Lake Washington Improvement Assn.



		Spring '09 Newsletter END OF THE DOCK Ken Klehr, President It is hard to believe it is time to take the dock out. I would like to summarize some of this year highlights. But first I would like to recognize past President Kim Winter who took on the responsibility of president in 2002. During her term as president she has demonstrated good leadership in guiding and directing the LWIA. We are fortunate that Kim is still on the board of directors so we can continue to use her knowledge and experience. We received a permit from the DNR to use herbicides to treat 78.39 acres for Eurasian water milfoil (EWM) costing over $35,000. Obtaining this permit, along with grant money, was the result of a lot of time and effort spent by our Exotic Species Team. Also, financial support via grants for this year should total $23,000 thru the DNR and County. We began developing a Lake Vegetation Management Plan. Please see the Exotic Species Committee’s Report for more details. Financing the effort to manage EWM will be one of our major challenges. So to open the doors to more financial assistance, thru public and private grants, we have submitted an application form 1023 to the IRS for recognition of exemption under section 501c3 of the Internal Revenue Code to be designated as a non profit charity. Also to accommodate this designation as a non profit charity we had to add some verbiage in our Articles of Incorporation. In addition, we will need to file yearly income reports to the IRS. The application was mailed to the IRS in September. We should hear back from the IRS by March. This application was put together by the Financial/Fund Raising Committee with outside help from Dave Berry at the law firm of Wood, Berry and Rue and Steve Hanson at the accounting firm of Piehl, Hanson, Beckman. Over the last several years, the boat traffic between Stella and Washington has been hindered by the build-up of silt in the channel. Milt Lueneburg (Lake Washington) has been working with Rob Collet from the DNR to obtain permit approval to dredge the east side of the channel between Lake Washington and Lake Stella. The DNR permit has been approved and Milt has lined up Craig Reiner from Reiner Contracting (Lake Stella) to do the dredging. It is scheduled to be done this fall. The LWIA would like thank both Milt and Craig, along with adjoining property owners, for their time and effort. The dredging should allow for easier access between lakes. The Communications and Public Relations Committee has but together and published three newsletters this year. They have been communicating via our web site www.lakewashingtonassn.com . The Social Committee hosted the annual meeting and Potluck-Bar B Q with good food and guest speaker Lee Sundmark, DNR, covering the 2008 Fish Survey. The Shoreline Captains/Membership Committee met with the Shoreline Captains receiving input about areas for improvements and concerns regarding the LWIA. The LWIA board is currently working on these issues and we will be giving feedback thru the Shoreline Captains. These issues are also covered in our board meeting minutes. Recently Professional Lake Management (PLM) completed a whole lake vegetation analysis which will assist us in developing a Lake Vegetation Management Plan. Also they did a water quality assessment. PLM will be presenting this information at our next board meeting. The board is going to lose two board members next spring. Cammy Moses and Jenna O’Brien. They have accomplish much in the years they have been on the board, such as the Lake Washington Association Cookbook, the Lake Washington Directory 2005, and developing a detailed membership spread sheet to mention a few. We are going to miss them. So we are looking for new board members. If you are interested in serving on the board, which is a term for 3 years, or know someone who may be interested, please contact any board member. Overall, we feel we had a productive year. Our biggest challenge continues to be Eurasian Water Milfoil and financially the ability to manage and eventually eradicate it from Lake Washington. Thanks to the DNR support thru grants, permits and technical assistance and to the County for their grants. Also the Board wants to recognize the following for their efforts; Orlin Ortloff from the Meeker County Association of Lakes who has been representing Lake Washington since 1992, Milt Lueneburg, Craig Reiner, Hojies Grill and Smoke House, Shoreline Captains, those that help at our gatherings and the list goes on. Most important is the support your have given thru your time, effort and financially. See you next spring and enjoy the winter lake activities. SPECIAL REQUEST The LWIA Board is in need of a new board member to serve a term starting February 2010 through May 2011. Please contact a board member if you are interested or know someone that should be contacted to fill this opening. SOCIAL COMMITTEE John Fink, Kim Winter Dates for 2010 to save: Annual Meeting/free Pork Chop Dinner Saturday May 1st, 2010 Dassel Rod & Gun Club Pot Luck Dinner/Reports/Door Prizes Saturday August 7th, 2010 Dassel Rod & Gun Club Spring Fling with Lakes Stella & Manuella Unknown at this Printing *we will send an e-mail when a date is known, if you would like to be called via telephone, please call John Fink (320 275 0114) with your request. If we do not yet have your updated email, please let us know, send your update to: info@lakewashingtonassn.com FINANCE / FUND RAISING COMMITTEE Cammy Moses, Lyle Walker As of September 30, your Lake Association is in a solid financial position with total funds of $98,000 as the summer draws to a close. However, we must remain mindful of the $450 per acre cost to treat the lake for milfoil. This summer the cost to treat 78 acres was $35,700. Knowing that there are about 500 infested acres in the lake, we must continue to build our financial resources to meet ongoing treatment costs. SHORELINE CAPTAINS/MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE Jen Kjell, Ken Klehr, Jenna O’Brien In an