Hello Everyone,
Spring is certainly beginning nicely, temperatures in the 50’s yesterday and climbing to the 60’s the next few days! We will take it. There is still plenty of snow to melt and ice to disappear, but the predicted temps will certainly have an impact on those activities. Water is beginning to show at the shoreline, but I’m thinking we may be looking at an early April Ice Out date. We shall see. It is always fun to try and predict when the ice will leave and such an amazing process to watch. I bet many of you are starting to think about returning to the lake as a new season starts.
After my last message, I received many generous donations from our WLA members to go towards our milfoil mitigation project. I have been overwhelmed by your generosity and concern for our lake. We are in a good position to handle this project financially at the moment, however, as I stated before this won’t be a one and done expense. We will continue to educate everyone and keep you informed of the progress. THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH!
I received the VLAP (Volunteer Lake Assessment Program) report for data collected during the 2020 season. This is information that is gathered by our water testing done June – September. A big thank you to the volunteers who have done this program for over 10 years! Sara Steiner, Program Coordinator at DES, states our phosphorus levels were slightly elevated but overall algae growth has remained stable. We did have some cyanobacteria scum and outbreaks at the end of the season, so this is still reminding us that we need to be conscious of the nutrient loading in the lake. Please make sure you are trying to live lake friendly and become aware of things that can add to this nutrient loading. Routine checks of your septic systems, not using fertilizer on your lawns and protecting the shoreline from runoff are 3 big issues that can affect lake health. Here is a copy of the report and an educational piece on how to read the report for those of you who are interested. Let me know if you have any questions.
On a sad note, the WLA family lost another member this past week. My deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Lisa Cotter. Lisa spent many years here at the lake at her grandparents home on Lake Shore Drive. She was now living in that house and making more memories with her own family. She left life here too soon. Please keep her family in your thoughts at this sad time.
Enjoy warmer days ahead and continue to stay safe,
Val