Summer 2025
Summer 2025 - Swans flying low over Pickerel Lake
Issue 44
From your Association President
Drew Zelle | dmzelle48@gmail.com | 920-209-0564
Greetings and happy summer (almost). Summer is the time of year when the lakes get busy and we enjoy what we have here on our three lakes. Thanks to all that attended the Annual Meeting on May 24th. Good weather weekends are hard to come by and I realize it takes time from your personal activities, so I appreciate those who came.
We picked up two new Board members at the Annual Meeting and I welcome Laura Komperda and Mae Enz. They are starting their two-year term and will be a huge asset to the Board. Myself, Laure Haak, and Brigitte Janos extended for another term, so a huge thank you to Laure and Brigitte.
This summer, the focus of the PCLA will be on several activities this year which are as follows:
Clean Boats Clean Waters: This is an ongoing task of major importance. We will have inspectors at the boat landing on key weekends to keep aquatic invasive species out of the lake. Please consider volunteering a few hours as an inspector. And be sure that your boats are clean and weed free when you take them in and out of the lake. This is especially important for your guests to be aware of too.
Boat Parade June 21: This year we are hosting our first boat parade! Following the parade and prizes, we’ll be hosting a potluck at the park. Look for details on our website and in this newsletter.
Annual Picnic July 19th: The picnic is our only fund-raising event this year (and always a large storm event) so please come out and support our efforts at this event and plan for rain. We are looking for picnic volunteers and prize donations for the raffles. Look for details on our website and in this newsletter.
Water Quality Monitoring/Aquatic Invasive Species Monitoring: We will continue to monitor the health of our lakes through monthly water quality monitoring and reporting it to the WDNR. Additionally, we are constantly watching for AIS so if you see a weed that looks suspicious please contact myself or any of the other board members – there is a reporting form on the website too. Early detection is key.
Thanks to all who have helped the association this past year. We cannot do this without volunteers and your help is needed and appreciated.
See you at the picnic!
-Drew Zelle
2025 Upcoming Events
7 June and 12 July 12 at 8AM - Beach Clean Up: bring a rake, takes about an hour
21 June at 5pm - First Annual PCLA Boat Parade and Potluck
19 July 3-7PM - Annual PCLA Picnic
2025 - Cleaning up the Oughton Park beach
PCLA Kicks off its First Annual Boat Parade June 21!
Join us on 21 June for our first annual Boat Parade! This is a purely social event, where lake residents decorate their boats and parade around the lake, and family and friends cheering on from docks and Oughton Park, where we’ll be hosting a potluck during and after - bring a dish to pass!
We’ll have a judges stand at Oughton Park and will be awarding prizes, too, including a winner’s trophy that you can display proudly on your dock for the rest of the summer. Winners will be featured on our website.
I’ve heard from a number of you that you are planning to participate, so this should be a lot of fun. Thank you to Laura Komperda and Barb Trudell for co-organizing. Please register your boat (free!) so that we know who is coming and we can have enough supplies on hand for the judges. In the event of rain, the parade will be held June 22 at 9am.
More information about the event and registration is on our website at https://www.pickerelchainlakeassociation.org/boat-parade.
PCLA Annual Picnic July 19
Our annual fundraiser will be at Oughton Park on July 19, starting at 3pm. PLEASE PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR AND LET YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS KNOW NOW! You can use the handy events tool on our website, or use the old pencil on paper. Either way, we look forward to seeing you there!
DONATIONS are appreciated and needed, please let us know if you have something you will be donating, preferably by 7/7/25. You can email us at BoardPCLA@gmail.com, use the Contact Us form on the website, or call Michelle Zelle at 920-210-3196.
VOLUNTEER - We always need volunteers! Jobs include tent set-up and take-down, raffle sales, help with kids games, food prep / griller, and supermarket runner (and the ever popular bathroom monitor). It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors. Sign up online or contact Michelle Zelle at 920-210-3196.
RAFFLE TICKETS - We are not mailing out raffle tickets this year. Many of you have met your local PCLA Board member as we were walking the area distributing tickets over the last few weekends. If you haven’t yet met your local Board member or need more tickets, please call or text Michelle Zelle at (920) 210-3196 or Pari Schilz (651)-283-4523 for tickets.
More information about the picnic including raffle prizes and volunteer signup is on our website at https://www.pickerelchainlakeassociation.org/annual-picnic.
Summer Megafauna Feature: The Pickerel Chain Lake Swans
By Laure Haak, PCLA Board Member
2025 - Parent swans -swimming on Little Pickerel Lake
We are fortunate to have a family of swans grace our lake (thanks to Darcie Zelle for the photo!). The swans have been with us for many summers, and every time I see them I have to smile. They arrive in February, right around my mom’s birthday, so that is a happy association for me. They nest in April and by late May we start to see the little cygnets floating around the lake with their parent swans. This year we have 6 baby swans. They will start practice flights in late August. Please give them space till then!
The swans on our lake are Trumpeters (Cygnus buccinator). Adults are all white, have a black bill with a hard-to-see narrow, salmon-red stripe along the base of the lower bill. Trumpeter swans were extirpated from Wisconsin in the late 1880s but were re-introduced in 1989 with so much success that they were removed from the Wisconsin endangered species list in 2009.
The Trumpeter Swan is the largest waterfowl species native to North America. Trumpeters mate for life, often returning to their nesting ground year after year. They may live for 20 to 30 years. Most Trumpeters weigh 21-30 pounds. The male is called a cob, and the female is called a pen. With a wingspan of over 7 feet and their deep and trumpet-like call, these snow-white birds are truly spectacular. I especially enjoy watching them take off and land and wheel overhead as I am out on the lake kayaking.
Trumpeters have broad, flat bills with fine tooth-like serrations along the edges that strain water when the birds eat aquatic vegetation. Their long necks allow them to uproot plants in 4 feet of water. Trumpeters build their nests on top of muskrat or beaver lodges, or they pile sedges and cattail tubers into a mound. Usually, water surrounds the nest making it difficult for a mammalian predator to surprise the pair. Nest building typically begins in mid-April and may take up to two weeks with some nests reaching a diameter of 6 feet or more.
Egg laying begins in late April to June. One cream-colored egg is laid every other day until a clutch of five to nine eggs is complete. Then the pen incubates the eggs and the cob protects the nest against all intruders. Incubation typically lasts about 32-34 days with the pen occasionally leaving the next to feed, bathe and preen. When she leaves, she covers the eggs with nest material and the cob will stand guard on or near the nest to deter predators.The adults perform a "triumph display" after intruders are repelled which consists of facing one another while quivering their wings and trumpeting loudly. See this WDNR page for more.
Et Cetera!
We’d love to share your pictures of the lakes on the PCLA website! And kudos! Please send your pictures, ideas for newsletter content, and your nominations for people to recognize for their lake stewardship activities to BoardPCLA@gmail.com.
