Thursday, Dec 7, 2017
MCLA Meeting Minutes 12-7-17.pdf
Final MCLA Meeting of 2017. Annual business meeting and elections.
No outside speaker. Open to the public. The evening will feature:
- MCLA ELECTIONS
- INTRODUCTIONS OF NEW OFFICERS BY NEW OFFICERS
- APPOINTMENT OF F&G DIRECTORS
- ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION OF MEMBER INTERESTS
- GOAL-SETTING FOR THE COMING YEAR
- RESOLUTIONS REGARDING CURRENT FISCAL CONCERNS
- PLANNING FOR A 2018 KICK-OFF
Thursday, Sept 28, 2017 RUSS GREEN, Regional Coordinator, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries discussed the role of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration on Lake Michigan and the status of the proposed Marine Sanctuary. Here’s a website with much information on the proposal, including some recently published FAQs: https://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/wisconsin/. Russ is also the Deputy Superintendent at the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary working there for the past 13 years.. He has also worked for the Wisconsin Historical Society as a maritime archaeologist. Read a summary of the presentation.
Thursday, Jul 27, 2017 Planning and Listening session with PETE TARNOWSKI, Manitowoc County Parks Manager. An employee of the Department of Parks and Planning, Pete has been our Shoreland Zoning Specialist. He will now be assuming additional responsibilities as the County Parks Manager. His department has been responsible for keeping the remediation of the diversion and the boat launch area at Silver Lake on track. Pete will now be the point man to respond to virtually all County issues concerning our lakes, including management needs and park maintenance. Meet with Pete to discuss what you would like to see happening in coming years. Bimonthly MCLA business followed.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017 (at Cedar Lake) Paul Skawinski, the AIS Citizen Monitoring Coordinator for the state, distributed AIS monitoring kits to any lake interested in having one (interest based on May 25 MCLA meeting attendance). One kit was allowed per lake due to the expense of each kit. If your lake would like additional kits, they are available for $30 each.
Thursday, May 25, 2017 Tom Ward, Invasive Species Coordinator for Manitowoc County, presented on the state of the war on invasive species, especially with regard to the activities in the lakes and rivers. We will use this gathering to consider steps moving forward as our current grant funding expires. MCLA business meeting followed.
The AIS monitoring has some significant updates and new equipment for our lake monitors. We continue to have a need for a trained monitor on every lake and more is better. This past year Curley leaf Pond weed was discovered on Gass Lake and we tried to remove the plants before they went to seed. After a day of plant removal we discovered more beds of plants than expected; if a monitor would have identified the plants a year earlier we could have been successful with a hand removal. We have a new threat to the south of us in Washington and Ozaukee counties where Starry Stonewort is spreading and impossible to control with a herbicide.
2017 is the last year of support for our AIS program therefore it is important we equip monitors for the future protection of our lakes. The new protocol includes instruction on how to submit a new find with a photo, and monitoring kit that includes a water proof clipboard, throw rake and compact plant identification book. Each Lake is eligible for one kit and we will purchase the new I.D book for each active monitor. Tom Ward conducted a review of the photo documentation procedures. Monitor kits were ordered based on attendance for this meeting for the active monitor lakes and were delivered on May 30 at Paul Skawinski’s training session on Cedar Lake.
If you no longer want to serve as an AIS monitor for one of our County Lakes let Tom know by sending an email to tomward@tm.net. Tom would appreciate it if you could suggest someone from your lake to become a monitor, we will hold one last monitor training workshop in June.
Thursday, Mar 23, 2017 Our website manager Amy talked briefly about what makes a good non-profit website and how to improve our online presence.
Click here to view the powerpoint talk about what makes a good website and what direction we can take to expand ours.
Some features we discussed adding are:
- Community Service Opportunity Announcements and Volunteer Contact form
- Open Discussion Forum
- Classified ads for members
- Online Membership sign-up and renewal
- Oral History and Photo Archive of Our Lakes
- Fishing Reports, both “professional” and real-time people fishing
- A new navigation design to get people to “act” when they visit
We also discussed how to get the lake data collected by volunteers to be seen and to count when assessing a lake’s health, even when it does not fall inside of the DNR’s July-Aug collection window.
We’re also going to focus on driving the right kind of traffic to the lakes, for example where should kayakers go for the best experience? Or someone who wants to catch Bluegill?
We also want to continue to improve our facebook presence and network with other lake’s facebook pages in that way.
We also took a look at Bruce Riesterer’s new interactive watershed mapping system located at http://manitowoc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=c38b2149d3b947eb9bd120f5480c4a1e The boundaries are now more accurate because of new lidar-generated elevation data recently made available. Bruce asks that people take a look at the watershed for their lake(s) and let him know immediately if they see something that doesn’t seem accurate (e.g., placement of culverts). You can contact him at bruceriesterer@co.manitowoc.wi.us
Thursday, Feb 9, 2017 Paul Skawinski. Cancelled due to illness.
PAUL SKAWINSKI, Coordinator Wisconsin Citizen Lake Monitoring Network UW Extension Lakes Program University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, sponsored in conjunction with Sanitary District #1, Cedar Lake
Friday, Feb. 17, 2017 Paul will host a Citizen’s Lake Monitoring Network meeting with volunteers, and will resume the sampling at Cedar Lake. Anyone wishing to observe should meet at the boat landing at 9:00am.. As the field events are subject to ice conditions, it is recommended that those attending verify times.
Paul’s presentation on “Life Beneath the Ice” and Wisconsin’s Citizen Lake Monitoring Network with samples of aquatic life from Cedar Lake, originally scheduled for Feb. 9th at LTC, will be rescheduled for a later date.
Thursday, Jan 26, 2017
Planning and Listening Session with GARY ROBINSON, Manitowoc County Parks Superintendent
Gary has had some very big successes in his administration of our lakes and parks in 2016. Especially notable is the planning and funding of the remediation of the diversion and the boat launch area at Silver Lake. He has made many lakes more accessible, and has always been there to respond to management needs and park maintenance. Meet with Gary to discuss what you would like to see in 2017. Bimonthly MCLA business meeting will follow.