effort to better serve the members of the Lake Washington Improvement Association, various items of concern/interest that members have posed were discussed at the September board meeting. Among the issues discussed were the publication of an updated Lake Washington directory, developing an informational packet for property owners, and suggestions for improving the vital communication link with Lake Washington residents. The Lake Washington Directory is an important educational and public relations tool for the LWIA. The last edition was printed in 2005. Revisions to the existing directory will begin this fall in order to provide residents with accurate information and current representation of existing property owners. A committee is being established to update the Directory with a completion goal and publish date in 2011. Board members also continue to look at viable methods to increase the LWIA membership within our community to garner support necessary for keeping our lake healthy and an asset to us all. If anyone is interested in providing assistance with either updating the Lake Washington Directory or assembling our LWIA informational packets please contact Jenny Kjell. Contact information is available at www.lakewashingtonassn.com. Just a reminder that Lake Washington cookbooks continue to be available at numerous local businesses or by contacting a board member. The proceeds from the sales of these cookbooks go directly to our LWIA fund which enables our association to continue vital efforts like the treatment of Eurasian Water Milfoil. EVASIVE SPECIES COMMITTEE REPORT Bill Craig, Steve Kjell, Bill Ooley This spring’s application of chemicals to treat Eurasian Water Milfoil (EWM) was a success. In early September several Lake Washington board members toured the lake with Patrick Selter of Professional Lake Management (PLM) to assess this spring’s treatment of 78.39 acres infected with EWM. The results of this assessment was very positive with very little EWM found in the application areas. Another indicator of the success was that native vegetation was impacted very little. The key to long term success is to have the native vegetation return to infested areas, after application, displacing the EWM. So on going monitoring is necessary, time consuming, and expensive. Next year will present a real challenge. We will start working this fall with the DNR for next year’s permit and update the Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan that will focus on managing and eradicating EWM from Lake Washington. With the complexity of this issue we will be looking for Lake Association members input along with possibly hiring an engineering or consultant firm to assist us in modifying our Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan. Keep in mind, nothing has been developed to date that completely eradicates EWM. So managing and eradicating this invasive species will be a moving target requiring on going updates to our strategy. Financing the Aquatic Vegetation Management Plan will be our biggest challenge. This last year we spent over $35,000 for chemical application on the 78.39 acres. We were very fortunate in getting a little over $18,000 in grant money thru the DNR and possibly another $5000 from the county. We will aggressively pursue these and other grants in the future. But with the weak economy some of these grant dollars may start to disappear. Any long range plan to manage or eradicate EWM will be expensive, especially with the last report from PLM indicating EWM infestation in our lake may be around 500 acres. We will have an accurate acreage in a couple of weeks. We would like to thank you for your generous contributions and support. We need your continued support if we have any hope of managing and eventually eradicating EWM from Lake Washington. COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC RELATIONS COMMITTEE** Rick Fernstrom, Steve Ullom Please go to www.lakewashingtonassn.com and give your feedback either via email or through a board member. Please note our legal name registered with the state is Lake Washington Improvement Association of Meeker County. All Board Meeting minutes and past Newsletters are archived on the website. Contact information is also available for all board members should you have questions or information. The 2008 DNR Fish Survey is now posted at www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/index.html. Lake Washington’s number is 47004600. Latest fish survey data, stocking reports, water quality, water level, lake maps are available there. At our August Board Meeting, we had the pleasure to meet with Jeff Norlin, Meeker County Sheriff. Following an overview of the Lake Association charter, Sheriff Norlin briefed the board on efforts by the Sheriff’s Office to develop a local crime alert using local email communications as a means of getting criminal or suspicious activity out to residents so they can increase awareness and to provide critical time sensitive assistance to law enforcement. The LWIA Board believes this initiative is a positive step toward crime prevention/containment and supports the effort. As stated in the past, the LWIA Board is sensitive to providing lake resident contact information without resident consent and will maintain that position. Please take the time to read the attached letter and example from Sheriff Norlin in preparation for a request in the near future to provide Sheriff Norlin with email addresses for residents interested in participating in the Meeker County Crime Alert. Some other examples for using the Crime Alert would be to quickly warn residents of a break and enter occurrence, fish house theft, and vandalism. Special thanks to Mike Engel for creating and maintaining the LWIA webpage at no charge!! For your personal or business internet solutions, please contact Mike Engel, ADimation.com, LLC mike@adimation.com, http://www.adimation.com . CRIME ALERT FORM Click Here to view a letter from the Meeker County Sheriff regarding the Crime Alert Form and to see a sample form.