are a few new volunteer monitors this year. Middle Eau Claire landing was busy for the opener. Sally feels that everything is going well and as volunteers return for the summer she will have more time she has to spend at the landings which are not monitored by paid personnel.

The landings will be covered for the entire Memorial Day weekend, including Monday.

Pamela provided us with a list of the Bayfield County Lakes that will be monitored sometime this summer by the Diane Daulton, the GRLI AIS Coordinator:

  • Tomahawk
  • Pickeral
  • Bladder
  • Namekagon
  • Lund
  • Hildur
  • Unnamed

Pamela and Jeremy will also be monitoring some lakes, at this time they are not certain which ones.

5. Shoreline Monitor Workshop – June 23, 2012

Jeremy Bates and Carrie Sanda are planning to do a workshop to train shoreline monitors in the area. The training session will convene in Barnes at the Town Hall. The tentative time for the workshop is 9:00 am- noon. They are hoping to do the majority of training at Middle Eau Claire Lake sites. Carrie will put together a postcard notice for the workshop. Barb will send Carrie the database of shoreline monitors for the mailing. Jeremy discussed other methods to advertise the workshop including the Barnes Blog.

6. Rapid Response Activities

Curly Leaf Pondweed was discovered on Middle Eau Claire Lake a couple weeks ago. There are several colonies right near the boat landing, luckily in an area where few boats go. Lee started the rapid response procedure, first of all to positively identify it. Lee asked if it was okay to pull the weed or do we need to have a permit to pull it? Pamela said the first important step is to determine where it is. Lee asked if we need to do a whole lake point intercept survey. Pamela remarked that a whole lake survey has to be done before any chemical treatment is done. Lee will start the process of getting a grant to do the survey. Meanwhile, it is okay to pull the colonies that can be found.

7. George Lake Treatment

All the paperwork is in and the grant is signed and sent in for chemical treatment of George Lake. The permit should be drafted soon for the chemical treatment. The complete north bay will be treated and two areas on the larger part of the lake will be spot treated. The treatment should happen within the next couple weeks. Anything Pamela can do to move the process along and keep us appraised of the progress will be appreciated.

8. AIS Activities

Jeremy had been helping quite a bit on the George Lake project. Wednesday, May 23

9. Other Business

rd there will be a CBCW workshop in the Drummond Civic Center at 4:00 pm. He put a purple loosestrife exhibit at the Cable Natural History Museum for educational purposes and he will be having a workshop the first week of June, showing people how he collects beetles and puts them on the plants. Ingemar informed the group of the Northwest Wisconsin Lakes Conference on June 22 at the Spooner High School. He highly recommended the conference and if someone from the committee wants to attend the grant will probably pay the fee. th graders!!

· Ingemar reviewed the Eco workshops that were done with the Drummond students. Lots of good information was disseminated to the group and the students seemed to enjoy themselves as well. An enjoyable learning experiences for the 7

· A brief discussion took place concerning the possibility of hiring a consultant in the future to write the management plans for the lakes.

· Lee expressed concern about the Zebra Mussel situation. He would like an updated list of the lakes in the Midwest that have Zebra Mussels in it. He brought up the idea that we should invest in bleach sprayer at the landing to use on boats that have been in a Zebra Mussel invested lake. All agreed this was a topic that should be discussed further and it will be addressed at the next meeting.

10. Next meeting Monday, June 18, 2012, 6:30 P.M. Barnes Town Hall

Motion to adjourn: Lee; seconded by Dave; passed

Meeting adjourned at 8:45 PM

 
The notices, agendas, minutes and postings on the Town website are for informational purposes only. They may not be the most current version and therefore are NOT considered the official or legal copy.
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3360 County Highway N, Barnes, WI 54873

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